skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Effect of choosing the Q{sub α}-values and daughter density distributions on the magic numbers predicted by α decays

Journal Article · · Annals of Physics
; ;  [1]
  1. Misr University for Science and Technology (MUST), Faculty of Engineering, Department of Physics, Giza (Egypt)

We investigated the effects of choosing the α-decay energy (Q{sub α}) and particular density distributions of the daughter nuclei on predicting unknown magic numbers, or confirming some of them. The Q{sub α} values were calculated using three models, namely the finite-range droplet model (FRDM), the Weizsäcker–Skyrme (WS4) mass model, and a recent fitting formula. The α-decay half-lives (T{sub α}) of superheavy nuclei of Z = 118–124 have been calculated within the generalized density-dependent cluster model. The double-folding α+core potential was determined based on the M3Y-Reid nucleon–nucleon interaction. We have used the two-parameter Fermi distribution to represent the nuclear density, with four sets of parameters that were determined based on electron scattering data and different microscopic calculations. Upon investigating the relative stability of the mentioned superheavy isotopic chains, we found that the Q{sub α}-values deduced from FRDM and WS4 models predict different neutron magic numbers. The examined fitting formula failed to predict any magic number larger than N = 162. Under normalization to the proton and neutron (N) numbers, the different choices of the density distributions showed almost no effect on the general behavior of T{sub α} with N, but changed its values up to one order of magnitude. Even though the maxima and minima of T{sub α} clearly follow the characteristic minima and maxima of Q{sub α}, respectively, the results showed that precise density distribution and deformations, in addition to a correct preformation probability, are necessarily required for estimating an accurate value of the half-life.

OSTI ID:
22852408
Journal Information:
Annals of Physics, Vol. 406; Other Information: © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-4916
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English