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The cluster radioactivity of heavy nuclei was first predicted by Sandulescu, Poenaru, and Greiner in 1980 [1]. It is usually called heavy-ion radioactivity because the emitted clusters are heavier than the
α -particle and lighter than fission fragments. In 1984, cluster radioactivity was first observed by Rose and Jones through the decay of223 Ra by emitting14 C [2]. Since then, many clusters heavier than14 C have been experimentally observed in many parent nuclei from221 Fr to242 Cm, such as20 O,23 F,22,24−26 Ne,28,30 Mg, and32,34 Si, and the daughter nuclei are the doubly magic nucleus208 Pb or its neighbors [3-7]. This implies that the shell effect plays a crucial role in cluster emitting for heavy nuclei.To describe the cluster radioactivity, various theoretical models were proposed [8-32]. Generally, these models can be divided into two categories: cluster-like model [8-16] and fission-like model [17-32]. For the cluster-like model, the cluster is assumed to be preformed in the parent nucleus before it penetrates the barrier. Concerning the fission-like model, the nucleus deforms continuously as it penetrates the nuclear barrier and reaches the scission configuration after running down the Coulomb barrier. Experimental half-lives can be approximately reproduced in a satisfactory manner by both types of models [8-32]. In addition, many scaling laws and semi-empirical relationships were developed for systematic calculations of the cluster decay half-lives [33-41].
Recently, a semi-empirical relationship for charged particles and exotic cluster radioactivity was developed by Sahu et al. based on the basic phenomenon of resonances occurring in quantum scattering process under Coulomb-nuclear potential [42]. It is usually called the Sahu formula and its form is similar to the universal decay law (UDL) proposed by Qi et al. [33, 34]. Although the coefficients are obtained naturally and the angular momentum dependence is included in the Sahu formula, there exist some deviations between the calculated half-lives of the charged particles of the parent nuclei and the experimental values. For example, the calculated
α -decay half-life of257 Md is 103 times as short as its corresponding experimental value. Consequently, it is necessary to improve the accuracy of the Sahu relationship by taking into account some physical factors. Recently, we proposed an improved Sahu (ImSahu) semi-empirical relationship forα -decay half-lives by introducing a precise charge radius formula and an analytic expression for preformation probability [43, 44]. It is shown that the 421 experimentalα -decay half-lives can be reproduced accurately with the ImSahu relationship. In this study, we continued to improve the Sahu relationship for the analysis of cluster radioactivity on the basis of a recent work of ours.This article is organized as follows. Sec. II describes the theoretical approaches. In Sec. III, numerical results and discussions are presented. In the last section, some conclusions are drawn.
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The Sahu relationship is derived by considering the metastable parent nucleus as a two-body quantum system composed of the emitted particle and the daughter nucleus exhibiting resonance scattering phenomena under the combined effect of nuclear, Coulomb, and centrifugal forces [42].
In a series of papers by Sahu [45-48], the cluster+nucleus system was considered as a Coulomb-nuclear potential scattering problem and the resonance energy of the quasibound state was taken as the
Qc -value (released energy) of the decaying system. The width or life-time of the resonance state accounts for the decay half-life. The normalized regular solution u(r) of the modified Schrödinger equation is matched at radius r = R with the outside Coulomb-Hankel outgoing spherical wave f(r) =Gl(η,kr) +iFl(η,kr) such thatu(r)=N0[Gl(η,kR)+iFl(η,kR)],
(1) where R is the radial position outside the range of the nuclear field.
For a typical cluster – daughter system, the cluster particle serves as the projectile and the daughter nucleus as the target. The mean life T (or width
Γ ) of the decay is expressed in terms of the amplitudeN0 asT=ℏΓ=1|N0|2μℏk,
(2) where
μ represents the reduced mass of the system, and k andη denote the wave number and Coulomb parameter, respectively.Given that the wave function u(r) decreases rapidly with the radius outside the daughter nucleus, it can be normalized by requiring that
∫R0|u(r)|2dr=1 . Furthermore, using the fact that for a sufficiently large value of radial distance, the value ofGl (l,kR) could be several orders of magnitude larger than that ofFl (l,kR), Eq. (2) can be expressed asT=μℏk|Gl(η,kR)|2|u(R)|2.
(3) Eq. (3) gives the mean life T or half-life
T1/2 = 0.693T of the charged particle decay. This formulation is valid for the emission of all types of positively charged particles.In the derivation of the Sahu relationship, the function
Gl was consulted from a handbook of mathematical functions [49]. The derived details can be found in Ref. [42]. We will not present it here. The obtained expression of the Sahu relationship is written aslog10[T1/2(s)]=aZcZd√AQc+b√AZcZd+c+d,
(4) where
Zc andZd are the proton numbers of the emitted cluster and daughter nucleus, respectively, andA=AcAd/(Ac+Ad) , whereAc(Ad) denotes the mass number of the emitted cluster (daughter nucleus). The coefficients a, b, c, and d in Eq. (4) are derived naturally and are different from those of the UDL formula. These parameters are expressed as follows [42]:a=2a0e2√2mℏln10,
(5) b=−bf√2me2Rℏln10,
(6) c=ln[(0.231×10−23)√mRA2e2ZcZd1P]ln10,
(7) d=lnMl−l∑l=0ln(ηl)ln10,
(8) where
bf=2+a0−2a1+(a04+a1−2a2)t1/2+(a08+a14+a2−2a3−1)t+(5a064+a18+a24+a3)t3/2+(5a164+a28+a34−14)t2+(5a264+a38)t5/2+(5a364−18)t3,
(9) √Ml=1+4(2l+1)2−116(2me2RZcZdA/ℏ2)1/2+[4(2l+1)2−1][4(2l+1)2−9]2[162(2me2RZcZdA/ℏ2)]+[4(2l+1)2−1][4(2l+1)2−9]×[4(2l+1)2−25]2[163(2me2RZcZdA/ℏ2)3/2],
(10) ηl=1+l2(e2ZcZd/ℏ)2mA/2Qc.
