Giants at the shell closure

Another surprise in the Ca isotope chain: Only recently the isotopes Ca-52 and Ca-54 have been established as doubly magic and therefore relatively stable isotopes. However, results of our laser spectroscopic investigations on the isotopes Ca-49 to Ca-52 don't fit into this picture. At COLLAPS we have measured the isotope shifts of these isotopes and find a steep and continuous increase up to Ca-52 in an extent that cannot be explained by any of the current nuclear structure theories. The article has appeared online in Nature Physics now.

Please read more in the Nature Physics article and the press releases of the TU Darmstadt and the idw.