Post-formation in alpha emission from nuclei

Abstract

We propose a novel mechanism to explain nuclear decay by emission of an alpha particle. We show that the famous Geiger-Nuttall law can be explained by post-forming an alpha particle outside the range of the nuclear interaction with the daughter nucleus. This contrasts with the commonly accepted mechanism of first alpha particle pre-formation followed by emission through barrier penetration. We predict that the post-formation mechanism is more likely to occur for alpha-particles with higher energy.

arXiv comment12 pages, 3 figures

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Cited by in corpus (1)

• Localisation and alpha radioactivity