Investigations on the External Problem of Alpha Decay

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Abstract
The origin of this paper was the assumption that the approximations which are currently used when calculating the barrier penetration factor of the R-matrix theory of alpha decay are largely responsible for the major discrepancies between theoretical and empirical absolute decay rates. The author examines in detail two of them, namely the JWKB approach and the neglect of the alpha particle size. He shows that, in the daughter nucleus surface region, the JWKB approximation is a fairly accurate one except in an interval of about 1 fm thickness centered at the inner turning point. As concerns the neglect of the alpha particle size, it is also found to be an accurate approximation. Based on these results, as well as on the results of other papers dealing with the theory of alpha decay, the author speculates that the aforementioned discrepancies could be seriously diminished only provided one renounces the standard view of the alpha decay mechanism. Continuing on this line he introduces a new decay model. He investigates the external problem corresponding to this model and shows that it leads to an enhancement of the penetrabilities by a factor of 30 to 40. Some arguments in favor of this model are also given.

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