Fragmentation Analysis of Dripline Nuclei in View of Proton Radioactivity

Abstract

Investigation of nuclear properties, structure of exotic nuclei, exploration of unknown areas of periodic table and mapping the proton drip-line has been prominent area of research in nuclear physics. The discovery of radioactivity has played a crucial role in achieving these research goals. α, β, γ and cluster decays are well known radioactive decay paths observed during last century. Here in present work we intend to emphasize on relatively less explored radioactive decay called as proton decay. Emission of proton from ground state of parent nuclei has been observed experimentally in 1980, at GSI. Since then, with the experimental developments more than 25 cases of proton radioactivity have been identified. These proton emitters lie beyond the limit of nuclear stability on the chart of nuclides i.e. proton drip-line. The purpose of present work is to explore the role of new binding energies and their comparison with earlier data on binding energies besides addressing the possible role of deformation effects governed within quantum mechanical fragmentation approach. The role of shell effects is also explored and most probable proton decays can be predicted. The effect of orbital angular momentum on half lives and fragmentation profile of various proton emitters is also addresed. Half life estimations for the ground state (spherical as well as deformed) proton emitters are done by using theoretical approach known as preformed cluster decay model (PCM) which is on based on quantum mechanical fragmentation theory (QMFT). The dissertation consists of three chapters: Chapter 1: Chapter-1 gives an overview of the various ground state decays, phenomenon of proton radioactivity, various spherical and deformed proton emitters, In addition to this, the associated features such as nuclear shapes, role of binding energies etc are also discussed in this chapter. Chapter 2: Chapter-2 includes brief description of Preformed Cluster Decay Model (PCM). It carries the brief description of various potentials used in methodology. The other related parameters such as preformation factor; barrier penetrability, etc are outlined. The use of deformations in PCM domain is also discussed. Chapter-3 consists of the PCM based calculations for various cases of spherical and deformed proton emitters. Various results regarding the study of proton decay are discussed and related conclusions are drawn for better description of related concepts.