Nuclear physics articles from across Nature Portfolio

The isotope oxygen-28 is expected to be ‘doubly magic’, with strongly bound neutrons and protons in its nucleus. Experiments now reveal that it exists in an unbound state — casting doubt on its magic status.

Since the discovery of proton radioactivity in ^53mCo, there has been no direct measurement of its branching ratio. Here the authors report the first measurement of the weak proton decay in ^53mCo by combining results from advanced detection systems.

In laser-driven inertial fusion, finding optimal driving pressure is a major challenge. Here, the authors use a 100 kJ SG laser and a hybrid-drive scheme to demonstrate such driving pressure with the help of the direct-drive laser such that the indirect-drive radiation ablation pressure is turned into a well-smoothed hybrid-drive pressure much greater than the radiation ablation pressure.

The authors report a particle-particle correlation and velocity-difference profile method to measure nuclear lifetime. The results obtained for excited states of 23Mg are used to constrain the production of 22Na in the astrophysical novae explosions.

Observation of ²⁸O and ²⁷O through their decay into ²⁴O and four and three neutrons, respectively, is reported, with the ²⁸O nucleus being of particular interest owing to proton and neutron magic numbers and its extremely asymmetric neutron-to-proton ratio.

The isotope oxygen-28 is expected to be ‘doubly magic’, with strongly bound neutrons and protons in its nucleus. Experiments now reveal that it exists in an unbound state — casting doubt on its magic status.

Oxygen-28 might prompt physicists to revamp theories of how atomic nuclei are structured.

Atomic bomb historian Richard Rhodes talks to Nature about how researchers fare in the film, and what it gets right and wrong.

Radiation in the water will be diluted to almost-background levels, but some researchers are not sure this will be sufficient to mitigate the risks.

A long-sought photon that is emitted by the nucleus of a thorium isotope has now been observed. The feat is a key step in efforts to build a nuclear clock, a device that is precise enough to probe the Universe’s best-kept secrets.

Following the US National Ignition Facility’s breakthrough last year, Nature looks at what’s next.