α decay half-lives of new superheavy elements

Abstract

The lifetimes of \ensuremath{\alpha} decays of the recently produced isotopes of elements 112, 114, 116, and ${}^{294}118$ and of some decay products are calculated theoretically within the WKB approximation by use of microscopic \ensuremath{\alpha}-nucleus interaction potentials. We obtain these nuclear potentials by folding the densities of the \ensuremath{\alpha} and the daughter nuclei with the M3Y effective interaction, supplemented by a zero-range pseudopotential for exchange along with the density dependence. Spherical charge distributions are used for calculating the Coulomb interaction potentials. These calculations provide reasonable estimates for the observed \ensuremath{\alpha} decay lifetimes and thus provide reliable predictions for other superheavies.