Folding model analysis of proton radioactivity of spherical proton emitters

Half-lives of the decays of spherical nuclei away from the proton drip line by proton emissions are estimated theoretically. The quantum mechanical tunneling probability is calculated within the WKB approximation. Microscopic proton-nucleus interaction potentials are obtained by single folding the densities of the daughter nuclei with M3Y effective interaction supplemented by a zero-range pseudopotential for exchange along with the density dependence. Parameters of the density dependence are obtained from the nuclear matter calculations. Spherical charge distributions are used for Coulomb interaction potentials. These calculations provide reasonable estimates for the observed proton-radioactivity lifetimes of proton-rich nuclei for proton emissions from 26 ground and isomeric states of spherical proton emitters.