Eur. Phys. J. Plus (2014) 129: 9
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/i2014-14009-3

Regular Article

Investigation of the neutron-rich nuclei beyond ²⁰⁸Pb

¹ Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro, Legnaro, Italy
² Dipartimento di Fisica ed Astronomia dell’Università degli Studi di Padova, Padova, Italy

^* e-mail: andrea.gottardo@lnl.infn.it

Received: 30 September 2013
Accepted: 16 December 2013
Published online: 27 January 2014

Abstract

The study of neutron-rich nuclei beyond the shell closure in the lead region has been hampered by several technical difficulties. Recently, improvements in the experimental devices have allowed exploring this region, taking advantage of the predicted presence of μs isomers, which provides the opportunity to employ decay-spectroscopy techniques. The neutron-rich isotopes beyond ²⁰⁸Pb have proved to be an interesting case for the study of the shell model in this region. Experimental methods and a summary of the results obtained are presented, pointing out their physical relevance and the future challenges.