Nickel-78 is a 'doubly magic' isotope, supercomputing calculations confirm
Wednesday, October 26, 2016 - 12:32
in Physics & Chemistry
For many of us, the term "doubly magic" may evoke images of Penn & Teller. However, for nuclear physicists, it describes atomic nuclei that have greater stability than their neighbors thanks to having shells that are fully occupied by both protons and neutrons. Theoretical physicists at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory recently used Titan, America's most powerful supercomputer, to compute the nuclear structure of nickel-78, consisting of 28 protons and 50 neutrons, and found that this neutron-rich nucleus is indeed doubly magic. The results, published in the journal Physical Review Letters, may improve understanding of the origin, organization and interactions of stable matter.