Unity is strength. It’s a well-known proverb. The currency of Belgium, in particular. And researchers are once again demonstrating its relevance today. Experimenters and theorists have joined forces to unlock the secret of the doubly magical zirconium-80 core!
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the zirconium was discovered in its metallic form at the beginning of the XIXe century. It is known to the public in its oxidized form. The zirconia, indeed, gives synthetic diamonds quite successful. For researchers, however, zirconium remains a chemical element (Zr) from atomic number 40. Of whichisotope 80 carried a mystery, the mystery said of the mass missing zirconium-80 (80Zr).
But still, a team of physicists bringing together experimenters from National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL, United States) and theorists of Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (United States) seems to have solved the riddle. The former claim that the core of zirconium-80 is lighter than previously thought researchers. The latter attempting to explain the phenomenon using advanced nuclear models and new statistical methods.
Note first that zirconium-80 is what physicists consider it a difficult core to manufacture. The NSCL facilities allowed them to obtain enough of it to measure its mass with unprecedented precision, thanks to a spectrometer mass of very great power of resolution, based on Penning traps, a way to determine the missing mass of the core of 80 Zr. Beyond that carried by the 40 protons and the 40 neutrons that compose it. That which is related to theenergy which ensures the cohesion of this core.
A tightly bound core
A mass linked to energy? Yes. This is what always reminds us of the famous equation Albert Einstein : E = mc2. It relates mass (m) to energy (E) through the intermediary of the speed of light (vs). Thus, a nucleus which exerts a greater hold on its constituents – in other words, which exhibits stronger binding energy – will also have more missing mass. And the researchers have just shown that the core of zirconium-80 is noticeably lighter and therefore more strongly bonded than they thought.
How to explain it? By magic? At least, magic in the sense that physicists understand it. According to this magic, a nucleus can exceed mass expectations by presenting a special number of protons or neutrons. From magic numbers which provide stability to the nucleus.
The theory, therefore, postulated that zirconium-80 must exhibit a special number of protons and neutrons, which made it doubly magical. Past experiences had also shown that the core of the 80Zr was more in the form of a ball rugby than that of a soccer ball. And theorists argued that this shape could be the source of the magic carried by the zirconium-80 core. With these ultra-precise measurements of the mass of the atom nucleus of 80Zr, they have proof of that.
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