Nuclei in the "island of stability" of superheavy elements

Abstract

The observation of atomic numbers Z that are 40% larger than that of Bi, the heaviest stable element, is an impressive extension of nuclear survival. Although the super heavy nuclei (SHN) are at the limits of Coulomb stability, shell stabilization lowers the ground-state energy, creates a fission barrier, and thereby enables the SHE to exist. The fundamentals of the modern theory concerning the mass limits of nuclear matter have been experimentally verified.