A semi-quantal approach to electron inner shell vacancy creation in nuclear alpha decay

Abstract

On alpha decay, an electron inner shell vacancy may be formed in the recoiling atom through electron excitation (which includes excitation to bound and continuum levels) or by electron transfer to the outgoing alpha. We introduce a semi-quantal model which treats the recoiling nucleus and alpha motion classically and the electronic transitions quantum mechanically. We have applied this to the K and L shell vacancy formation problem in the alpha decay of 210Po.