(11) In the expression for
bf ,t=QcR/(e2ZcZd) . Here, the nucleon massm=931.5 MeV,e2=1.4398 MeV fm,ℏ=197.329 MeV fm,a0=1.5707288 ,a1=−0.2121144 ,a2=0.074240 , anda3=−0.018729 [49]. The parameter d is l-dependent, where l is the orbital angular momentum carried by the emitted particles. In the calculations, R is approximated as R =r0(A1/3d+A1/3c)≈ 9.5 fm, and P is taken as10−3 [42].We pointed out in previous studies that the accuracy of the Sahu formula was low because R and P are treated simply as constants [43, 44]. In a recent study of ours, R and P were assumed as the charged radius and preformation probability, respectively. Moreover, an accurate charge radius formula on R and an analytic expression for the preformation probability on P were introduced for improving the accuracy of the Sahu formula [43, 44]. Based on these recent studies [43, 44], concerning cluster radioactivity, the accurate charge radius formula and analytic preformation probability for clusters inside the parent nuclei are also introduced.
For P, an analytic expression proposed by Blendowske and Walliser, i.e., P =
P(Ac−1)/3α [50], is usually adopted. Considering the model dependence, the analytic expression of P is slightly modified aslog10P=(Ac−13)log10Pα+c′,
(12) where
Pα is theα -particle preformation factor inside the parent nucleus. The second termc′ of Eq. (12) is a constant.Concerning R, it is defined as
R=Rd+Rc,
(13) where
Rd andRc are the root-mean-square charge radii of the daughter nucleus and the cluster, respectively. The form ofRd orRc is [51]Rd(c)=r0(1−r1Nd(c)−Zd(c)Ad(c)+r21Ad(c))Ad(c)1/3,
(14) where
Nd(c) is the neutron number of the daughter nucleus or the emitted cluster, andr0 = 1.2331 fm,r1 = 0.1461 andr2 = 2.3310 [51].In addition to Eq. (14), some other charged radius formulas were proposed [51-54]. To analyze the influence on the cluster radioactivity half-lives from a different radius formula, another charge radius formula that includes the Casten factor was also used in this study [51]:
Rd(c)=r0(1−r1Nd(c)−Zd(c)Ad(c)+r21Ad(c)+r3CAd(c))Ad(c)1/3,
(15) where C is the Casten factor, whose form is C =
Np Nn /(Np +Nn ). HereNp andNn represent the valence proton number and valence neutron number, respectively. The parameters arer0 = 1.2262 fm,r1 = 0.1473,r2 = 1.9876, andr2 = 0.3993. In this study, the ImSahu formula along with Eq. (14) (Eq. (15)) is named as ImSahuA (ImSahuB) relationship. -
First, the empirical preformation factors P of clusters in nuclei were obtained from Eqs. (1-14) or Eqs. (1-13, 15) by inputting the experimental
Qc and half-life values. The resulting P values are listed in columns 6 and 7 of Table 1, respectively. In Table 1, columns 1 and 2 contain the parent nuclei and the emitted clusters, respectively. The l value is shown in column 3, and its effect is taken into account in the calculations. Columns 4 and 5 represent the experimental values ofQc andlog10T1/2 , respectively. Note that the experimental values ofQc are obtained from the following expression:Parent nuclei Emitted clusters l Qc /MeVlog10T1/2 (s)P P log10T1/2 (s)log10T1/2 (s)log10T1/2 (s)Expt. Expt. ImSahuA ImSahuB Sahu ImSahuA ImSahuB Even-even nuclei 212Po 4He 0 8.950 −6.52 1.63 ×10−4 3.43 ×10−4 −6.25 −6.21 −6.23 214Po 4He 0 7.833 −3.78 1.90 ×10−4 4.15 ×10−4 −3.38 −3.40 −3.41 238Pu 4He 0 5.590 9.59 6.36 ×10−5 1.16 ×10−4 10.14 9.49 9.41 222Ra 14C 0 33.05 11.00 1.62 ×10−8 5.70 ×10−8 10.42 11.32 11.70 224Ra 14C 0 30.54 15.92 3.51 ×10−9 1.32 ×10−8 14.92 15.58 15.99 226Ra 14C 0 28.20 21.34 5.63 ×10−10 2.23 ×10−9 19.78 20.20 20.64 228Th 20O 0 44.72 20.72 4.51 ×10−11 7.38 ×10−11 20.22 20.90 21.05 230U 22Ne 0 61.40 19.57 2.40 ×10−12 2.52 ×10−12 19.12 19.28 19.28 230 Th24 Ne0 57.57 24.64 1.34 ×10−13 6.76 ×10−13 23.46 23.90 24.61 232U 24Ne 0 62.31 20.40 3.06 ×10−13 1.44 ×10−12 19.50 20.02 20.70 234U 24Ne 0 58.84 25.92 1.82 ×10−14 9.31 ×10−14 24.28 24.31 25.03 234U 26Ne 0 59.47 25.07 2.26 ×10−13 4.37 ×10−13 24.93 25.36 25.69 234U 28Mg 0 74.11 25.74 7.66 ×10−16 1.37 ×10−15 24.22 24.36 24.70 236U 28Mg 0 71.69 27.58 5.90 ×10−15 7.47 ×10−15 27.35 27.09 27.27 236Pu 28Mg 0 79.67 21.67 2.25 ×10−15 3.91 ×10−15 20.46 20.76 21.08 238Pu 28Mg 0 75.91 25.70 1.38 ×10−15 2.48 ×10−15 24.88 24.57 24.91 238Pu 32Si 