Theoretical calculations on half-lives of spontaneous one-proton radioactivity
Pith reviewed 2026-06-26 22:07 UTC · model grok-4.3
The pith
Calculations with deformed Woods-Saxon potentials and microscopic Gamow theory produce half-lives for proton emitters with 50 < Z < 84 plus predictions for 30 < Z < 50.
A machine-rendered reading of the paper's core claim, the machinery that carries it, and where it could break.
Core claim
Using deformed Woods-Saxon potential, spin-orbit potential, and expanded Coulomb potential to construct the daughter-proton potential, the half-life data of various proton emitters are systematically calculated based on the quantum tunneling model and the microscopic Gamow state theory. By using nuclear data from different sources and comparing them with the measurements, the dependence of proton emission on decay energy and spectroscopic factors is evaluated. Additionally, based on previous observations, the half-life of the possibly lighter proton emitter in the fpg-shell below has been theoretically predicted. Our results are compiled into a comprehensive dataset of half-lives for both ex
What carries the argument
Deformed Woods-Saxon potential combined with microscopic Gamow state theory, which supplies the potential barrier and the quantum tunneling rate for the emitted proton.
If this is right
- Half-lives show clear dependence on both decay energy and the chosen spectroscopic factors.
- A ready dataset exists for use in planning experiments near the proton drip line.
- Theoretical half-lives are supplied for possible new emitters with 30 < Z < 50.
- The same framework can be reapplied when new nuclear data update the input parameters.
Where Pith is reading between the lines
- If the predictions hold, targeted experiments could confirm new proton emitters by searching for the calculated decay energies and lifetimes.
- Systematic comparison of these results with alternative barrier models would isolate the role of nuclear deformation in the tunneling rates.
- The dataset format could be reused to tabulate half-lives once two-proton or cluster emission data become available for the same mass region.
Load-bearing premise
Spectroscopic factors and the specific parametrization of the deformed Woods-Saxon potential taken from existing nuclear data sources remain accurate across the full Z range examined.
What would settle it
An experimental half-life measurement for any predicted emitter in the 30 < Z < 50 range that differs by more than an order of magnitude from the calculated value.
read the original abstract
Research on the unstable nuclei beyond the nucleon drip line is an important method to study the nuclear interaction and structure in the extremely neutron-deficient or rich systems. Various nuclides beyond the proton drip line mainly decay through spontaneous one-proton emission. Using deformed Woods-Saxon potential, spin-orbit potential, and expanded Coulomb potential to construct the daughter-proton potential, the half-life data of various proton emitters are systematically calculated based on the quantum tunneling model and the microscopic Gamow state theory. By using nuclear data from different sources and comparing them with the measurements, the dependence of proton emission on decay energy and spectroscopic factors is evaluated. Additionally, based on previous observations, the half-life of the possibly lighter proton emitter in the fpg-shell below has been theoretically predicted. Our results are compiled into a comprehensive dataset of half-lives for both experimentally confirmed emitters (50 < Z < 84) and theoretically predicted emitters (30 < Z < 50), providing a useful reference for future experimental investigations related to the proton drip line. The datasets presented in this paper, including our results of calculation, are openly available at https://www.doi.org/10.57760/sciencedb.27551.
Editorial analysis
A structured set of objections, weighed in public.
Referee Report
Summary. The manuscript claims to construct daughter-proton potentials from deformed Woods-Saxon, spin-orbit, and expanded Coulomb terms, then compute one-proton emission half-lives for confirmed emitters (50 < Z < 84) via the quantum tunneling model and microscopic Gamow state theory. Nuclear data from multiple sources are used to evaluate the dependence of the results on decay energy and spectroscopic factors through comparison with measurements; predictions are also given for lighter emitters (30 < Z < 50), and all calculated values are compiled into an openly available dataset.
Significance. If the adopted potential parameters and spectroscopic factors can be shown to have been chosen independently of the half-lives being calculated, the work supplies a systematic reference dataset for proton-drip-line studies together with open data, which is a clear strength for reproducibility.
major comments (2)
- [Abstract and §2] Abstract and §2 (potential construction): the text states that deformed Woods-Saxon parameters and spectroscopic factors are taken from nuclear data sources, yet provides no explicit statement or table demonstrating that these inputs were fixed without reference to the same half-life measurements used for validation; this leaves the transferability of the parametrization to 30 < Z < 50 predictions unverified and risks circularity in the reported comparisons.
