Investigating Atomic and Nuclear Properties of the Heaviest Elements

Abstract
Studies of the heaviest elements are of interest in nuclear and atomic physics due to their distinct properties. While nuclear shell effects are responsible for their very existence stabilizing them against immediate disintegration, strong relativistic effects influence their electronic structure and chemical behavior. Precision measurements of various atomic and nuclear properties will challenge theoretical predictions and contribute to improve our understanding of these exotic objects and the nature of the underlying forces. Numerous precision measurements of ground state properties of nuclides across the nuclear chart have been obtained in recent years utilizing ion trap and laser spectroscopy techniques. New methods for slowing down high-energy beams in buffer gas cells have opened the door to extend such experiments to nuclides from different production schemes. Thus, also the heaviest elements are now accessible with these techniques. I will present recent high-precision mass measurements performed with the mass spectrometer SHIPTRAP at GSI and introduce new methodical developments. In addition, I will discuss the prospects of laser spectroscopic studies on the elements above fermium where at present no atomic levels are experimentally known.

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