Alpha decay of fission isomers

Abstract

The theory of alpha decay in first-order perturbation theory is presented. The theory is designed for a strongly deformed nucleus in an isomeric state which changes its deformation dynamically through decay from a very deformed to an almost spherical shape. It is shown that other channels are not coupled to the alpha channel in first-order perturbation theory. The collective degrees of freedom of the daughter nucleus are described by shape vibrational states, eigenstates of a Hamiltonian whose potential has two minima. The parent nucleus is described by dynamically coupling the vibrational degrees of freedom to the alpha -particle motion and also taking rotations into account. The alpha particle is taken to be a point-like particle. The theory is applied to the alpha decay of the isomeric state of 95242Am.