- [Results section] Results section on comparison with experiment: no quantitative measures (error bars on calculated half-lives, χ^{2} values, or reproduction statistics within stated uncertainties) are reported for the agreement between Gamow-tunneling results and measured half-lives, which is required to substantiate the claim that the microscopic formalism reliably reproduces the data.
minor comments (1)
- [Dataset availability statement] The open-data DOI is a positive feature; the deposited files should include the precise numerical values of all potential parameters and spectroscopic factors used for each nucleus to allow independent reproduction.
Simulated Author's Rebuttal
We thank the referee for the careful review and constructive comments on our manuscript. We address each major comment below, indicating the revisions we plan to implement.
read point-by-point responses
-
Referee: [Abstract and §2] Abstract and §2 (potential construction): the text states that deformed Woods-Saxon parameters and spectroscopic factors are taken from nuclear data sources, yet provides no explicit statement or table demonstrating that these inputs were fixed without reference to the same half-life measurements used for validation; this leaves the transferability of the parametrization to 30 < Z < 50 predictions unverified and risks circularity in the reported comparisons.
Authors: The deformed Woods-Saxon, spin-orbit, and Coulomb potential parameters, together with the spectroscopic factors, are taken from standard nuclear data compilations and global fits (e.g., to binding energies, radii, and scattering data) that predate and are independent of the proton-emission half-life measurements used for comparison. To make this independence explicit and to strengthen the justification for the 30 < Z < 50 predictions, we will add a dedicated paragraph and table in §2 that lists each source and confirms its basis in non-decay observables. This revision directly addresses the concern about circularity and transferability. revision: yes
-
Referee: [Results section] Results section on comparison with experiment: no quantitative measures (error bars on calculated half-lives, χ^{2} values, or reproduction statistics within stated uncertainties) are reported for the agreement between Gamow-tunneling results and measured half-lives, which is required to substantiate the claim that the microscopic formalism reliably reproduces the data.
Authors: We agree that quantitative measures are needed to substantiate the agreement. In the revised manuscript we will add error bars on the calculated half-lives (propagated from uncertainties in Q-values and spectroscopic factors), report χ² values for the full set of confirmed emitters, and include reproduction statistics (e.g., percentage of cases within factors of 2 and 10). These additions will be placed in the Results section and will support the reliability claim. revision: yes
Circularity Check
No significant circularity; inputs drawn from external nuclear data sources with explicit comparison to measurements
full rationale
The derivation relies on deformed Woods-Saxon parameters, spin-orbit terms, Coulomb potential, and spectroscopic factors taken from independent nuclear data compilations. Half-lives are computed via the microscopic Gamow formalism and then compared to experimental values to assess dependence on decay energy and spectroscopic factors. The lighter-Z predictions (30 < Z < 50) are extrapolations based on the same external parametrization rather than refits to the target half-lives themselves. No equation or section reduces a claimed prediction to a fitted quantity by construction, and no self-citation chain supplies the load-bearing uniqueness or ansatz. The work is therefore self-contained against external benchmarks.
Axiom & Free-Parameter Ledger
free parameters (2)
- deformed Woods-Saxon parameters
- spectroscopic factors
axioms (2)
- domain assumption Quantum tunneling through the constructed daughter-proton potential governs the decay rate
- domain assumption Deformed Woods-Saxon plus spin-orbit plus expanded Coulomb potentials adequately represent the proton-nucleus interaction
Reference graph
Works this paper leans on
-
[2]
d!d𝑟!+𝑉#$%&,((𝑟)+𝑉)*$&,((𝑟)+ℏ!2𝑚
and theoretically predicted ones (50 < Z < 84). Section 4 summarizes the conclusions of this work. 2 Theoretical Model for Deformed One-Proton Radioactivity 2.1 Proton-Daughter Nucleus Two-Body Interaction and Gamow States Spontaneous one-proton radioactivity occurs in proton-unbound nuclei beyond the proton drip line, where the emitted proton tunnels thr...
2020
-
[3]
Table 1 Experimental data of various proton emitters, where the orbital is occupied in the spherical limit. 𝑄@A4 and 𝑄BC0D represent the decay energies derived from experiments (obtained from NNDC and AME 2020[3,40,41], except for values explicitly marked otherwise) and the Finite-Range Droplet Model (FRDM) theory[39], respectively. 𝛽!,. denote the deform...
