A surprisingly long-lived excited state in a neutron-rich nucleus
Friday, October 10, 2014 - 08:00
in Physics & Chemistry
The stability of an atomic nucleus strongly depends on the number of protons and neutrons it contains. Some nuclei can, in principle, live forever, whereas others last only a fraction of a second before decaying into different nuclei. Hiroshi Watanabe from the RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science and a long list of co-workers from Japan and around the world have now identified a long-lived metastable state in a neutron-rich nucleus that helps build a better picture of the forces that hold matter together.