α-particle preformation factors in heavy and superheavy nuclei*

Abstract

Abstract In this study, α-particle preformation factors in heavy and superheavy nuclei from 220Th to 294Og are investigated. By combing experimental α decay energies and half-lives, the α-particle preformation factors are extracted from the ratios between theoretical α decay half-lives calculated using the Two-Potential Approach (TPA) and experimental data. We find that the α-particle preformation factors exhibit a noticeable odd-even staggering behavior, and unpaired nucleons inhibit α-particle preformation. Moreover, we find that both the α decay energy and mass number of parent nucleus exhibit considerable regularity with the extracted experimental α-particle preformation factors. After considering the major physical factors, we propose a local phenomenological formula with only five valid parameters for α-particle preformation factors . This analytic expression has a clear physical meaning as well as good precision. As an application, this analytic formula is extended to estimate the α-particle preformation factors and further predict the α decay half-lives for unknown even-even nuclei with Z = 118 and 120.