Studies of superheavy elements at SHIP

An overview of present experimental investigation of superheavy elements is given. The data are compared with theoretical descriptions. Results are reported from an experiment to confirm production of element 112 isotopes in irradiation of ²³⁸UF₄ with ⁴⁸Ca. One spontaneous fission event was measured, which agrees with three events of previously measured data which had been assigned to the decay of ²⁸³112. However, more experimental work is needed in order to obtain an independent and unambiguous confirmation of previous results. (author)