Nonlocality effect in α decay of heavy and superheavy nuclei

The alpha-decay half-life of heavy and superheavy nuclei has been investigated using a potential barrier penetration model that adapts semiclassical WKB calculations to incorporate a coordinate-dependent effective mass for the alpha particle. This effect is a consequence of a dynamic property of nonlocality in the particle-nucleus interaction, as implemented in the barrier tunneling calculations of [N. Teruya, S. B. Duarte, and M. M. N. Rodrigues, Phys. Rev. C 93, 024606 (2016)]. Calculations have been performed for a recent set of experimental data of 255 alpha-emitting nuclides, all selected with angular momentum l = 0 experimentally assigned. Results show a good agreement when compared to experimental half-life data, obtaining a standard deviation of sigma = 0.306 and fully satisfying the universal systematics, namely, new universal plot and universal decay law systematics, of alpha decay. Additionally, the present model has been applied to make half-life predictions for 34 possible new alpha-decay cases.