New aspects in the decay of quasi-stationary proton states by multidimensional tunneling

The time evolution of single proton quasi-stationary states emitted from ax ially deformed nuclei is studied by solving numerically the two-dimensional time dependent Schrodinger equation. Angular distributions of emission wit h respect to the nuclear axis of symmetry are obtained. It is shown that th e main escape paths are determined by the quantum numbers of the metastable state, rather than by the deformation of the potential. Combinations of su ch numerical studies of multidimensional quantum tunneling and angular dist ribution measurements from oriented deformed nuclei could provide invaluabl e nuclear structure information and imaging of Nilsson orbitals.