Predictions of the decay properties of the superheavy nuclei 293, 294119 and 294, 295120

Abstract

BackgroundTo date, various nuclides up to Z = 118 have been discovered and synthesized, raising the challenge of synthesizing nuclides with Z ≥ 119. Recently, the fusion-evaporation reactions 243Am54Cr, xn119297-x and 243Am55Mn, xn120298-x have been suggested as methods for synthesizing new elements with Z = 119 and 120. As α-decay is a powerful tool for the identification of new elements or nuclides, accurate predictions of the α-decay properties of the reaction products could be a useful reference for future experiments.PurposeThis study aims to provide quantitative predictions of the α-decay, spontaneous fission, and β-decay half-lives for the α-decay chains of 293, 294119 and 294, 295120 and to demonstrate the competition between the decay modes for these nuclei.MethodsAn improved density-dependent cluster model (DDCM+) is used to calculate the α-decay half-lives, taking the anisotropy of the surface diffuseness into account. The spontaneous fission half-lives are calculated using the Karpov formula, which is related to the fissility parameter and fission barrier height of the potential energy surface. The β-decay half-lives are determined using a finite-range droplet model (FRDM).ResultsThe predictive α-decay half-lives for the α-decay chains of 293, 294119 and 294, 295120 are obtained using the DDCM+ model, and the theoretical half-lives of the spontaneous fission and β-decay for these nuclides are also presented.ConclusionsFor the α-decay chains of 293, 294119 and 294, 295120, α-decay is predicted to be the dominant decay mode for most of the nuclei, while the half-lives of spontaneous fission and β-decay are predicted to be comparable to those of the α-decay near the region of A = 261. We expect that these results will serve as a useful reference for the synthesis of new isotopes in the future.

Keywords

• α-decay
• spontaneous fission
• superheavy nuclei
• half-life