Alpha Decay Half-Lives of New Superheavy Elements through Quasimolecular Shapes

The lifetimes of α decays of the recently produced isotopes of the elements 112, 114, 116 and the element ²⁹⁴118 and of some decay products have been calculated theoretically within the Wentzel--Kramers--Brillouin approximation. The α decay barriers have been determined in the quasimolecular shape path within a generalized liquid drop model including the proximity effects between nuclei in a neck, the mass and charge asymmetry and the precise nuclear radius. These calculations provide reasonable estimates for the observed α decay lifetimes. The calculated results have been compared with the results of the density-dependent M3Y effective interaction and the experimental data. It is indicated that the theoretical foundation of the generalized liquid drop model is as good as that of the microscopic DDM3Y model, at least in the sense of predicting the T_1/2 values as long as one uses a correct α decay energy. The half lives of these new nuclei are well tested from the consistence of the macroscopic, the microscopic and the experimental data.