Signatures of the Z = 82 shell closure in α-decay process.

In recent experiments at the velocity filter Separator for Heavy Ion reaction Products (SHIP) (GSI, Darmstadt), an extended and improved set of α-decay data for more than 20 of the most neutron-deficient isotopes in the region from lead to thorium was obtained. The combined analysis of this newly available α-decay data, of which the (186)Po decay is reported here, allowed us for the first time to clearly show that crossing the Z = 82 shell to higher proton numbers strongly accelerates the α decay. From the experimental data, the α-particle formation probabilities are deduced following the Universal Decay Law approach. The formation probabilities are discussed in the framework of the pairing force acting among the protons and the neutrons forming the α particle. A striking resemblance between the phenomenological pairing gap deduced from experimental binding energies and the formation probabilities is noted. These findings support the conjecture that both the N = 126 and Z = 82 shell closures strongly influence the α-formation probability.

Universal decay law in charged-particle emission and exotic cluster radioactivity.

A linear universal decay formula is presented starting from the microscopic mechanism of the charged-particle emission. It relates the half-lives of monopole radioactive decays with the Q values of the outgoing particles as well as the masses and charges of the nuclei involved in the decay. This relation is found to be a generalization of the Geiger-Nuttall law in alpha radioactivity and explains well all known cluster decays. Predictions on the most likely emissions of various clusters are presented.

Systematics of proton emission.

A very simple formula is presented that relates the logarithm of the half-life, corrected by the centrifugal barrier, with the Coulomb parameter in proton decay processes. The corresponding experimental data lie on two straight lines which appear as a result of a sudden change in the nuclear shape marking two regions of deformation independently of the angular momentum of the outgoing proton. This feature provides a powerful tool to assign experimentally quantum numbers in proton emitters.

Two-particle resonant states in a many-body mean field.

A formalism to evaluate the resonant states produced by two particles moving outside a closed shell core is presented. It is found that long lived two-body states (including bound states) are mostly determined by either bound single-particle states or by narrow single-particle resonances. However, they can be significantly affected by the continuum part of the spectrum.