[en] Chemical elements can be divided according to their origin into six groups. Some elements were created in primordial nucleosynthesis immediately after the Big Bang. Other elements were formed by nuclear reactions in the stars during their lifetime. Some elements were produced during catastrophic events in space, such as supernova explosions or neutron star collisions. A relatively specific group are elements derived from nuclear reactions in interstellar space. Some elements are products of radioactive transformation. The last group are elements artificially prepared by man. These processes are studied in an interdisciplinary field: nuclear astrophysics. Its task is to explain the various mechanisms of formation and representation of elements and their isotopes in space and on the Earth. The lecture will introduce the basic mechanisms behind the individual processes in space. Gradually, the periodic table as we know it today will grow before our eyes. However, at the time of the Big Bang almost fourteen billion years ago, it was completely empty. (author)

[en] Full text: ¹⁸³Hg → ¹⁸³Au decay was studied using the TATRA system at ISOLDE facility. Conversion electrons were detected with the LN2 cooled windowless Si(Li) detector. The tape system was operated at 8.10^-8 mbar, therefore no deposition of mist on the surface of cold detector was observed during the run. The FWHM of 1.2 keV for conversion electrons above 150 keV was achieved, which is almost comparable with previous measurement, which employed magnetic spectrometer. Simultaneously, the gamma rays were detected with array of coaxial and novel Broad Energy germanium (BEGe) detectors. Very good energy resolution of BEGe detector was used to construct the level scheme of ¹⁸³Au, which has large density of excited states at low energy. In the talk, fundaments of the shape coexistence in odd-Au isotopes, technical details of system for detection of conversion electrons and level scheme of ¹⁸³Au will be presented. Technique of level scheme construction developed in the present study has large potential for studies of isotopes with high level density and can be with success applied to neutron-rich isotopes. (author)

[en] The β${}^{+}$/EC decay of mass separated samples of ${}^{181}$Hg was studied employing the TATRA spectrometer at the ISOLDE facility at CERN. The decay scheme was constructed for the first time. A Broad Energy Germanium detector was used to achieve this by combination of high-gain γ-ray singles spectroscopy and γ–γ coincidences. The systematics of excited states associated with the 1h${}_{11/2}$ proton-hole configuration in odd-Au isotopes was extended.

[en] Excited states in the proton-unbound nuclide ¹⁷⁷Au were populated in the ⁹²Mo(⁸⁸Sr, p2n) reaction and identified using the Jurogam-II and GREAT spectrometers in conjunction with the RITU gas-filled separator at the University of Jyvaskyla Accelerator Laboratory. A strongly coupled band and its decay path to the 11/2 α-decaying isomer have been identified using recoil-decay tagging. Comparisons with cranked Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB) calculations based on Skyrme energy functionals suggest that the band has a prolate deformation and is based upon coupling the odd 1h_11/2) proton hole to the excited O₂⁺ configuration in the ¹⁷⁸Hg core. Although these configurations might be expected to follow the parabolic trend of core Hg(O₂⁺) states as a function of neutron number, the electromagnetic decay paths from the strongly coupled band in ¹⁷⁷Au are markedly different from those observed in the heavier isotopes above the mid-shell. This indicates that a significant change in the structure of the underlying ^A+1Hg core occurs below the neutron mid-shell. (authors)

[en] The borderlines of the chart of nuclei are in the focus of interest of the nuclear physics community. Ambitious projects to reach extreme isospin and to push towards the limits of stability are on the books of the funding agencies worldwide. New features of nuclear matter are expected under these extreme conditions. The quantum mechanical properties and the evolution of the shell model will be probed. In our endeavour to approach the predicted ''Island of stability'' at Z=114,120 or 126 and N=184 we performed, apart from the search for new elements, also nuclear structure studies for heaviest nuclei. The isomeric states that we recently observed in ²⁵²No and ²⁷⁰Ds are only two examples of the many facets of interesting physics to be discovered in this region. Systematic investigation of the nuclear structure is also essential for a successful progress in element synthesis. In radioactive decay studies, i.e. evaporation residue (ER)-α-γ coincidences of ERs implanted into a Si detector after a separator, we studied features like K-isomerism and the trend of single particle levels in isotopic and isotonic chains in the region of Z=100 (fermium) to 110 (darmstadtium)

No abstract available

[en] A K isomer with a half-life of (110±10) ms at an excitation energy of 1254 keV has been identified in the nucleus ²⁵²No. The isomer is interpreted as a two-quasineutron state with K ^π=8^-. The isotope ²⁵²No was produced in the fusion-evaporation reaction ²⁰⁶Pb(⁴⁸Ca,2n)²⁵²No. The experiment has been performed at the velocity filter SHIP of GSI Darmstadt. (orig.)

[en] The production of ²⁸³112 in ⁴⁸Ca induced nuclear reactions was investigated using physical and chemical separation techniques. In the reaction ⁴⁸Ca on ²³⁸U, four events were registered at the SHIP velocity filter. The mean atomic mass of the evaporation residues (EVR)

[en] In this paper we discuss the discovery of an isomeric state in ²⁵²No and a recent experiment studying the rotational band built upon this isomeric state. Results from the later experiment help to assign the structure of the isomer on the basis of purely experimental data, and to disentangle between different theoretical interpretations. Comparison with similar states in ²⁵⁰Fm and ²⁵⁴No provides important information and helps the development of self -consistent theories.

[en] The decay of the isotopes ²⁵⁵Rf, ²⁵¹No and ²⁴⁷Fm produced in the reactions ²⁰⁷Pb(⁵⁰Ti,2n)²⁵⁵Rf^α_→²⁵¹No^α_→²⁴⁷Fm, and ²⁰⁶Pb(⁴⁸Ca,3n)²⁵¹No^α_→²⁴⁷Fm was investigated by means of α-γ spectroscopy. Previously observed γ transitions in coincidence with α decays of ²⁵⁵Rf were confirmed, their energies and line intensities were measured more precisely, and their multipolarities were determined as E1. In ²⁵¹No a new isomeric state at E^*>1700 keV with a half-life of ∼2μs was identified. The decay of ²⁴⁷Fm was measured more precisely. A partial level scheme of the daughter nucleus ²⁴³Cf could be established. (orig.)