Physicists Discover a New Nuclear “Island” Where Magic Numbers Collapse

Researchers identify an “Island of Inversion” in proton-neutron symmetric nuclei for the first time. For many years, nuclear physicists thought that “Islands of Inversion” existed mainly in neutron-rich nuclei. These are regions of the nuclear chart where the usual rules of nuclear structure stop working. In these rare cases, familiar magic numbers no longer apply, [...]