Exotic radioactivity as a superfluid tunneling phenomenon

Abstract

The recently discovered radioactive decay of heavy nuclei by emission of carbon and neon is described by a model containing elements from both the theory of α decay and that of fission. A key ingredient is the inertial mass, which depends on the superfluid pairing gap of the nucleus. The potential energy is estimated from macroscopic considerations. Theory and experiment fit together in a reasonable way to give an overall picture of exotic decay.