Add isomers?

[gvdeynde]

Would it be possible to add the isomers as well?

This would need

• a field in Isotope -> isomer_number (0 for ground state, 1 for first isomeric state)
• name -> add 'm' add the end of the mass number if there is only one isomer; add m1, m2, ... if there are more than one.
• include the isomer number in the equality and comparison
• modification of the nubase parser

[Gregstrq]

Would it be possible to add the isomers as well?

I have considered this option, but thought that without someone who is more knowledgeable about isomers it would be hard to make it right.

name -> add 'm' add the end of the mass number if there is only one isomer; add m1, m2, ... if there are more than one.

Is it really a common way to designate isomers? For example, nubase denotes the isomers with m,n,p,q,r,x,i,j and I have absolutely no idea what it means.

modification of the nubase parser

There is also Atlas of nuclear isomers: (https://arxiv.org/pdf/2208.01028.pdf,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nds.2015.08.001). Do you know what is considered a more reliable source: Nubase or Atlas of nuclear isomers?

[gvdeynde]

Thanks for picking this up. For my field of research (reactor physics), the isomers in the NUBASE data base are more than enough. Nomenclature in this field is mostly done using the ZZZAAAm notation. Example: Am-242: 952420 for ground state, 952421 for first metastable etc). And they are "displayed nicely", typically Am242, Am242m1, Am242m2. And for what it's worth, it would be nice to have an interface to IsotopeTable using the ZZZAAAm notation (in both directions) ;-)

The NUBASE nomenclature is just alphabetically starting with 'm' (for metastable) and avoiding ambiguities (like o for 0, s for 'stable' etc). At least that's my interpretation. I could ask someone the IAEA's NDS if that is really the motivation behind the nomenclature, if needed.

I would stick to NUBASE for the data. It's "stamped" by the IAEA NDS.

[Gregstrq]

@gvdeynde This is kind of a very delayed response, but I was very busy the last year with finding the new postdoc position and settling in in the new place.

ZZZAAAm nomenclature implies, that we know the precise list of the isomers. What I have found out comparing NUBASE data (containing masses and half-lifes) with the data in INDC tables (containing magnetic dipole and electric quadrupolar moments), is that they somehow consider almost non-intersecting sets of isomers. As a result, when I combine the two datasets, the order of the isomers you habe in NUBASE can change.

In the combined dataset, the only reliable way to find the needed isomer, as it seems, is to look up all the isomers for given ZZZAAA, and then find the one with the needed Excitation Energy and Spin.