The Noncentral Electric Interaction in Alpha-Radioactivity

Apart from the penetrability of the coulomb potential barrier, which determines the order of magnitude of the intensity of $\alpha$-decay, there are three secondary effects which alter the decay constant: angular momentum, "formation" prohibition as discussed by Perlman, Ghiorso, and Seaborg, and noncentral electric interaction with the product nucleus. The general theory of this last effect is discussed and its magnitude estimated. It is suggested that it may be of considerable importance in determining the intensity of highly forbidden ground state transitions described by Perlman, Ghiorso, and Seaborg. Further numerical work would be desirable.