0 91.19 25.28 2.49 ×10−16 1.38 ×10−15 25.13 25.02 25.92 236U 30Mg 0 72.51 27.58 5.17 ×10−15 5.11 ×10−15 27.67 27.83 27.95 238Pu 30Mg 0 77.00 25.67 6.80 ×10−16 6.73 ×10−16 24.87 25.04 25.16 242Cm 34Si 0 96.51 23.15 4.04 ×10−16 2.13 ×10−15 23.69 23.90 24.81 Odd-A nuclei 213Po 4He 0 8.540 −5.37 1.04 ×10−4 2.21 ×10−4 −5.27 −5.06 −5.14 215At 4He 0 8.178 −4.00 7.59 ×10−5 1.60 ×10−4 −3.98 −3.82 −3.91 221Fr 14C 3 31.32 14.52 8.93 ×10−10 3.24 ×10−9 12.70 14.46 14.53 221Ra 14C 3 32.40 13.39 1.10 ×10−9 3.95 ×10−9 11.67 13.42 13.48 223Ra 14C 4 31.83 15.20 1.74 ×10−10 6.35 ×10−10 12.78 14.43 14.50 225Ac 14C 4 30.48 17.34 1.97 ×10−9 6.92 ×10−9 16.23 17.62 17.68 231Pa 23F 1 51.84 26.02 5.72 ×10−15 2.77 ×10−14 22.96 24.99 25.11 231Pa 24Ne 1 60.42 23.38 6.12 ×10−15 2.94 ×10−14 20.77 22.84 22.96 233U 24Ne 2 60.49 24.82 1.97 ×10−15 9.96 ×10−15 21.98 23.79 23.91 235U 24Ne 1 57.36 27.42 6.01 ×10−14 3.19 ×10−13 26.51 27.88 28.03 233U 25Ne 2 60.78 24.83 2.77 ×10−15 7.60 ×10−15 22.34 24.42 24.28 235U 25Ne 3 57.76 27.42 7.58 ×10−14 2.19 ×10−13 26.82 28.45 28.33 235U 26Ne 3 58.11 27.45 8.20 ×10−14 1.61 ×10−13 27.09 28.98 28.68 Table 1. Preformation factors P of the cluster radioactivity obtained in the calculations of the present study and calculated cluster radioactivity half-lives within the Sahu, ImSahuA, and ImSahuB relationships. The P values and half-lives of
α -decay are calculated by a method used in a recent study of ours on the Sahu formula [43, 44].Qc andlog10T1/2 are measured in MeV and second, respectively.Qc=M−(Md+Mc),
(16) where M,
Md , andMc represent the mass excesses of the parent nucleus, daughter nucleus, and emitted particle, respectively. The experimental nuclear mass excesses were taken from Ref. [55]. The experimental half-lives were taken from NUBASE2016 Table [56] and NNDC [57].Note in Table 1 that the P values obtained from the ImSahuA relationship and those obtained from the ImSahuB relationship are different because of the differences in the input of the charge radius formulas. It indicates that the P values are dependent on the charge radius to a certain extent, which is consistent with the calculations performed by Qian et al. [58]. Furthermore, it is necessary to point out that the P values strongly depend on the theoretical models. Relevant studies suggested that the P value differences from different models amount to several orders of magnitude [14, 15, 58-61].
As can be observed from Eq. (12),
log10P will be linear with (Ac -1)/3 iflog10 Pα is assumed to be a constant.Pα may be the average preformation probability ofα -particle for different nuclei. In Fig. 1, we plot -log10P versus (Ac -1)/3 for even-even (e-e) parent nuclei. According to Eq. (12), a best fitting line withPα = 0.0624, depicted in Fig. 1 (a), is obtained. For Fig. 1 (b), the obtainedPα value is 0.0552. ThePα values were determined in previous relevant studies [14, 15, 60, 61]. ThePα values within a generalized liquid drop model (GLDM) and a unified fission model (UFM) were 0.0290 [14] and 0.0338 [15], respectively. Following a systematic study on the correlation between theα -decay and cluster radioactivity, the resultingPα value, reported by Poenaru et al., was 0.0161 [60]. Bhattacharya and Gangopadhyay determined thePα within the DDM3Y1 model combining the relativistic mean field model, whose value was 0.0193 [61]. Therefore, the obtainedPα values of our study are comparable to those of the other models.Figure 1. (color online) Negative of the logarithm of the preformation factor (-
log10P ) for e-e parent nuclei as a function of (Ac -1)/3. The left and right panels refer to the cases of the ImSahuA and ImSahuB relationships, respectively.Using the same method, our study can be extended to the case of odd-A parent nuclei. The empirical
−log10P values as functions of (Ac -1)/3 for the odd-A parent nuclei and the best fitting lines are shown in Fig. 2. The obtainedPα values by the ImSahuA and ImSahuB relationships are 0.0392 and 0.0414, respectively. The two values are close to the correspondingPα values within the GLDM, i.e., 0.0214 [14], within the UFM, i.e., 0.0262 [15], and from Ref. [61], i.e., 0.0135.Figure 2. (color online) Same plots as in Fig. 1, but for the odd-A parent nuclei.
