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Physicists have found a new “island of inversion” in the nucleus of molybdenum-84, a perfectly balanced atom with equal numbers of protons and neutrons. The discovery upends a decades-old assumption ...

The red ball, blue star and black square represent the corresponding results of Rn, Ra and Th isotopes, respectively. In the shell model, the neutron number N=126 is regarded as a neutron magic number ...

Atomic nuclei are often described as orderly systems. Certain numbers of protons or neutrons, called magic numbers, usually produce especially stable and spherical nuclei. These numbers fill entire ...

Physicists working with molybdenum-84, a nucleus containing exactly 42 protons and 42 neutrons, have found that this seemingly balanced atom defies one of nuclear physics’ longest-standing ...

A special set of numbers has formed the backbone of nuclear physics research for decades, and now we finally know how it arises from the quantum mix of nuclear particles and forces. Nearly 80 years ...