Some critical remarks on a sequence of events interpreted to possibly originate from a decay chain of an element 120 isotope

A sequence of three events observed in an irradiation of 248Cm with 54Cr at the velocity filter SHIP of the GSI - Helmholtzzentrum fur Schwerionenforschung GmbH, 64291 Darmstadt, Germany, had been interpreted as a decay chain consisting of three \( \alpha\) particles. On the basis of measured energies, a possible assignment to the decay of an isotope of element 120 was discussed, although it was stated that a definite assignment could not be made. A critical analysis of the data, however, shows that the reported events do not have the properties of a decay chain consisting of three \( \alpha\) particles and (probably being terminated by) a spontaneous fission event, but that this is rather a random sequence of events.