Using Eqs. (1-14) and Eqs. (1-13, 15) by inputting the fitting
Pα values, the cluster radioactivity half-lives for the nuclei in the trans-lead region were calculated. The calculated half-lives are listed in the last two columns of Table 1. For comparison with the values provided by the Sahu formula, the half-lives obtained from the Sahu formula are also given in column 8. Compared with the half-lives provided by the Sahu formula, note that the half-lives calculated from the ImSahuA and ImSahuB relationships are closer to the experimental ones. This indicates that the accuracy of the Sahu relationship is improved by using the accurate charge radius formulas and fitting expressions of the cluster preformation probability.To analyze the global deviation between the experimental and calculated half-lives intuitively, the
log10 HF (log10 HF =log10TCal.TExpt.=log10Tcal.−log10TExpt. ) values as a function of the neutron number N for 28 parent nuclei, 17 e-e nuclei, and 11 odd-A nuclei are plotted in Fig. 3. Generally, it is assumed that if thelog10 HF value is within a factor of 1.0, the calculated half-lives will be in agreement with the experimental data [62-64]. Note from Fig. 3 that the accuracies of the ImSahuA and ImSahuB relationships are improved evidently. To show the global deviation quantitatively, the average deviationˉδ and standard deviation√¯δ2 were calculated. Theˉδ and√¯δ2 values for 28 (n = 28; n denotes the numbers of nuclei) heavy nuclei as well as e-e and odd-A subsets of the full data set using the three empirical formulas are listed in Table 2. Note from Table 2 that theˉδ and√¯δ2 values of the total, e-e, and odd-A nuclei within the ImSahuA and ImSahuB formulas are much smaller than those within the Sahu formula. It suggests that the accuracies of the ImSahuA and ImSahuB formulas become higher, which is consistent with the conclusions from Fig. 3. Therefore, the reasonableness of Eq. (12) was tested by the high accuracies of the two new relationships and the calculatedPα values. In addition, by comparing thelog10 HF distributions (ˉδ values or√¯δ2 values) between the ImSahuA and the ImSahuB relationships in Fig. 3 (Table 2), it is easy to conclude that the accuracy of the ImSahuB formula is higher than that of the ImSahuA formula given that Eq. (15) is more precise than Eq. (14). This indicates that an accurate charge radius formula is important for estimating the cluster decay half-lives.Figure 3. (color online) The
log10 HF values as a function of N for (a) 28 parent nuclei, (b) e-e nuclei, and (c) odd-A nuclei.Formulas ˉδ √¯δ2 Total (n = 28) e-e (n = 17) odd-A (n = 11) Total (n = 28) e-e (n = 17) odd-A (n = 11) Sahu 1.048 0.726 1.543 1.351 0.870 1.863 ImSahuA 0.592 0.594 0.589 0.729 0.728 0.733 ImSahuB 0.536 0.534 0.539 0.650 0.649 0.652 Table 2. Values of
ˉδ and√¯δ2 between the experimental and calculated cluster radioactivity half-lives for 28 heavy nuclei as well as for e-e and odd-A subsets of the full data set using the Sahu, ImSahuA, and ImSahuB relationships.For the cluster radioactivity of some heavy nuclei, only the lower limit of the half-lives were measured. Thus, the experimental cluster radioactivity half-lives with lower limit constituted the ground to test the ImSahuA and ImSahuB relationships. The experimental half-lives and the calculated ones according to the Sahu, ImSahuA, and ImSahuB formulas are listed in Table 3 (columns 5-8) . In Table 3, the parent nuclei, emitted clusters, l values, and experimental
Qc values are shown on the first four columns. The experimentalQc values and half-lives were taken from the same references as in Table 1. To analyze the agreement between the experimental half-lives and calculated ones clearly, the half-lives within the Sahu, ImSahuA, and ImSahuB relationships, and the corresponding experimental half-lives with lower limit are shown in Fig. 4. Note from Fig. 4 that the half-lives of most parent nuclei are enhanced after the modification, except for the half-lives of the24 Ne emission from236 U and the28 Mg emission from232 U. Concerning the24 Ne radioactivity of236 U, its half-life within the ImSahuA relationship decreases compared to the half-life within the Sahu relationship. However, the half-life within the ImSahuB relationship is lower than that within the Sahu one with respect to the28 Mg radioactivity of232 U. Nevertheless, the calculated half-lives are larger than the corresponding experimental lower limit. In addition, note in Fig. 4 and Table 3 that for the decays of232 Th⟶208 Hg+24 Ne,233 U⟶205 Hg+28 Mg, and235 U⟶207 Hg+28 Mg, although the half-lives within the Sahu relationship are not in agreement with the experimental ones, the half-lives estimated by the ImSahuA and ImSahuB relationships are larger than, or closer to, the lower limit of the experimental half-lives. Thus, according to the above analysis, it can be concluded that the experimental half-lives in Table 3 can be better reproduced by the ImSahuA and ImSahuB relationships. The validity of the two new relationships is then tested again. Regarding the accuracies of the ImSahuA and ImSahuB relationships, it is difficult to determine which one is higher according to the current experimental data.Parent nuclei Emitted clusters l Qc /MeVlog10T1/2 (s)log10T1/2 (s)log10T1/2 (s)log10T1/2 (s)Expt. Expt. Sahu ImSahuA ImSahuB 226 Th14 C0 30.67 >15.30 16.54 16.96 17.32 226 Th18 O0 45.73 >16.80 16.76 17.25 17.45 232 Th24 Ne0 54.50 >29.20 28.22 28.23 28.82 230 U24 Ne0 61.55 >18.20 20.47 20.98 21.67 236 U24 Ne0 55.95 >25.90 28.71 28.33 29.08 232 Th26 Ne0 55.97 >29.20 30.38 30.47 30.82 236 U26 Ne0 56.75 >25.90 29.16 29.17 29.51 232 U28 Mg0 74.32 >22.26 23.92 24.19 23.09 233 U28 Mg3 74.23 >27.59 24.14 26.15 24.36 235 U28 Mg1 72.20 >28.10 26.68 28.34 27.92 237 Np30 Mg2 74.82 >27.60 26.19 28.31 27.69 240 Pu34 Si0 91.03 >25.52 26.51 26.61 27.55 241 Am34 Si3 93.93 >24.41 24.96 27.35 27.44 Table 3. Calculated cluster radioactivity half-lives within the Sahu, ImSahuA, and ImSahuB relationships, for those cases in which the experimental half-lives with lower limit were measured.
