Predicting the Limits of Atomic Nuclei

Among the vast number of possible nuclear isotopes, very few are stable. Stray above a certain mass number—by adding neutrons to an element in the Periodic Table—and eventually the corresponding nucleus can’t exist because it leaks nucleons. The neutron “dripline” that defines this limit of existence has been discovered experimentally for elements up to neon (see Viewpoint: Reaching the Limits of Nuclear Existence). Now, using a first-principles theoretical approach, Ragnar Stroberg from the University of Washington, Seattle, and colleagues have predicted the map of nuclear existence as far as iron

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