Exactly Solvable Model for the Decay of Superdeformed Nuclei

The history and importance of superdeformation in nuclei is briefly discussed. A simple two-level model is then employed to obtain an elegant expression for the branching ratio for the decay via the E1 process in the normal-deformed band of superdeformed nuclei. From this expression, the spreading width Gamma^downarrow for superdeformed decay is found to be determined completely by experimentally known quantities. The accuracy of the two-level approximation is verified by considering the effects of other normal-deformed states. Furthermore, by using a statistical model of the energy levels in the normal-deformed well, we can obtain a probabilistic expression for the tunneling matrix element V.