Expanding proton dripline by employing a number of muons

TL;DR

This paper shows that embedding multiple muons in large Z nuclei can significantly lower proton chemical potential, potentially extending the proton dripline and enabling the creation of superheavy nuclei around Z=120.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach of using muons to modify nuclear stability and expand the proton dripline in nuclear physics.

Findings

Muons localize within a few dozen femtometers of the nucleus.

Coulomb interactions reduce proton chemical potential by over 1 MeV.

Potential to produce nuclei with Z around 120.

Abstract

Through mean-field calculations, we demonstrate that, in a large $Z$ nucleus binding multiple muons, these heavy leptons localize within a few dozen femtometers of the nucleus. The mutual Coulomb interactions between the muons and the protons can lead to a substantial decrease in proton chemical potential, surpassing 1 MeV. These findings allow for expanding the proton-dripline on the nuclear chart in principle, suggesting the possible production of nuclei with Z around 120.