Search for the “missing” α-decay branch in 239Cm

Zhi Qin; W. Brüchle; D. Ackermann; Klaus Eberhardt; F. P. Heßberger; E. Jäger; Jens Volker Kratz; P. Kuusiniemi; D. Liebe; G. Münzenberg; Dalia Nayak; Yu. N. Novikov; M. Schädel; B. Schausten; E. Schimpf; A. Semchenkov; B. Sulignano; P. Thörle; X.L. Wu

doi:10.1524/ract.2008.1517

Published by De Gruyter (O) September 25, 2009

Search for the “missing” α-decay branch in ²³⁹Cm

Zhi Qin , W. Brüchle , D. Ackermann , Klaus Eberhardt , F. P. Heßberger , E. Jäger , Jens Volker Kratz , P. Kuusiniemi , D. Liebe , G. Münzenberg , Dalia Nayak , Yu. N. Novikov , M. Schädel , B. Schausten , E. Schimpf , A. Semchenkov , B. Sulignano , P. Thörle and X.L. Wu

From the journal Radiochimica Acta

https://doi.org/10.1524/ract.2008.1517

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Summary

A search for the α-decay of ²³⁹Cm was carried out via the fusion reaction ²³²Th(¹²C,5n) ²³⁹Cm at GSI, applying nuclear chemistry techniques. The ²³⁹Cm α-decay would provide a link between known nuclear masses and α-decay energies measured in the region of the superheavy elements. Three different ¹²C beam energies were chosen in the present experiments. The α peaks of ^238,240Cm were observed clearly at a ¹²C energy of 74 MeV, while ²³⁸Cm disappeared at 70 MeV to provide an undisturbed α-spectrum for a sensitive search of ²³⁹Cm decay. No α-events between 6.34 and 6.50 MeV, which could be assigned to ²³⁹Cm with confidence, were observed in this experiment. The upper limit of the α-branch of ²³⁹Cm was less than 1.0×10⁻⁵.

Keywords: Cm-239; α-decay; Nuclear mass; Actinide separation; 232Th(12C, xn)244–xCm

Received: 2007-11-27

Revised: 2008-3-25

Published Online: 2009-9-25

Published in Print: 2008-8-1

Search for the “missing” α-decay branch in ²³⁹Cm

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