Light nucleus emission within a generalized liquid-drop model and quasimolecular shapes

The potential barrier governing the light-nucleus emission has been determi ned within a generalized liquid-drop model including the proximity effects between the light and daughter nuclei and adjusted to reproduce the experim ental Q value. The partial decay half-lives have been calculated within the WKB barrier penetration probability, without introducing preformation fact or. The agreement with the experimental data for the C-14, O-20, F-23, Ne24 -26, Mg28-30 and Si-32 emission is good. Predictions for other possible dec ays are presented meeting two criteria: partial half-life less than or equa l to 10(30) s and branching ratio relative to cu emission greater than or e qual to 10(-24). An analytic formula is proposed for the half-life of the l ight-nucleus decay. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.