Evidence for a Change in the Nuclear Mass Surface with the Discovery of the Most Neutron-Rich Nuclei with17≤Z≤25

The results of measurements of the production of neutron-rich nuclei by the fragmentation of a {sup 76}Ge beam are presented. The cross sections were measured for a large range of nuclei including 15 new isotopes that are the most neutron-rich nuclides of the elements chlorine to manganese ({sup 50}Cl, {sup 53}Ar, {sup 55,56}K, {sup 57,58}Ca, {sup 59,60,61}Sc, {sup 62,63}Ti, {sup 65,66}V, {sup 68}Cr, {sup 70}Mn). The enhanced cross sections of several new nuclei relative to a simple thermal evaporation framework, previously shown to describe similar production cross sections, indicates that nuclei in the region around {sup 62}Ti might be more stable than predicted by current mass models and could be an indication of a new island of inversion similar to that centered on {sup 31}Na.