Oganesson: A Noble Gas Element That Is Neither Noble Nor A Gas

Oganesson (Og) is the last entry into the Periodic Table completing the seventh period of elements and group 18 of the noble gases. Only five atoms of Og have been successfully produced in nuclear collision experiments, with an estimate half-life for294118Og of 0.69+0.64-0.22 ms.([1])With such a short lifetime, chemical and physical properties inevitably have to come from accurate relativistic quantum theory. Here, we employ two complementary computational approaches, namely parallel tempering Monte-Carlo (PTMC) simulations and first-principles thermodynamic integration (TI), both calibrated against a highly accurate coupled-cluster reference to pin-down the melting and boiling points of this super-heavy element. In excellent agreement, these approaches show Og to be a solid at ambient conditions with a melting point of approximate to 325 K. In contrast, calculations in the nonrelativistic limit reveal a melting point for Og of 220 K, suggesting a gaseous state as expected for a typical noble gas element. Accordingly, relativistic effects shift the solid-to-liquid phase transition by about 100 K.