Effects of shell correction on <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mi>α</mml:mi></mml:math>-decay systematics
Jing Zhang, Hongfei Zhang
Abstract
Within the generalized liquid drop model (GLDM), the effects of the Strutinsky shell correction on ${\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{}$ decay processes have been systematically studied. Before the scission point, the shell correction energy ${E}_{\mathrm{sh}}$, which brings noticeable change to potential barriers for most nuclei, varies with nuclear deformation described by quasimolecular shapes (QMSs). To investigate the subsequent influence on ${\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{}$ decay, we performed systematic calculations involving more than 400 favored ground-to-ground ${\ensuremath{\alpha}}_{}$ emissions with atomic number $Z$ = 52 to 118. We found that the shell correction remarkably reduces the notorious deviation between theoretical and experimental half-lives around the neutron shell closure $N=126$. It will also shed new light on predicting $\ensuremath{\alpha}$-decay half-life of superheavy nuclei.