Nuclear Structure and Dynamics - NSD 2019

Superallowed alpha decay to doubly magic 100Sn

17 May 2019, 11:10

30m

Venice, Centro Culturale Don Orione Artigianelli

Invited Session XXIV

Speaker

Dr Dariusz Seweryniak (Argonne National Laboratory)

Description

Alpha decay has been a probe of nuclear structure and clustering in nuclei since the dawn of nuclear physics. However, microscopic description of alpha-decay rates remains to be a challenge. During the talk, the recent observation of the superallowed alpha-decay chain ${}^{108}$Xe-${}^{104}$Te to doubly magic ${}^{100}$Sn [1], using the recoil-decay correlation technique with the Argonne Fragment Mass Analyzer at ATLAS, will be presented. This is an important stepping-stone towards developing a microscopic model of alpha decay since it is only the second case of alpha decay to a doubly magic nucleus, besides the benchmark ${}^{212}$Po alpha decay to ${}^{208}$Pb. The decay properties of ${}^{108}$Xe and ${}^{104}$Te indicate that in at least in one of them the reduced alpha-decay width is a factor of 5 larger than in ${}^{212}$Po. The enhanced alpha-particle preformation probability could be the result of stronger interactions between protons and neutrons, which occupy the same orbitals in N=Z nuclei. During the talk, the alpha emitters in the ${}^{100}$Sn region will be compared with their counterparts in the ${}^{212}$Po region, and with the existing alpha-decay models. Prospects for alpha-decay studies in the ${}^{100}$Sn region will be also discussed.
[1] K. Auranen, D. Seweryniak et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 182501 (2018)

Presentation materials

Seweryniak_NSD2019.pdf