Cluster radioactivity with effects of deformations and orientations of nuclei included

Based on the preformed cluster model (PCM) of Gupta and collaborators, we have extended our recent study on ground-state cluster decays to parent nuclei resulting in daughters other than spherical ²⁰⁸Pb, i.e., to deformed daughters, and the very new cases of ¹⁴C and ¹⁵N decays of ²²³Ac, and ³⁴Si decay of ²³⁸U, taking nuclei as spherical, quadrupole deformed (₂) alone, and with higher multipole deformations up to hexadecapole (₂, ₃, ₄) together with the “optimum” orientations of cold decay process. Except for ¹⁴C decays of ²²¹Fr, ^221-224,226Ra, and ²²⁵Ac where higher multipole deformations up to ₄ are found essential, the quadrupole deformation ₂ alone is found good enough to fit the experimental data. Because the PCM treats the cluster-decay process as the tunneling of a preformed cluster, the deformations and orientations of nuclei modify both the preformation probability P₀ and tunneling probability P, and hence the decay half-life, considerably.

©2009 The American Physical Society