Alpha decay half-lives of new superheavy elements

Abstract

The lifetimes of $\alpha$ decays of the recently produced isotopes of the elements 112, 114, 116 and the element $^{294}118$ and of some decay products have been calculated theoretically within the WKB approximation using microscopic $\alpha$-nucleus interaction potentials. These nuclear potentials have been obtained by folding the densities of the $\alpha$ and the daughter nuclei with the M3Y effective interaction, supplemented by a zero-range pseudo-potential for exchange along with the density dependence. Spherical charge distributions have been used for calculating the Coulomb interaction potentials. These calculations provide reasonable estimates for the observed $\alpha$ decay lifetimes and thus provide reliable predictions for other superheavies.