NUCLEON DECAY FROM DEFORMED-NUCLEI

The absolute decay width of a single-particle level in a deformed pote ntial is evaluated exactly. Experimental data are analyzed by using th e formalism developed here. It is found that proton decay is a powerfu l tool to determine the deformation of nuclei as well as to probe smal l components of the wave functions of the decaying states. This will a llow one to study the behavior of single-particle resonances in nuclei close to the drip line, and may guide future experiments.