Alpha decay as a fission-like process

Abstract

Alpha decay is considered to be a very asymmetric fission process with fragments of different charge densities. Q-values and half-lives are computed in the two-centre parametrisation by using the liquid-drop-model generalisation replacing the surface energy by a folded Yukawa plus exponential potential. An empirical shell correction is introduced to obtain the experimental Q values exactly. The experimental half-lives for alpha decay of Ra, Th, U, Pu, Cm, Cf, Fm and No even-even isotopes are well reproduced.