Proton radioactivity in deformed nuclei with microscopic optical potential: A novel angular-dependent emission mechanism in the nanosecond-lived $^{149}$Lu

Abstract

We present a theoretical description of proton radioactivity in 149Lu, the most oblate deformed proton emitter known, by combining a deformed microscopic optical potential derived from ab initio nuclear matter calculations with the Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin penetration probabilities and the assault frequency of the emitted proton estimated through a new harmonic-oscillator-inspired scheme. We predict a novel angular-dependent phenomenon unprecedented in spherical proton emitters: the disappearance of classically allowed regions at small polar angles $(θ\leq 21^\circ)$. Our framework yields a half-life $T_{1/2}=467^{+143}_{-108}$ ns for 149Lu, in excellent agreement within uncertainties with the experimental value $450^{+170}_{-100}$ ns. Deformation analysis rigorously excludes configurations with $|β_2|\geq 0.32$. Extensions to 150, 151Lu and their isomers also achieve excellent agreement with experimental half-life data. We further predict 148Lu as another highly oblate $(β_2 = -0.166)$ proton emitter with a half-life $T_{1/2}=4.42$ ns. This work validates deformed microscopic optical potentials as a robust predictive tool for drip-line proton emitters and provides quantitative evidence for deformation effects in exotic decays.