Island of inversion
Encyclopedia
An island of inversion is a region of the chart of nuclides that contains isotope
s with a non-standard ordering of single particle levels in the nuclear shell model
. Such an area was first described in 1975 by French physicists carrying out spectroscopic mass measurements of exotic isotopes of lithium and sodium. Since then further studies have shown that neutron-rich isotopes of five elements, Li-11, Na-31, Mg-36, Si-38, and Ca-48 belong to one such region. Because there are 5 known islands of inversion, physicists have suggested renaming the phenomenon as an "archipelago of islands of shell breaking". Studies with the purpose of defining the edges of this region are still ongoing.
Isotope
Isotopes are variants of atoms of a particular chemical element, which have differing numbers of neutrons. Atoms of a particular element by definition must contain the same number of protons but may have a distinct number of neutrons which differs from atom to atom, without changing the designation...
s with a non-standard ordering of single particle levels in the nuclear shell model
Nuclear structure
Understanding the structure of the atomic nucleus is one of the central challenges in nuclear physics. This article is written from a nuclear physics perspective; as such, it is suggested that a casual reader first read the main nuclear physics article....
. Such an area was first described in 1975 by French physicists carrying out spectroscopic mass measurements of exotic isotopes of lithium and sodium. Since then further studies have shown that neutron-rich isotopes of five elements, Li-11, Na-31, Mg-36, Si-38, and Ca-48 belong to one such region. Because there are 5 known islands of inversion, physicists have suggested renaming the phenomenon as an "archipelago of islands of shell breaking". Studies with the purpose of defining the edges of this region are still ongoing.
See also
- Table of nuclides
- Periodic tablePeriodic tableThe periodic table of the chemical elements is a tabular display of the 118 known chemical elements organized by selected properties of their atomic structures. Elements are presented by increasing atomic number, the number of protons in an atom's atomic nucleus...
and Periodic table (extended) - Island of stabilityIsland of stabilityThe island of stability in nuclear physics describes a set of as-yet undiscovered isotopes of transuranium elements which are theorized to be much more stable than others...
External links
- http://prola.aps.org/abstract/PRC/v12/i2/p644_1 Abstract and references for the original paper
- http://physics.aps.org/articles/v3/104 Article on archipelago of shell-breaking with map of nuclide table showing the 5 known islands.
- http://www.nscl.msu.edu/ourlab/news/2009/physical-review-letters-new-neutron-rich-nuclei-support-island-inversion-theory