Discovery of Neutron-Rich Silicon Isotopes 45,46Si

Abstract

New isotopes 45,46Si, which extend beyond the most neutron-rich Si isotopes confirmed thus far, have been discovered at the RI Beam Factory at the RIKEN Nishina Center. The isotopes were produced by the in-flight fragmentation reactions of 70Zn at 345 MeV/nucleon on a Be target. All the projectile fragments were analyzed and identified using the largeacceptance two-stage separator BigRIPS. Consequently, six 45Si events and one 46Si event were confirmed. The neutron-bound nature of odd-N 45Si may have a significant impact on the nuclear stability of neutron-rich proton sd-shell nuclei at approximately N = 40.