Production and properties of the heaviest elements. Status and perspectives

This article reviews the following topics which were discussed at the Workshop on the Atomic Properties of the Heaviest Elements held from September 25-27, 2006 in Chiemsee, Germany: (i) the recent progress in the production of the heaviest elements, the investigation of their nuclear structure, and prospects for direct mass measurements in Penning traps; (ii) recent studies of their chemical properties with the aid of volatile species and single-atom aqueous-phase chemistry; (iii) the current status and future prospects for the investigation of atomic and ionic properties such as optical spectroscopy in gas cells and ion traps, including fully relativistic calculations of the atomic level structure with predictions for the element nobelium; and (iv) ionic charge radii measurements in buffer gas filled drift cells, and ion chemical reactions in the gas phase. (authors)