Study on alpha decay chains of Z = 122 superheavy nuclei with deformation effects and Langer modification

TL;DR

This paper investigates alpha decay chains of Z=122 superheavy nuclei, emphasizing deformation effects and Langer modification, to aid experimental synthesis and decay observation of these elusive isotopes.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed theoretical analysis of alpha decay chains considering nuclear deformation and Langer modification, providing predictions aligned with phenomenological models.

Findings

Decay half-lives are sensitive to nuclear deformation and orientation.

Results agree with existing phenomenological models.

Provides decay characteristics useful for experimental isotope synthesis.

Abstract

In this work study on alpha decay chains emerging from isotopes of Z = 122 superheavy nuclei is carried out with emphasize on nuclear deformations and Langer modification. The interest in this particular superheavy nuclei is due to the recent experimental efforts to synthesize the isotope ^{299}120 in a fusion reaction at the velocity filter SHIP (GSI Darmstadt), which makes synthesis of Z = 122 nuclei to occur in the near future, and in turn will give the experimentalist the chance observe the decays associated with the isotopes of this nuclei. We perform our calculations by choosing the Woods Saxon potential for nuclear interaction, along with Coulomb potential and centrifugal potential within the framework of the WKB method. When the centrifugal term is taken in the total potential and WKB integral is done over 1D radial coordinate, it requires the use of Langer modification wherein (l + 1/2 )^2 replaces l(l +1) for consistency of WKB wave function. Hence we have used this Langer modified centrifugal potential. The orientations of deformed nuclei are important, as it affects the touching distance and also influence the nuclear and Coulomb potential, and thus can alter the values of penetration integral and half-life. The results obtained by our calculations are in agreement with the values obtained from various phenomenological models. This study brings out the unique characteristics of alpha chains associated with each isotope, which will be helpful for the experimentalist to decide the isotope they would like to synthesize and also for their post-synthesis study.