Precise transition, level, and neutron separation energies of different isotopes are inferred.

The (n,γ) reaction has been used to establish a self-consistent set of neutron separation energies.

Fracture energy can be expressed as the sum of surface creation energy and surface separation energy.

The separation energies are:

In other words, the proton separation energy S indicates how much energy should be added to a given nucleus to remove a single proton.

Six precise single neutron separation energies have been derived from doublets determined using Manitoba's 2.73 m mass spectrometer.

The authors measured the two-neutron separation energy to be 1.35(10) MeV, in good agreement with shell model calculations, using standard interactions for this mass region.

Comparison of the (γ, t0) cross section with those of other photodisintegration channels suggests an isospin separation energy of 6 MeV.

For all elements occurring naturally on earth and having an odd number of protons, at least one species with a proton separation energy less than zero has been experimentally observed.

For a proton to escape a nucleus, the proton separation energy must be negative - the proton is therefore unbound, and tunnels out of the nucleus in a finite time.

Thus, the particle drip lines defined the boundaries where the particle separation energy is less than or equal to zero, for which the spontaneous emission of that particle is energetically allowed.

While Q-values can be used to describe any nuclear transmutation, for particle decay, the particle separation energy quantity S, is also used, and it is equivalent to the negative of the Q-value.

Through examination of composite targets with a common component 13 elements have been studied, yielding some 20 Q values. The average precision was estimated to be 0.08 keV with the separation energy differences having a precision of 0.14 keV.

As the proton separation energy was previously known to within 1–3 keV for one isotope of each element studied, it is now possible to present SP values with errors of a few keV for ail the nuclides listed above.

At 1 x 10 Kelvin, the photon distribution is energetic enough to knock nucleons out of any nuclei that have particle separation energies less than 3 MeV, but to know which nuclei exist in what abundances one must consider also the competing radiative captures.

As the photon bath will typically be described by a Planckian distribution, higher energy photons will be less abundant, and so photodisintegration will not become significant until the nucleon separation energy begins to approach zero towards the drip lines, where photodisintegration may be induced by lower energy gamma rays.