Editing Livermorium (section)

=== Nuclear stability and isotopes ===
{{Main|Isotopes of livermorium}}
[[File:Island of Stability derived from Zagrebaev.svg|right|thumb|upright=1.8|The expected location of the island of stability is marked by the white circle. The dotted line is the line of [[beta decay|beta]] stability.]]
Livermorium is expected to be near an [[island of stability]] centered on [[copernicium]] (element 112) and [[flerovium]] (element 114).<ref name="Zagrebaev">{{cite conference |last1=Zagrebaev |first1=Valeriy |last2=Karpov |first2=Alexander |last3=Greiner |first3=Walter |date=2013 |title=Future of superheavy element research: Which nuclei could be synthesized within the next few years? |publisher=IOP Science |book-title=Journal of Physics: Conference Series |volume=420 |pages=1–15 |url=http://iopscience.iop.org/1742-6596/420/1/012001/pdf/1742-6596_420_1_012001.pdf |access-date=20 August 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Van Nostrand's scientific encyclopedia|first1=Glenn D. |last1= Considine |first2=Peter H. |last2= Kulik|publisher=Wiley-Interscience|date=2002|edition=9th|isbn=978-0-471-33230-5|oclc=223349096}}</ref> Due to the expected high [[fission barrier]]s, any nucleus within this island of stability exclusively decays by alpha decay and perhaps some electron capture and [[beta decay]].{{Fricke1975}} While the known isotopes of livermorium do not actually have enough neutrons to be on the island of stability, they can be seen to approach the island, as the heavier isotopes are generally the longer-lived ones.<ref name="00Og01" /><ref name="JWP" />

Superheavy elements are produced by [[nuclear fusion]]. These fusion reactions can be divided into "hot" and "cold" fusion,{{efn|Despite the name, "cold fusion" in the context of superheavy element synthesis is a distinct concept from the idea that nuclear fusion can be achieved in room temperature conditions (see [[cold fusion]]).<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/0022-0728(89)80006-3 |title=Electrochemically induced nuclear fusion of deuterium |date=1989 |last1=Fleischmann |first1=Martin |last2=Pons |first2=Stanley |journal=Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry and Interfacial Electrochemistry |volume=261 |issue=2 |pages=301–308}}</ref>}} depending on the excitation energy of the compound nucleus produced. In hot fusion reactions, very light, high-energy projectiles are accelerated toward very heavy targets ([[actinide]]s), giving rise to compound nuclei at high excitation energy (~40–50&nbsp;[[electronvolt|MeV]]) that may either fission or evaporate several (3 to 5) neutrons.<ref name="fusion">{{cite journal |last1=Barber |first1=Robert C. |last2=Gäggeler |first2=Heinz W. |last3=Karol |first3=Paul J. |last4=Nakahara |first4=Hiromichi |last5=Vardaci |first5=Emanuele |last6=Vogt |first6=Erich |title=Discovery of the element with atomic number 112 (IUPAC Technical Report) |journal=Pure and Applied Chemistry |volume=81 |issue=7 |page=1331 |date=2009 |doi=10.1351/PAC-REP-08-03-05|s2cid=95703833 |url=http://doc.rero.ch/record/297412/files/pac-rep-08-03-05.pdf }}</ref> In cold fusion reactions (which use heavier projectiles, typically from the [[period 4 element|fourth period]], and lighter targets, usually [[lead]] and [[bismuth]]), the produced fused nuclei have a relatively low excitation energy (~10–20&nbsp;MeV), which decreases the probability that these products will undergo fission reactions. As the fused nuclei cool to the [[ground state]], they require emission of only one or two neutrons. Hot fusion reactions tend to produce more neutron-rich products because the actinides have the highest neutron-to-proton ratios of any elements that can presently be made in macroscopic quantities.<ref name="AM89">{{cite journal |first1=Peter |last1=Armbruster |name-list-style=amp |first2=Gottfried |last2=Münzenberg |title=Creating superheavy elements |journal=Scientific American |volume=34 |pages=36–42 |date=1989}}</ref>

Important information could be gained regarding the properties of superheavy nuclei by the synthesis of more livermorium isotopes, specifically those with a few neutrons more or less than the known ones – <sup>286</sup>Lv, <sup>287</sup>Lv, <sup>294</sup>Lv, and <sup>295</sup>Lv. This is possible because there are many reasonably long-lived [[isotopes of curium]] that can be used to make a target.<ref name="Zagrebaev" /> The light isotopes can be made by fusing [[curium-243]] with calcium-48. They would undergo a chain of alpha decays, ending at [[transactinide]] isotopes that are too light to achieve by hot fusion and too heavy to be produced by cold fusion.<ref name="Zagrebaev" /> The same neutron-deficient isotopes are also reachable in reactions with projectiles heavier than <sup>48</sup>Ca, which will be necessary to reach elements beyond atomic number 118 (or possibly [[ununennium|119]]); this is how <sup>288</sup>Lv and <sup>289</sup>Lv were discovered.<ref name=jinr2024>{{Cite web |url=https://indico.jinr.ru/event/4343/contributions/28663/attachments/20748/36083/U%20+%20Cr%20AYSS%202024.pptx |title=Synthesis and study of the decay properties of isotopes of superheavy element Lv in Reactions <sup>238</sup>U + <sup>54</sup>Cr and <sup>242</sup>Pu + <sup>50</sup>Ti |last=Ibadullayev |first=Dastan |date=2024 |website=jinr.ru |publisher=[[Joint Institute for Nuclear Research]] |access-date=2 November 2024 |quote=}}</ref><ref name=Lv288>{{cite news |url=http://www.jinr.ru/posts/v-lyar-oiyai-vpervye-v-mire-sintezirovan-livermorij-288/ |title=В ЛЯР ОИЯИ впервые в мире синтезирован ливерморий-288 |trans-title=Livermorium-288 was synthesized for the first time in the world at FLNR JINR |language=ru |date=23 October 2023 |publisher=Joint Institute for Nuclear Research |access-date=18 November 2023}}</ref>

