Synthesis of 292116 in the 248Cm + 48Ca reaction

We report on the observation of the first decay event of the new nuclide 292116 produced in an experiment devoted to the synthesis of Z = 116 nuclei in the 248Cm + 48Ca reaction. The implantation of a heavy recoil in the focal-plane detector was followed in 46.9 ms by an α particle with Eα = 10.56 MeV. The energies and decay times of the descendant nuclei are in agreement with those observed in the decay chains of the even-even isotope 288114, previously produced in the 244Pu + 48 Ca reaction. Thus, the first α decay should be attributed to the parent nuclide 292116 produced via the evaporation of four neutrons in the complete fusion of 248Cm and 48Ca. The experiment is in progress at Flerov Laboratory for Nuclear Reactions (FLNR, JINR, Dubna)