Predictability analysis of α decay formulae and the α partial half-lives of exotic nuclei

Abstract

We examine the ability of 3 phenomenological alpha decay formulae, the Generalised Liquid Drop Model, the Sobiczewski- Parkhomenko and the Viola-Seaborg-Sobiczewski formulae, to predict the α partial half-lives Tα of 100 exotic alpha radioactive nuclei by the statistical quantification of their accuracy and precision. These quantities were derived using a method based on standard experimental quality assurance wherein the alpha spectroscopic data of 313 well-established alpha decaying nuclei (calibration and test data sets) were used. Experimental masses as well as Finite Range Droplet Model masses were used to compute Qα. Improved coefficients for the three formulae were derived resulting in modified formulae. A simple linear optimization allowed adjustment of the modified formulae for the insufficient statistics of the odd-even and odd-odd decays of the calibration data set, without changing the modified formulae. Relatively better figures of merit for the odd-odd and the SHE were obtained using the modified GLDM formula.