Figure 4. (color online) Comparison between the cluster radioactivity half-lives within the Sahu, ImSahuA, and ImSahuB relationships and the corresponding experimental lower limit.
Encouraged by the good agreement between the experimental half-lives and the calculations within the ImSahuA and ImSahuB formulas, we attempted to predict the cluster radioactivity half-lives that have not been measured yet for the nuclei in the trans-lead region. A relevant prior study suggested that the l effect on the cluster decay half-life is very small because the centrifugal potential is much smaller than that of the Coulomb potential [15]. To show the influence on the cluster emission half-life visibly, and taking the decays of
221 Fr⟶207 Tl+14 C and233 U⟶209 Pb+24 Ne as examples, the logarithms of half-lives within the ImSahuA and ImSahuB relationships as functions of l are plotted in Fig. 5. Note from Fig. 5 that it is easy to conclude that the l effect is not so important for the cluster decay half-life. Thus, the l contribution was not taken into account in the subsequent predictions. From the ImSahuA and ImSahuB formulas, the predicted half-lives of8 Be,12,14 C,15 N,16−20 O,20−26 Ne,24−28 Mg and,30−34 Si radioactivity are shown in Table 4; these values are helpful for searching for new cluster emitters in future experiments.Figure 5. (color online) Logarithms of the half-lives for
221 Fr⟶207 Tl+14 C, and233 U⟶209 Pb+24 Ne versus l within the ImSahuA and ImSahuB relationships.Parent nuclei Emitted clusters Qc /MeVlog10T1/2 (s)log10T1/2 (s)Parent nuclei Emitted clusters Qc /MeVlog10T1/2 (s)log10T1/2 (s)Expt. ImSahuA ImSahuB Expt. ImSahuA ImSahuB 213 At8 Be12.30 24.14 23.11 221 Ac16 O43.08 18.92 17.91 214 At8 Be13.93 17.54 16.70 222 Ac16 O43.61 17.10 16.47 215 At8 Be14.84 15.09 14.80 223 Ac16 O43.60 18.10 18.23 216 At8 Be14.07 17.05 16.90 224 Ac16 O41.72 19.92 20.38 217 At8 Be13.10 20.92 20.56 225 Ac16 O40.02 23.72 23.75 214 Rn8 Be14.52 16.34 16.22 222 Th16 O45.73 15.04 15.53 215 Rn8 Be16.34 11.54 11.25 223 Th16 O46.57 14.91 15.01 216 Rn8 Be17.06 9.25 9.13 224 Th16 O46.48 14.00 14.48 217 Rn8 Be16.33 11.54 11.24 225 Th16 O44.66 17.44 17.56 218 Rn8 Be15.00 14.78 14.66 226 Th16 O42.66 19.36 19.87 215 Fr8 Be15.43 14.74 14.41 223 Pa16 O47.11 15.07 15.11 216 Fr8 Be16.90 10.28 10.12 224 Pa16 O47.47 13.58 14.00 217 Fr8 Be17.63 8.97 8.68 225 Pa16 O47.34 14.73 14.83 218 Fr8 Be16.91 10.22 10.08 226 Pa16 O45.56 16.05 16.51 219 Fr8 Be15.54 14.37 14.05 227 Pa16 O43.43 20.12 20.22 217 Fr12 C28.14 17.24 16.40 223 Ac18 O42.43 22.51 21.10 218 Fr12 C29.31 14.24 13.67 224 Ac18 O43.27 20.00 19.03 219 Fr12 C29.65 14.34 14.43 225 Ac18 O43.45 20.83 20.61 220 Fr12 C28.23 16.24 16.57 226 Ac18 O41.84 22.25 22.40 221 Fr12 C26.92 19.65 19.67 227 Ac18 O40.28 26.07 25.74 218 Ra12 C30.44 13.02 13.39 224 Th18 O44.56 19.00 19.21 219 Ra12 C31.85 11.40 11.47 225 Th18 O45.54 18.68 18.46 220 Ra12 C32.02 10.36 10.71 226 Th18 O45.73 17.25 17.45 221 Ra12 C30.58 13.45 13.54 227 Th18 O44.20 20.61 20.39 222 Ra12 C29.05 15.45 15.83 228 Th18 O42.28 22.48 22.70 219 Ac12 C31.62 12.50 12.53 225 Pa18 O45.18 20.15 19.87 220 Ac12 C32.61 10.16 10.46 226 Pa18 O45.69 18.24 18.38 221 Ac12 C32.78 10.62 10.69 227 Pa18 O45.87 19.09 18.87 222 Ac12 C31.41 12.04 12.38 228 Pa18 O44.50 19.95 20.13 223 Ac12 C29.69 15.79 15.86 229 Pa18 O42.54 24.19 23.94 219 Fr14 C29.65 14.34 14.43 225 Ac20 O41.66 26.28 24.70 220 Fr14 C28.23 16.24 16.57 226 Ac20 O42.77 23.08 21.99 222 Fr14 C25.63 21.80 22.05 227 Ac20 O43.09 23.80 23.47 223 Fr14 C24.46 25.36 25.31 228 Ac20 O41.85 24.59 24.68 220 Ra14 C32.02 10.36 10.71 229 Ac20 O40.54 28.20 27.75 225 Ra14 C25.20 24.44 24.58 226 Th20 O43.19 23.42 23.58 221 Ac14 C32.78 10.62 10.69 227 Th20 O44.46 22.61 22.28 222 Ac14 C31.41 12.04 12.38 228 Th20 O44.72 20.89 21.05 223 Ac14 C29.69 15.79 15.86 229 Th20 O43.40 24.25 23.93 Continued on next page Table 4. Predicted cluster radioactivity half-lives within the ImSahuA and ImSahuB relationships. All the
