• Some atoms seem to be particularly stable because of their numbers of protons and neutronsShutterstock/ktsdesign Some atoms seem to be particularly stable because of their numbers of protons and neutrons Shutterstock/ktsdesign A special set of numbers has formed the backbone of nuclear physics research for decades, and now we finally know how it arises from the quantum mix of nuclear particles and forces. • Nearly 80 years ago, physicist Maria Goeppert Mayer showed that when the nucleus of an atom contains certain numbers of protons and neutrons, such as 50 or 82, it becomesexceptionally stable. • In the years since, researchers amassed evidence of more such “magic numbers”, which are found in the most stable, and therefore most abundant, elements in our universe. • Read moreHow superheavy chemistry could rearrange the periodic table Read more How superheavy chemistry could rearrange the periodic table Goeppert Mayer and her contemporaries explained these numbers by proposing that protons and neutrons occupy discrete energy levels, or shells. • This model, which is still used to interpret many nuclear physics experiments, treats each particle in the nucleus as independent, but our best quantum theories assert that particles within nuclei actuallyinteract strongly. • Jiangming Yaoat Sun Yat-sen University in China and his colleagues have now resolved this contradiction and, in the process, elucidated how magic numbers emerge from these interactions.
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