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Nuclear physics

Elusive magic numbers

Gaps in nuclear levels, which cause nuclei with ‘magic’ numbers of protons or neutrons to be especially stable, seem to be different for nuclei with an excess of neutrons. But are all magic numbers aberrant in exotic species?

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Figure 1: Nuclear landscape.

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Janssens, R. Elusive magic numbers. Nature 435, 897–898 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/435897a

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