Nuclear spectroscopy in nuclei with Z≥110

International audienceThe nuclear structure of species at the extreme of highest atomic numbers Zand nuclear masses Apromises to reveal intriguing new features of this exotic hadronic matter. Their stability itself they owe toquantum-mechanic effects only. They form metastable states which, governed by the subtle interplay of αdecay and spontaneous fission versus quantum-mechanic stabilizationvia shell effects, are in some cases more robust against disintegration thantheir ground states. Following the isotopic and isotonic trends of single particle levels, as well as collective features like deformation, may reveal the path towards the gap in the level densities, expected for the next closed proton and neutron shells at the so-called“island of stability” of spherical superheavy nuclei. Their atomic configuration offers via X-ray spectroscopy a tool to identify the atomic number of heavy species, where other more traditional methods like evaporation residue (ER)–αcorrelation are not applicable