2020
-
[4]
Fig. 4 The difference between this work and other theoretical methods (including an analytic semiclassical solution[11] and the new Geiger-Nuttall law[44]). The horizontal axis denotes the nucleon number of the parent nucleus, while the vertical axis illustrates the difference between the logarithms of the calculated and experimental half-lives. 3.2 Theor...
-
[5]
Ren Z Z, Xu G O 1991 Acta Phys. Sin. 40 1229
1991
-
[6]
Ding B G, Lu D H, Zhang D L 2007 Acta Phys. Sin. 56 6905
2007
-
[7]
National Nuclear Data Center https://www.nndc.bnl.gov [2025-09-10]
2025
-
[8]
Sarmiento L G, Roger T, Giovinazzo J, Brown B A, Blank B, Rudolph D, Kankainen A, Alvarez-Pol H, Raj A A, Ascher P, Block M, Caamaño-Fresco M, Caceres L, Canete L, Cox D M, Eronen T, Fahlander C, Fernández-Domínguez B, Forsberg U, Lois-Fuentes J, Gerbaux M, Gerl J, Golubev P, Grévy S, Grinyer G F, Habermann T, Hakala J, Jokinen A, Kamalou O, Kojouharov I,...
2023
-
[9]
Giovinazzo J, Roger T, Blank B, Rudolph D, Brown B A, Alvarez-Pol H, Arokia Raj A, Ascher P, Caamaño-Fresco M, Caceres L, Cox D M, Fernández-Domínguez B, Lois-Fuentes J, Gerbaux M, Grévy S, Grinyer G F, Kamalou O, Mauss B, Mentana A, Pancin J, Pibernat J, Piot J, Sorlin O, Stodel C, Thomas J C, Versteegen M 2021 Nat. Commun. 12 4805
2021
-
[10]
Ye Y L, Yang X F, Sakurai H, Hu B S 2024 Nat. Rev. Phys. 7 21
2024
-
[11]
Karny M, Rykaczewski K, Grzywacz R K, Batchelder J C, Bingham C R, Goodin C, Gross C J, Hamilton J H, Korgul A, Królas W, Liddick S N, Li K, Maier K H, Mazzocchi C, Piechaczek A, Rykaczewski K, Schapira D, Simpson D, Tantawy M N, Winger J A, Yu C H, Zganjar E F, Nikolov N, Dobaczewski J, Kruppa A T, Nazarewicz W, Stoitsov M V 2008 Phys. Lett. B 664 52
2008
-
[12]
Zhang W, Cederwall B, Aktas O, Liu X, Ertoprak A, Nyberg A, Auranen K, Alayed B, Badran H, Boston H, Doncel M, Forsberg U, Grahn T, Greenlees P T, Guo S, Heery J, Hilton J, Jenkins D, Julin R, Juutinen S, Luoma M, Neuvonen O, Ojala J, Page R D, Pakarinen J, Partanen J, Paul E S, Petrache C, Rahkila P, Ruotsalainen P, Sandzelius M, Sarén J, Szwec S, Tann H...