Qc values were calculated from Eq. (16). In the calculations, the mass excesses were taken from Ref. [55]; “#” means that only the empirical mass excesses for the parent and/or daughter nuclei were reported in Ref. [55].Table 4 – continued from previous page Parent nuclei Emitted clusters Qc /MeVlog10T1/2 (s)log10T1/2 (s)Parent nuclei Emitted clusters Qc /MeVlog10T1/2 (s)log10T1/2 (s)Expt. ImSahuA ImSahuB Expt. ImSahuA ImSahuB 224 Ac14 C28.35 17.60 17.95 230 Th20 O41.79 25.71 25.87 220 Ra15 N33.99 21.28 20.66 227 Pa20 O43.09 25.88 25.49 221 Ra15 N35.12 20.12 19.15 228 Pa20 O44.00 23.06 23.15 222 Ra15 N35.25 18.91 19.38 229 Pa20 O44.36 23.72 23.40 223 Ra15 N33.88 22.35 22.42 230 Pa20 O43.17 24.38 24.51 224 Ra15 N32.37 24.40 24.78 231 Pa20 O41.49 28.60 28.24 221 Ac15 N38.21 15.89 15.99 225 Pa20 Ne55.20 25.44 23.80 222 Ac15 N38.97 13.77 14.21 226 Pa20 Ne55.33 23.96 22.79 223 Ac15 N39.47 13.96 14.04 227 Pa20 Ne54.91 25.79 25.49 224 Ac15 N37.75 15.59 16.04 228 Pa20 Ne52.72 27.70 27.81 225 Ac15 N36.26 18.94 19.05 229 Pa20 Ne50.58 32.34 31.90 222 Th15 N37.16 17.47 17.88 226 U20 Ne58.16 21.29 21.45 223 Th15 N38.15 16.78 16.82 227 U20 Ne58.54 22.05 21.74 224 Th15 N38.15 15.82 16.27 228 U20 Ne58.01 21.41 21.58 225 Th15 N37.00 18.59 18.68 229 U20 Ne55.87 25.51 25.20 226 Th15 N34.96 21.23 21.68 230 U20 Ne53.39 27.79 27.98 227 Np20 Ne59.66 21.70 21.31 231 Np26 Mg75.66 23.88 22.58 228 Np20 Ne59.51 20.57 20.67 232 Np# 26 Mg75.83 21.99 21.32 229 Np20 Ne59.08 22.35 22.04 233 Np26 Mg75.20 24.31 24.44 230 Np20 Ne57.07 23.65 23.79 234 Np26 Mg72.92 25.11 25.82 231 Np20 Ne54.53 28.50 28.15 235 Np26 Mg70.90 29.14 29.15 227 Pa22 Ne58.68 23.07 21.22 232 Pu26 Mg78.36 20.51 21.26 228 Pa22 Ne59.20 20.96 19.65 233 Pu26 Mg78.72 21.82 21.92 229 Pa22 Ne58.96 22.65 22.12 234 Pu26 Mg78.31 20.50 21.25 230 Pa22 Ne56.95 23.83 23.76 235 Pu26 Mg76.01 24.50 24.64 231 Pa22 Ne55.09 27.82 27.15 236 Pu26 Mg73.84 25.16 25.96 228 U22 Ne61.03 19.77 19.77 233 Am# 26 Mg79.53 22.08 22.11 229 U22 Ne61.69 20.38 19.85 234 Am# 26 Mg79.55 20.35 21.02 231 U22 Ne59.45 23.04 22.50 235 Am26 Mg79.10 22.44 22.56 232 U22 Ne57.36 24.32 24.32 236 Am# 26 Mg77.05 22.81 23.54 229 Np22 Ne61.86 21.19 20.58 237 Am# 26 Mg74.64 27.08 27.18 230 Np22 Ne62.13 19.43 19.36 233 Np28 Mg76.79 24.48 22.69 231 Np22 Ne61.91 21.047 20.54 234 Np28 Mg77.23 22.17 21.07 232 Np# 22 Ne60.18 21.73 21.69 235 Np28 Mg77.10 24.09 23.74 233 Np22 Ne57.83 26.18 25.59 236 Np28 Mg75.15 24.31 24.52 229 Pa24 Ne59.67 23.83 22.59 237 Np28 Mg73.54 27.92 27.42 230 Pa24 Ne60.38 21.36 20.70 234 Pu28 Mg79.15 21.32 21.65 232 Pa24 Ne58.65 23.51 24.15 235 Pu28 Mg79.65 22.62 22.26 233 Pa24 Ne57.09 27.16 27.15 237 Pu28 Mg77.73 24.49 24.14 231 U24 Ne62.21 21.71 21.81 235 Am28 Mg79.70 23.65 23.21 231 Np24 Ne61.63 23.45 23.49 236 Am# 28 Mg79.93 21.57 21.82 Continued on next page Table 4 – continued from previous page Parent nuclei Emitted clusters Qc (MeV)log10T1/2 (s)log10T1/2 (s)Parent nuclei Emitted clusters Qc /MeVlog10T1/2 (s)log10T1/2 (s)Expt. ImSahuA ImSahuB Expt. ImSahuA ImSahuB 232 Np# 24 Ne62.18 21.20 21.82 237 Am# 28 Mg79.85 23.44 23.08 233 Np24 Ne62.16 22.74 22.86 238 Am28 Mg78.23 23.23 23.52 234 Np24 Ne60.70 22.98 23.65 239 Am28 Mg76.27 27.12 26.72 235 Np24 Ne58.85 26.93 27.02 235 Am30 Si92.88 25.15 23.75 231 Pa26 Ne56.76 29.78 28.03 236 Am# 30 Si92.73 23.30 22.63 232 Pa26 Ne57.72 26.69 25.58 237 Am# 30 Si92.04 25.85 25.97 233 Pa26 Ne58.04 27.88 27.58 238 Am30 Si89.60 26.17 26.97 234 Pa26 Ne56.61 28.23 28.49 239 Am30 Si87.47 30.26 30.25 235 Pa26 Ne55.45 31.62 31.18 236 Cm30 Si96.07 21.52 22.35 232 U26 Ne57.91 27.58 27.92 237 Cm30 Si96.13 23.39 23.48 233 U26 Ne58.89 27.86 27.56 238 Cm30 Si95.63 21.83 22.67 234 U26 Ne59.41 25.44 25.77 239 Cm30 Si93.19 25.89 26.02 235 U26 Ne58.05 28.98 28.68 240 Cm30 Si90.89 26.08 26.97 236 U26 Ne56.69 29.25 29.59 237 Bk# 30 Si97.68 23.20 23.21 233 Np26 Ne57.52 30.99 30.62 238 Bk# 30 Si97.52 21.35 22.09 234 Np26 Ne58.34 28.08 28.34 239 Bk# 30 Si96.94 23.75 23.85 235 Np26 Ne58.82 29.05 28.76 240 Bk# 30 Si94.89 23.54 24.35 236 Np26 Ne57.69 28.97 29.27 241 Bk# 30 Si92.32 27.82 27.91 237 Np26 Ne56.25 32.80 32.46 237 Am# 32 Si94.47 25.34 23.92 229 Np24 Mg71.53 26.49 24.38 238 Am32 Si94.75 22.97 22.33 230 Np24 Mg71.42 25.04 23.50 239 Am32 Si94.50 25.24 25.33 231 Np24 Mg70.59 27.53 26.87 240 Am32 Si92.34 25.08 25.89 232 Np# 24 Mg68.04 29.11 28.95 241 Am32 Si90.66 28.74 28.70 233 Np24 Mg65.53 34.01 33.18 238 Cm32 Si97.31 21.91 22.77 230 Pu24 Mg74.65 22.58 22.51 238 Cm32 Si97.68 23.67 23.73 231 Pu24 Mg74.69 24.06 23.40 239 Cm32 Si97.55 21.65 22.51 232 Pu24 Mg74.05 23.18 23.10 240 Cm32 Si95.39 25.54 25.63 233 Pu24 Mg71.60 27.47 26.81 241 Cm32 Si93.61 25.02 25.92 234 Pu24 Mg69.01 29.06 28.98 242 Bk# 32 Si98.38 24.18 24.17 231 Am# 24 Mg76.40 23.36 22.63 240 Bk# 32 Si98.61 21.87 22.65 232 Am# 24 Mg76.14 22.05 21.90 241 Bk# 32 Si98.37 24.13 24.20 233 Am# 24 Mg75.46 24.29 23.64 242 Bk# 32 Si96.60 23.50 24.34 234 Am# 24 Mg73.19 25.22 25.10 243 Bk32 Si94.63 27.32 27.38 235 Am24 Mg70.42 30.04 29.32 239 Am34 Si93.17 28.06 26.58 240 Am34 Si93.72 25.29 24.66 244 Cm34 Si93.14 26.91 27.86 241 Am34 Si93.93 27.29 27.38 241 Bk# 34 Si96.04 27.73 27.73 242 Am34 Si92.18 26.67 27.53 242 Bk# 34 Si96.56 25.01 25.85 243 Am34 Si90.78 30.23 30.18 243 Bk34 Si96.91 26.89 26.98 240 Cm34 Si95.47 24.89 25.81 244 Bk34 Si95.46 25.94 26.83 241 Cm34 Si96.11 26.51 26.58 245 Bk34 Si93.63 29.85 29.91 243 Cm34 Si94.75 27.66 27.75 Besides the cluster radioactivity of the trans-lead region, a new island of cluster emitters around the doubly magic nucleus
100 Sn was carefully analyzed in previous studies [65-79]. Concerning the cluster radioactivity in the trans-tin region, only the half-life of12 C emission from114 Ba was measured; its value was⩾103 s at Dubna (Dubna94) [80] and⩾ 1.1×103 s (1.7×104 s) at GSI (GSI95) [81, 82], respectively. However, the12 C decay of114 Ba was not observed in the subsequent experiment [83]. This suggests that the branching ratio for the12 C decay is lower than the limit obtained in the GSI95 measurement. By consulting the NUBASE2016 table, the experimental lower limit of the half-life of the12 C emission from114 Ba is> 104.13 s [56]. Thus, the half-life of the12 C radioactivity from114 Ba has not been accurately determined yet . Nevertheless, the experimental half-life with the lower limit of the12 C emission from114 Ba can be used to test various cluster decay models.Then, we extended our method to study the
12 C radioactivity of114 Ba. The calculated decimal logarithm half-lives within the Sahu, ImSahuA, and ImSahuB formulas are 3.994 s, 9.079 s, and 9.355 s, respectively. A comparison between the calculated half-lives and the experimental lower limit of the half-life allows us to conclude that the experimental half-life of the12 C radioactivity of114 Ba can be better reproduced within the ImSahuA and ImSahuB formulas. Therefore, we have enough confidence to predict the half-lives of the cluster radioactivity for the nuclei in the trans-tin region. Recently, the cluster radioactivity half-lives of the neutron-deficient nuclei in the trans-tin region were investigated through the effective liquid drop model, the GLDM, and several sets of analytic formulas [84]. It was found thatα -like cluster radioactivity, such as in8 Be,12 C,16 O,20 Ne,24 Mg, and28 Si emissions, decaying to theNd = 50 daughter nuclei, was the most probable. Thus, the half-lives of these most probable cluster radioactivity were predicted by the ImSahuA and ImSahuB formulas, which are listed in Table 5. In Table 5, theQc values are still calculated from Eq. (16). Regarding the unknown nuclear masses, their values were calculated from the empirical masses of the NUBASE2016 table [56] or the WS4 mass table [85] because relevant studies showed that the WS4 mass model can predict the experimental nuclear masses and decay energies accurately [85-88]. We hope these predicted half-lives will be useful for identifying new cluster emissions of the trans-tin region in future measurements.Parent nuclei Emitted clusters Qc (MeV)log10T1/2 (s)log10T1/2 (s)ImSahuA ImSahuB 108 Xe∗ 8 