Signature of the N=126 shell closure in dwell times of alpha-particle tunneling

TL;DR

This study investigates how the N=126 neutron shell closure influences alpha-particle tunneling times in heavy nuclei, revealing a minimum dwell time at this magic number due to nuclear structure effects.

Contribution

It demonstrates the impact of the N=126 shell closure on alpha tunneling dwell times using realistic nuclear potentials and explores sensitivity to model parameters.

Findings

Dwell times are minimized at N=126 shell closure.

Shell closure affects alpha tunneling behavior through Q-value influences.

Sensitivity of tunneling quantities to nuclear parameters is analyzed.

Abstract

Characteristic quantities such as the penetration and preformation probabilities, assault frequency and tunneling times in the tunneling description of alpha decay of heavy nuclei are explored to reveal their sensitivity to neutron numbers in the vicinity of the magic neutron number $N$ = 126. Using realistic nuclear potentials, the sensitivity of these quantities to the parameters of the theoretical approach is also tested. An investigation of the region from $N=116$ to $N=132$ in Po nuclei reveals that the tunneling $\alpha$ particle spends the least amount of time with an $N=126$ magic daughter nucleus. The shell closure at $N=126$ seems to affect the behaviour of the dwell times of the tunneling alpha particles and this occurs through the influence of the $Q$-values involved.