Superheavy Elements

Superheavy Elements provides a review of the experimental and theoretical investigations of superheavy elements, especially their nuclear aspects. This topic is crucial for the further development of nuclear physics since the currently available data are unable to distinguish between several conflicting models, while predictions for the lifetimes of the most stable superheavy elements vary by as much as nine orders of magnitude. Superheavy Elements also presents many new theoretical aspects and predictions of the Dynamic Deformation Model, developed by the author during the past thirty years. Although many structure related predictions of this model have already been verified experimentally, those concerning fission and alpha-decay (which is for the first time treated as a highly asymmetric fission channel), kinetic shell-correction (a new concept introduced in this book), and superheavy elements await future experimental tests. Specific heavy-ion fusion experiments, which may lead to the discovery of superheavy elements, are suggested. The complicated formalism of the Time-dependent mean field theory utilized for a microscopic description of the nuclear many-body problem has been kept to a minimum, while the main physical concepts and connections with several well-known methods have been emphasized. Hence, this book will appeal to researchers in nuclear physics and chemistry, but the main points can be appreciated by anyone who is excited by the possibility of the discovery of a whole new region of quasi-stable elements with half-lives as large as a thousand years according to the new predictions.