Strong Evidence for ^{9}N and the Limits of Existence of Atomic Nuclei

R J Charity¹, J Wylie^{2

3}, S M Wang^{4

5}, T B Webb⁶, K W Brown², G Cerizza², Z Chajecki⁷, J M Elson¹, J Estee², D E M Hoff¹, S A Kuvin⁸, W G Lynch^{2

3}, J Manfredi², N Michel⁹, D G McNeel⁸, P Morfouace², W Nazarewicz^{2

3}, C D Pruitt¹, C Santamaria², S Sweany², J Smith⁸, L G Sobotka^{1

6}, M B Tsang², A H Wuosmaa⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri 63130, USA.
² Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA.
³ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Ion-beam Application (MOE), Institute of Modern Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
⁵ Shanghai Research Center for Theoretical Nuclear Physics, NSFC and Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China.
⁶ Department of Physics, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri 63130, USA.
⁷ Department of Physics, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan 49008, USA.
⁸ Department of Physics, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269, USA.
⁹ Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China.

PMID: 37955509
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.172501

Strong Evidence for ^{9}N and the Limits of Existence of Atomic Nuclei

R J Charity et al. Phys Rev Lett. 2023.

. 2023 Oct 27;131(17):172501.

doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.172501.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri 63130, USA.
² Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA.
³ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Ion-beam Application (MOE), Institute of Modern Physics, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
⁵ Shanghai Research Center for Theoretical Nuclear Physics, NSFC and Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, China.
⁶ Department of Physics, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri 63130, USA.
⁷ Department of Physics, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan 49008, USA.
⁸ Department of Physics, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269, USA.
⁹ Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China.

PMID: 37955509
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.172501

Abstract

The boundaries of the chart of nuclides contain exotic isotopes that possess extreme proton-to-neutron asymmetries. Here we report on strong evidence of ^{9}N, one of the most exotic proton-rich isotopes where more than one half of its constitute nucleons are unbound. With seven protons and two neutrons, this extremely proton-rich system would represent the first-known example of a ground-state five-proton emitter. The invariant-mass spectrum of its decay products can be fit with two peaks whose energies are consistent with the theoretical predictions of an open-quantum-system approach; however, we cannot rule out the possibility that only a single resonancelike peak is present in the spectrum.

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Strong Evidence for ^{9}N and the Limits of Existence of Atomic Nuclei

Affiliations

Strong Evidence for ^{9}N and the Limits of Existence of Atomic Nuclei

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract