Exploring the ground state bulk and decay properties of the nuclei in superheavy island

TL;DR

This paper investigates the ground state properties and alpha-decay half-lives of superheavy nuclei using the relativistic mean-field model and semi-empirical formulas, providing theoretical predictions to guide future experiments.

Contribution

It combines RMF calculations with multiple semi-empirical formulas to predict decay properties of superheavy nuclei, validating the model against known data.

Findings

Good agreement between RMF predictions and experimental data.

Consistent decay energy estimates across models.

Theoretical predictions support future experimental studies.

Abstract

The $\alpha$-decay half-lives of 204 superheavy nuclei covering the range $114 \leq Z \leq 126$ have been investigated using the relativistic mean-field model (RMF) for NL3$^*$ parameter set. The ground state bulk properties such as binding energy, quadrupole deformation parameter ($\beta_2$ ), and root-mean-square charge radii for these nuclei are analyzed. Four different semi-empirical formulae, namely, the universal decay law (UDL), the Viola-Seaborg (VSS) formula, the modified universal decay law (MUDL), and the modified Brown formula (MBrown), are used to obtain the $\alpha$-decay half-lives for the considered nuclei. To examine the applicability of relativistic mean-field model within NL3$^*$ parametrization, the $\alpha$-decay energies, and the half-lives of a few known superheavy nuclei within the range 102 $\leq$ Z $\leq$ 118 are calculated and the results are compared with the experimental data along with the theoretical predictions. The $\alpha$-decay energies ($Q$-values) are estimated from the binding energies of the parent, and daughter from the RMF (NL3$^*$) parameter set. The calculated results are compared with macroscopic-microscopic Finite-Range-Droplet-Model (FRDM), Global Nuclear Mass Model (WS3, WS4), Weizsacker-Skyrme mass model (WS$^*$) predictions, and the experimental data, wherever available. The possible standard deviations are also estimated for experimental and various theoretical predictions. We find a good consistency for the experimental-to-UDL, FRDM-to-UDL, and WS4-to-UDL estimates of the decay energy and corresponding half-life. The present analysis provides the theoretical predictions within the microscopic model for the upcoming experiments on the superheavy region.