The Quantum Mechanics of Alpha Decay

like charged particles with the same value of e/m as therecently discovered electrons. Then Rutherford demonstratedthat alpha particles are doubly charged ions ofhelium, whose spectrum had been discovered first in thesun only a few years previously, and then in the gasesemitted by uranium ores. Shortly thereafter Paul Villardin France identified a third type of radiation he called“gamma”, which turned out to be high energy electromagneticradiation.In 1900 Rutherford and Soddy found that thoriumemits a short–lived radioactive gaseous element (an isotopeof radon (Rn 228 called thoron) that is chemicallyinert, like argon. From measurements of its radioactivitythey drew the epochal conclusion that thoron decaysinto other radioactive elements — the discovery of thetransmutation of elements. A year later Marie Curie discovereda similar gaseous element Rn 226 emitted by radium.In a series of papers on radioactivity Rutherfordand Soddy unraveled most of the complex relations betweenthe decay products of uranium and thorium. Theydiscovered the exponential law of radioactive decayN(t) = N 0 e −t/τ (1)in which the mean life τ of the substance is a fundamentalcharacteristic that is unaffected by heat, chemicalcombination, or any other condition that affects theelectronic structure of the atom (except the absence of Kelectrons in the case of beta decay by electron capture).Also in 1903 Soddy published a calculation of the energyreleased by the decay of radium and wrote that it is “atleast twenty-thousand times, and may be a million times,as great as the energy of any molecular change.” Fouryears later Albert Einstein, in his discovery of the theoryof relativity, deduced the equivalence of mass and energyexpressed in his equation E = mc 2 and suggested thatthe energy released in radioactivity was converted mass.Rutherford dominated experimental nuclear physicsfor the next thirty years. His greatest discovery wasthe nucleus itself which he perceived in the results ofthe alpha-particle scattering experiments he initiated atManchester University in 1910. A fascinating account ofthis era has been written by Richard Rhodes [1986] inThe Making of the Atomic Bomb from which the abovehistory is taken.RADIOACTIVITYMost of the natural elements with atomic numbersfrom 1 (hydrogen) to 82 (lead) are stable. The few exceptionsinclude the isotope of potassium, K 40 , which constitutes0.01% of natural potassium and suffers beta decaywith a mean life of 1.9 billion years. All the isotopes ofthe elements with Z > 82, with the possible exception ofBi 209 , are unstable and decay with half lives ranging frommicroseconds to billions of years. So where, when, andhow did the natural radioactive elements arise? Sincethe 1950’s, and particularly from the work of WilliamFowler of Cal Tech and his collaborators, it has becomeclear that all the elements with Z > 26 (iron) are builtup suddenly from lighter elements by absorption of neutronsin the neutron-rich region of a supernova during thefirst ∼1 sec of the explosion, the so-called rapid process(r-process). Supernovas occur in our galaxy at a rate ofabout 2 or 3 per century. One of these probably triggeredthe formation of the solar system and enriched itsraw material with freshly synthesized heavy elements ofwhich all with Z > 82 have been decaying ever since.Light nuclei with equal numbers of protons and neutrons(e.g.,He 4 , C 12 , O 16 ) are stable. Heavier nuclei(Z > 10), to be stable, need a higher proportion of neutronsto provide sufficient nuclear-force binding to overcomethe Coulomb-force repulsion of the protons (e.g.,K 41 , where A = 2Z + 3). Thus a nucleus with too fewneutrons will convert a proton to a neutron by emission ofa positron and an electron neutrino. On the other hand,a free neutron is slightly heavier than the proton anddecays into a proton, electron, and anti-neutrino with amean life of ∼12 minutes. Therefore, it can be energeticallyfavorable for a nucleus with too many neutrons toconvert a neutron to a proton by emission of an electronand anti-neutrino. Thus nuclides with too few or toomany neutrons transmute by electron emission towardthe stable region along the bottom of the valley. A 3-Dplot of neutron number (y-axis) versus proton number(x-axis) versus potential energy per nucleon (z-axis) forall the isotopes of the elements shows a steep potentialenergy “valley of stability” with a positive curvature inthe x-y plane. The three kinds of radioactive transmutationare:1. Alpha decay (ejection of a helium nucleus consistingof two neutrons and two protons) is the mostcommon decay mode for elements above lead andnear the bottom of the stability valley.2. Beta decay (emission of a positive or negative electronor capture of a K-shell electron together withemission of a neutrino or anti-neutrino) generallyoccurs in nuclides on the valley sides and serves tocorrect unstable proportions of neutrons and protons.3. Spontaneous fission (division into two nuclei) occursabove uranium and is a mode of rapid decayof the artificial elements above Z = 100. Theoreticalspeculation about possible high-Z islands ofstability have stimulated numerous, and so far uncsuccessful,experiments to produce elements withZ=114 or other so-called magic numbers.A chain of radioactive decays, starting with a heavy nuclidenear the bottom of the stability valley (e.g., U 238 )