SPECTROSCOPY OF TRANSFERMIUM NUCLEI USING THE GABRIELA SETUP

Heavy elements above Fm (Z = 100) are nuclei with vanishing liquid-drop fission barriers and are therefore entirely stabilized by quantum shell effects. Due to the large density of single-particle levels and strong polarized Coulomb fields, theoretical predictions of magic numbers are extremely model dependent. Furthermore, shell closures for one nucleon species depend strongly on the number of the other species. Reliable experimental data is needed in order to test and constrain theory. As there is a lack of such data in the region, new data is needed along with the confirmation of previous data. A detection system dedicated to the spectroscopy of transfermium nuclei was constructed in 2004 and installed at the focal plane of the VASSILISSA separator at the FLNR, Dubna, by a Franco-Russian collaboration. The results from the 2009 campaign will be presented.