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Three-Body Barrier Dynamics of Double-Alpha Decay in Heavy Nuclei
School of Physics, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, China.ORCID iD: 0009-0009-3440-7654
School of Physics, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, China.ORCID iD: 0009-0004-4784-1250
School of Physics, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, China.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-1192-1345
KTH, School of Engineering Sciences (SCI), Physics, Nuclear Science and Engineering.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-1406-5695
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2026 (English)In: Physical Review Letters, ISSN 0031-9007, E-ISSN 1079-7114, Vol. 136, no 17, article id 172503Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

The simultaneous emission of two α particles—double-α decay—represents a long-predicted but unobserved mode of nuclear radioactivity. Here, we formulate this process as a genuine three-body problem within the hyperspherical coordinate framework and evaluate decay probabilities by numerically solving the corresponding hyperradial Schrödinger equation combined with large-scale random sampling of the potential parameters. Inspired by this, we demonstrate that the decay width ratio between simultaneous and sequential α emission exhibits a strikingly linear dependence on ZQαα-1/2, extending the barrier penetration dynamics into the correlated few-body regime. The nuclei Xe108, Ra218, Pu224, U222, Rn216, and Th220 are suggested as the most promising candidates for the observation of double-α decay, with predicted half-lives potentially accessible within present detection limits. Our results provide a unified framework for multi-α decay and open a pathway to probing nuclear clustering and few-body correlations in heavy nuclei.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
American Physical Society (APS) , 2026. Vol. 136, no 17, article id 172503
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Subatomic Physics Atom and Molecular Physics and Optics Other Physics Topics
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URN: urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-382568DOI: 10.1103/jxqh-6gpjISI: 001767600500005PubMedID: 42139498Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-105037826236OAI: oai:DiVA.org:kth-382568DiVA, id: diva2:2063303
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QC 20260528

Available from: 2026-05-28 Created: 2026-05-28 Last updated: 2026-05-28Bibliographically approved

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Qi, ChongWyss, Ramon AlexanderLiotta, Roberto J.

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Tang, ShulinWan, TaoQian, YibinQi, ChongWyss, Ramon AlexanderLiotta, Roberto J.Zhou, Bo
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