MIT researchers Adam Vernon and Ronald Garcia Ruiz, alongside a worldwide workforce of scientists revealed, when measuring a nucleus with a sure “magic” number of neutrons — 82 — the magnetic area of the nucleus displays a drastic change, and the properties of these very complicated nuclei look like ruled by only one of the protons of the nucleus.

Figure 1: A nucleus with a sure “magic” number of neutrons in atomic nuclei.

Figure 1 shows that when scientists, carried out an experiment through which a delicate laser spectroscopy method was used to measure how the nuclear electromagnetic properties of indium isotopes evolve when an excessive number of neutrons are added to the nucleus.

These nuclei don’t exist in nature, and as soon as created, their lifetimes could be as quick as a fraction of a second, so the workforce artificially created the nuclei utilizing a particle accelerator on the CERN analysis facility in Switzerland.

By utilizing a mixture of a number of lasers and an ion entice, the workforce remoted the isotopes of curiosity and carried out precision measurements of atoms containing these unique nuclei. In flip, it allowed the extraction of their nuclear properties. [1]

Vernon scientist achieved a surprising result. “The new observation at 82 total neutrons changes this picture of the nucleus. We had to come up with new nuclear theories to explain the result,” says Vernon.

The motion of protons and neutrons orbiting inside the atomic nucleus generates a magnetic field, effectively turning the nucleus into a femtometer-scale (one-quadrillionth of a meter) magnet.

The nuclear electromagnetic properties of indium isotopes (nuclei with the same atomic number but different number of neutrons) are considered a particularly intriguing example in nature. With 49 protons, and between 60 and 80 neutrons, the electromagnetic properties of indium isotopes appear to be governed by just one proton, regardless of the number of even neutrons [2]

Two state-of-the-art “ab-initio” and “density functional theory” calculations for the atomic nucleus were independently developed by collaborators to describe the experimental results. They showed the magnetic field suddenly changing to be given by a single proton in the nucleus when 82 neutrons were reached, just as the MIT researchers and collaborators observed in the lab.

It serves as a milestone for nuclear physics, as it challenges our previous understanding of these nuclei. Vernon adds, “It is rare when calculations can investigate the atomic nucleus with such detail, and this is what our observation of this new phenomena enabled.” [3]

References:

1. https://www.theblog101.com/researchers-reveal-an-unexpected-feature-of-atomic-nuclei-when-a-magic-number-of-neutrons-is-reached/
2. https://news.mit.edu/2022/new-spin-nuclear-magnetic-moments-0714
3. https://news8plus.com/complex-motions-for-simple-actuators/

Cite this article:

Sri Vasagi K (2022), Researchers Revealed an Unexpected Feature of Atomic Nuclei, AnaTechMax, pp.247