α-decay half-lives in medium mass nuclei

Abstract

Systematical calculations on the α-decay half-lives of even–even medium mass nuclei with 82 < N ⩽ 126 are carried out within the density-dependent cluster model using a two-potential approach. The decay width is achieved in terms of the bound state wavefunction, the scattering wavefunction and the outer potential, where the effective α-nucleus potential is obtained from the double-folded integral of the realistic nucleon–nucleon interaction with the mass distributions of α particle and daughter nucleus. Instead of the Wentzel–Kramers–Brillouin (WKB) barrier penetration probability, the numerical solution of the Schrödinger equation for the bound state is presented. In addition, the shell effect on the α-preformation factor has been taken into account for even–even N = 126 isotones. The calculated α-decay half-lives are found to agree with experimental data with a mean factor of less than 2.