Mass predictions in the infinite nuclear matter model

We present here the binding energies and mass excesses of 7208 nuclei in th e ranges 4 less than or equal to Z less than or equal to 120 and 8 less tha n or equal to A less than or equal to 270. Relative to our 1986-1987 mass t able, the present results are obtained with the recently improved infinite nuclear matter model which has the desirable features of natural decoupling of the infinite part from the finite part of the ground state energy, toge ther with the cancellation of the exchange Coulomb, finite-size proton form factor, and Nolen-Schiffer anomaly terms. In addition, we have developed a new scheme of an interactive network covering the entire nuclear chart to obtain the local energy (comprising shell, deformation, etc.) of a nucleus in a consistent manner, using the technique of ensemble averaging of a larg e number of values predicted with the help of recursion relations derived i n the model. This has widened the scope for predictions of masses of nuclei far into the drip-line regions of the nuclear chart. On the basis of syste matics of the two-neutron separation energies, several new islands of stabi lity in the exotic regions are predicted. This model has only five paramete rs representing the properties of infinite nuclear matter, the surface tens ion, and the Coulomb and pairing terms, which are determined once and for a ll in least-squares fits to known nuclear masses. The root-mean-square devi ation of the fit to 1884 known masses is 401 keV, while the mean deviation is a remarkably low 9 keV, indicating that remanent systematic effects are vanishingly small. (C) 1999 Academic Press.