Nuclear Isomers in the Heaviest Nuclei — the Odd Nucleon as a Sensitive Probe of Low-lying Nuclear Structure

International audienceAfter the discovery of superheavy nuclei up to 294Og and with the advent of new high-intensity accelerator facilities, more and more details of the nuclear structure of those exotic nuclear systems become accessible. In particular, nuclear structure studies in the vicinity of the deformed shell gaps in the nobelium/fermium region, which were already at the focus of the existing facilities throughout the last two decades, can be extended to a substantially more detailed level. In particular, decay spectroscopy of nuclei with odd particle numbers, which was hitherto hampered by limited beam intensities, will profit from the capabilities of the new facilities. This paper presents some results accumulated for odd-particle (super)heavy nuclei and gives an outlook on research opportunities at future facilities like SPIRAL2 at GANIL. Owing much of my knowledge and scientific passion to one of the main players in the field of superheavy nuclei, Sigurd Hofmann who left us in June 2022, I dedicate my presentation and this article to honor him, his scientific achievements, and his memory