The synthesis of the heavy isotopes <sup>294</sup>Lv and <sup>295</sup>Lv could be accomplished by fusing the heavy curium isotope [[curium-250]] with calcium-48. The [[cross section (physics)|cross section]] of this nuclear reaction would be about 1&nbsp;[[barn (unit)|picobarn]], though it is not yet possible to produce <sup>250</sup>Cm in the quantities needed for target manufacture.<ref name="Zagrebaev" /> Alternatively, <sup>294</sup>Lv could be produced via charged-particle evaporation in the <sup>251</sup>Cf(<sup>48</sup>Ca,pn) reaction.<ref name=Yerevan2023PPT>{{cite conference |url=https://indico.jinr.ru/event/3622/contributions/20021/attachments/15292/25806/Yerevan2023.pdf |title=Interesting fusion reactions in superheavy region |first1=J. |last1=Hong |first2=G. G. |last2=Adamian |first3=N. V. |last3=Antonenko |first4=P. |last4=Jachimowicz |first5=M. |last5=Kowal |conference=IUPAP Conference "Heaviest nuclei and atoms" |publisher=Joint Institute for Nuclear Research |date=26 April 2023 |access-date=30 July 2023}}</ref><ref name=pxn>{{cite journal |last1=Hong |first1=J. |last2=Adamian |first2=G. G. |last3=Antonenko |first3=N. V. |date=2017 |title=Ways to produce new superheavy isotopes with ''Z''&nbsp;=&nbsp;111–117 in charged particle evaporation channels |journal=Physics Letters B |volume=764 |pages=42–48 |doi=10.1016/j.physletb.2016.11.002 |bibcode=2017PhLB..764...42H|doi-access=free }}</ref> After a few alpha decays, these livermorium isotopes would reach nuclides at the [[line of beta stability]]. Additionally, [[electron capture]] may also become an important decay mode in this region, allowing affected nuclei to reach the middle of the island. For example, it is predicted that <sup>295</sup>Lv would alpha decay to <sup>291</sup>[[flerovium|Fl]], which would undergo successive electron capture to <sup>291</sup>Nh and then <sup>291</sup>[[copernicium|Cn]] which is expected to be in the middle of the island of stability and have a half-life of about 1200&nbsp;years, affording the most likely hope of reaching the middle of the island using current technology. A drawback is that the decay properties of superheavy nuclei this close to the line of beta stability are largely unexplored.<ref name="Zagrebaev" />

Other possibilities to synthesize nuclei on the island of stability include quasifission (partial fusion followed by fission) of a massive nucleus.<ref name="ZG" /> Such nuclei tend to fission, expelling doubly [[magic number (physics)|magic]] or nearly doubly magic fragments such as [[calcium-40]], [[tin-132]], [[lead-208]], or [[bismuth-209]].<ref name="jinr20006">{{cite web|title=JINR Annual Reports 2000–2006|url=http://www1.jinr.ru/Reports/Reports_eng_arh.html|publisher=[[Joint Institute for Nuclear Research|JINR]]|access-date=2013-08-27}}</ref> Recently it has been shown that the multi-nucleon transfer reactions in collisions of actinide nuclei (such as [[uranium]] and [[curium]]) might be used to synthesize the neutron-rich superheavy nuclei located at the island of stability,<ref name="ZG">{{cite journal|last1=Zagrebaev |first1=V.|last2=Greiner |first2=W.|date=2008|title=Synthesis of superheavy nuclei: A search for new production reactions|journal=[[Physical Review C]]|volume=78 |issue=3 |page=034610|arxiv=0807.2537|bibcode=2008PhRvC..78c4610Z|doi=10.1103/PhysRevC.78.034610}}</ref> although formation of the lighter elements [[nobelium]] or [[seaborgium]] is more favored.<ref name="Zagrebaev" /> One last possibility to synthesize isotopes near the island is to use controlled [[nuclear explosion]]s to create a [[neutron flux]] high enough to bypass the gaps of instability at <sup>258–260</sup>[[fermium|Fm]] and at [[mass number]] 275 (atomic numbers [[rutherfordium|104]] to [[hassium|108]]), mimicking the [[r-process]] in which the [[actinide]]s were first produced in nature and the gap of instability around [[radon]] bypassed.<ref name="Zagrebaev" /> Some such isotopes (especially <sup>291</sup>Cn and <sup>293</sup>Cn) may even have been synthesized in nature, but would have decayed away far too quickly (with half-lives of only thousands of years) and be produced in far too small quantities (about 10<sup>−12</sup> the abundance of [[lead]]) to be detectable as [[primordial nuclide]]s today outside [[cosmic ray]]s.<ref name="Zagrebaev" />