Recent advances in the discovery of transuranium elements

The heaviest known elements at present, the transactinides, ranging from element 104 to element 109, are the subject of this paper. It will start with a brief historical review on their investigation. A considerable part of this review will be devoted to the experimental methods developed to investigate the isotopes of these artificial elements, where the quantities produced are so small as to be measured in atoms. The major step forward in heavy element research was the finding that the nuclei at the top of the periodic table are unexpectedly stable against spontaneous fission, which has been explained by high ground-state shell effects. The experimental data will be compared with current predictions with the aim of learning about their predictive power. Finally, the limitations of the production of heavy elements by heavy ion fusion will be discussed.

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