Research on superheavy elements: Experimental prospects

Abstract

What are the heaviest elements that can exist in Nature or be created on Earth? Does an ‘Island of Stability’ exist beyond uranium? Questions like these are often asked in connection with Long Range Plans of nuclear physics communities or large-scale accelerator facilities. Information on the chemical and physical properties of superheavy elements ($Z>103$) or nuclei is notoriously difficult to collect, mainly because of tiny production and thus observation rates. This in turn limits experimental constraints of nuclear structure theory in particular. A selection of ongoing efforts and future possibilities to improve the experimental situation are presented. Nuclear theory is asked to anchor model predictions on already existing nuclear structure data in the superheavy region.