Be10.40 6.06 5.92 109 Cs∗ 8 Be10.00 8.69 8.37 110 Ba∗ 8 Be10.18 8.46 8.32 110 Xe12 C15.72 15.14 15.44 111 Cs# 12 C18.56 9.81 9.81 112 Ba∗ 12 C21.73 3.89 4.13 113 La∗ 12 C21.57 5.76 5.74 114 Ce∗ 12 C22.26 4.69 4.95 114 Ba16 O26.47 12.77 13.17 115 La∗ 16 O29.80 9.35 9.35 116 Ce∗ 16 O33.22 4.66 5.00 117 Pr∗ 16 O33.05 6.82 6.80 118 Nd∗ 16 O33.25 6.50 6.86 118 Ce∗ 20 Ne35.03 16.30 16.42 119 Pr∗ 20 Ne37.52 15.10 14.74 120 Nd∗ 20 Ne40.68 10.78 10.89 121 Pm∗ 20 Ne40.53 13.42 13.05 122 Sm∗ 20 Ne41.32 12.28 12.40 122 Nd∗ 24 Mg46.65 15.66 15.59 123 Pm∗ 24 Mg49.75 14.84 14.20 124 Sm∗ 24 Mg53.86 10.20 10.14 125 Eu∗ 24 Mg53.98 12.80 12.15 126 Gd∗ 24 Mg54.90 11.50 11.44 126 Sm∗ 28 Si60.09 14.10 14.76 127 Eu∗ 28 Si63.53 14.03 13.98 128 Gd∗ 28 Si67.99 10.00 10.61 129 Tb∗ 28 Si68.63 12.20 12.13 Table 5. Emission half-lives of
8 Be,12 C,16 O,20 Ne,24 Mg, and28 Si in the decay processes where the involved daughter nuclei are those withNd around 50 within the ImSahuA and ImSahuB formulas are shown in columns 4 and 5; “#” and “*” denote theQc values calculated from the empirical mass excesses of the NUBASE2016 table [55] and the theoretical ones from the WS4 mass model [85], respectively. -
In this study, the Sahu relationship was improved by introducing two accurate root-mean-square charge radius formulas and an analytic expression of the cluster preformation probability. The improved Sahu relationships with the two charge radius formulas are called ImSahuA relationship and ImSahuB relationship, respectively. Within the Sahu, ImSahuA, and ImSahuB relationships, the cluster radioactivity half-lives of the trans-lead nuclei and the half-life of the
12 C radioactivity of114 Ba were calculated. The results allow us to draw the following conclusions:(i) The experimental half-lives of the trans-lead nuclei and the experimental half-life lower limit of the
12 C decay from114 Ba within the ImSahuA and ImSahuB relationships are reproduced better than those within the Sahu relationship;(ii) According to the linear correlation between the cluster preformation probability and the mass number of the emitted cluster, the calculated
Pα value is close to those given by other models;(iii) The high accuracy of the ImSahuA and ImSahuB relationships and the calculated
Pα values demonstrate the validity of the analytic expression for the cluster preformation probability;(iv) The accuracy of the ImSahuB formula is higher than that of the ImSahuA formula given that the charge radius formula with the Casten factor is more accurate. This indicates that an accurate charge radius formula is important for calculating the half-life of the cluster radioactivity.
Finally, the cluster radioactivity half-lives of the trans-lead and trans-tin nuclei that are not experimentally available were predicted by the ImSahuA and ImSahuB formulas. This might be helpful for searching for new cluster emitters in the two regions in future experiments.
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We thank Professors Shangui Zhou, Ning Wang, and Fengshou Zhang for helpful discussions.
An improved semi-empirical relationship for cluster radioactivity
- Received Date: 2020-12-02
- Available Online: 2021-04-15
Abstract: An improved semi-empirical relationship for cluster radioactivity half-lives is proposed by introducing an accurate charge radius formula and an analytic expression of the preformation probability. Moreover, the cluster radioactivity half-lives for the daughter nuclei around 208Pb or its neighbors and the 12C radioactivity half-life of 114Ba are calculated within the improved semi-empirical relationship. It is shown that the accuracy of the new relationship is improved significantly compared to its predecessor. In addition, the cluster radioactivity half-lives that are experimentally unavailable for the trans-lead and trans-tin nuclei are predicted by the new semi-empirical formula. These predictions might be useful for searching for the new cluster emitters of the two islands in future experiments.