🌟 Chinese Scientists Synthesize Plutonium 227 The New Isotope Shaping the Future of Nuclear Physic

🌟 Key Points: 🌟
- Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have synthesized a novel plutonium isotope, plutonium-227, marking a significant breakthrough in nuclear physics.
- This discovery sheds light on the behavior of transuranium isotopes and advances our understanding of nuclear physics, particularly regarding neutron shell closures.

🌟 The Discovery of Plutonium-227: 🌟
- A team from the Institute of Modern Physics (IMP) at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) successfully synthesized plutonium-227.
- The results of their study were published in the journal Physical Review C on October 3.

🌟 Understanding Nuclear Shell Closures: 🌟
- In nuclear physics, certain numbers of protons and neutrons—2, 8, 20, 28, 50, 82, and 126—are known as “magic numbers” because they create stable, closed shells within an atom.
- Previous studies have revealed a persistent weakening of the neutron shell closure of 126 up to uranium, making it fascinating to explore whether shell closures fade in the transuranium region.

🌟 Probing the Unknown in Plutonium Isotopes: 🌟
- The researchers at IMP and their collaborators carried out their experiment at the gas-filled recoil separator, Spectrometer for Heavy Atoms and Nuclear Structure, part of the Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou (HIRFL) in China.
- Using the fusion evaporation reaction, the researchers synthesized plutonium-227, a very neutron-deficient plutonium isotope, for the first time.
- Plutonium-227 is the 39th new isotope discovered by IMP and the first plutonium isotope discovered by Chinese scientists.

🌟 Measuring Decay Chains: 🌟
- From the nine observed decay chains, the researchers measured the 𝛼-particle energy and half-life of plutonium-227 to be about 8191 keV and 0.78 s, respectively.
- The data fit well with the systematics of known plutonium isotopes.

🌟 Future Research Directions: 🌟
- The research team plans to investigate more plutonium isotopes to gain a deeper understanding of shell evolution in plutonium.
- Dr. Huabin Yang from IMP, the first author of the study, noted that to study the robustness of the shell closure in plutonium, it is necessary to continue research on even lighter plutonium isotopes, including plutonium-221 to plutonium-226.

🌟 Quote from the Authors: 🌟
- “We have discovered the presence of the shell closure in neptunium isotopes through a series of experiments. However, due to the absence of experimental data, the robustness of this closure in plutonium isotopes remains unknown,” said Prof. Zaiguo Gan from IMP.

🌟 Reference: 🌟
- “α decay of the new isotope Pu227” by H. B. Yang, et al., 3 October 2024, Physical Review C.
- DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevC.110.044302

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🌟 Funding: 🌟
- This research was funded by the National Institutes of Mental Health (R01MH122752 to JPN), National Institutes of Health (P20GM103653), the University of Delaware Research Foundation (awarded to JPN), and Delaware’s General University Research Program (awarded to JPN). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
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