2022
-
[13]
Auranen K, Seweryniak D, Albers M, Ayangeakaa A D, Bottoni S, Carpenter M, Chiara C J, Copp P, David H M, Doherty D T, Harker J, Hoffman C R, Janssens R V F, Khoo T L, Kuvin S A, Lauritsen T, Lotay G, Rogers A M, Scholey C, Sethi J, Talwar R, Walters W B, Woods P J, Zhu S 2019 Phys. Lett. B 792 187
2019
-
[14]
Jackson K P, Cardinal C U, Evans H C, Jelley N A, Cerny J 1970 Phys. Lett. B 33 281
1970
-
[15]
Delion D S, Dumitrescu A 2021 Phys. Rev. C 103 054325
2021
-
[16]
Ni D D, Ren Z Z 2015 Annals Phys. 358 108
2015
-
[17]
Zhang D M, Qi L J, Gui H F, Luo S, He B, Wu X J, Li X H 2023 Phys. Rev. C 108 024318
2023
-
[18]
Qian Y B, Ren Z Z 2016 Eur. Phys. J. A 52 68
2016
-
[19]
Cheng J H, Pan X, Zou Y T, Li X H, Zhang Z, Chu P C 2020 Eur. Phys. J. A 56 273
2020
-
[20]
Routray T R, Mishra A, Tripathy S K, Behera B, Basu D N 2012 Eur. Phys. J. A 48 77
2012
-
[21]
Esbensen H, Davids C N 2000 Phys. Rev. C 63 014315
2000
-
[22]
Ferreira L S, Maglione E, Ring P 2011 Phys. Lett. B 701 508
2011
-
[23]
Tsunoda N, Otsuka T, Takayanagi K, Shimizu N, Suzuki T, Utsuno Y , Yoshida S, Ueno H 2020 Nature 587 66
2020
-
[24]
Jain A, Parab P, Saxena G, Aggarwal M 2024 Sci. Rep. 14 28368
2024
-
[25]
Wang Z, Bai D, Ren Z Z 2022 Phys. Rev. C 105 024327
2022
-
[26]
Wang Z, Ren Z Z 2022 Phys. Rev. C 106 024311
2022
-
[27]
Xing F Z, Le X K, Wang N, Wang Y Z 2025 Acta Phys. Sin. 74 112301
2025
-
[28]
Wang Z, Ren Z Z 2023 Phys. Rev. C 108 024306
2023
-
[29]
Sheng Z Q, Shu L P, Meng Y , Hu J G, Qian J F 2014 Acta Phys. Sin. 63 162302
2014
-
[30]
Xing F Z, Cui J P, Wang Y Z, Gu J Z 2022 Acta Phys. Sin. 71 062301
2022
-
[31]
Delion D S, Ghinescu S 2025 J. Phys. G: Nucl. Part. Phys. 52 055105
2025
-
[32]
Maglione E, Ferreira L S, Liotta R J 1998 Phys. Rev. Lett. 81 538
1998
-
[33]
Buck B, Merchant A C, Perez S M 1992 Phys. Rev. C 45 1688
1992
-
[34]
Talou P, Strottman D, Carjan N 1999 Phys. Rev. C 60 054318
1999
-
[35]
Bhagwat A, Viñas X, Centelles M, Schuck P, Wyss R 2010 Phys. Rev. C 81 044321
2010
-
[36]
Wu Z Y , Qi C, Wyss R, Liu H L 2015 Phys. Rev. C 92 024306
2015
- [37]
-
[38]
Sheng Z Q, Fan G W, Qian J F, Hu J G 2015 Eur. Phys. J. A 51 40
2015
-
[39]
Delion D S 2010 Theory of Particle and Cluster Emission (Berlin: Springer-Verlag) pp45-49
2010
-
[40]
Åberg S, Semmes P B, Nazarewicz W 1997 Phys. Rev. C 56 1762
1997
-
[41]
Delion D S, Liotta R J, Wyss R 2006 Phys. Rep. 424 113
2006
-
[42]
Kondev F G, Wang M, Huang W J, Naimi S, Audi G 2021 Chin. Phys. C 45 030001
2021
-
[43]
Data Nucl
Möller P, Sierk A J, Ichikawa T, Sagawa H 2016 Atom. Data Nucl. Data Tables 109-110 1
2016
-
[44]
Huang W J, Wang M, Kondev F G, Audi G, Naimi S 2021 Chin. Phys. C 45 030002
2021
-
[45]
Wang M, Huang W J, Kondev F G, Audi G, Naimi S 2021 Chin. Phys. C 45 030003
2021
-
[46]
Zhang H F, Wang Y J, Dong J M, Li J Q, Scheid W 2010 J. Phys. G: Nucl. Part. Phys. 37 085107
2010
-
[47]
Soylu A, Koyuncu F, Gangopadhyay G, Dehghani V , Alavi S A 2021 Chin. Phys. C 45 044108
2021
-
[48]
Chen J L, Xu J Y , Deng J G, Li X H, He B, Chu P C 2019 Eur. Phys. J. A 55 214
2019
-
[49]
Davids C N, Woods P J, Mahmud H, Davinson T, Heinz A, Ressler J J, Schmidt K, Seweryniak D, Shergur J, Sonzogni A A, Walters W B 2004 Phys. Rev. C 69 011302
2004
-
[50]
Poli G L, Davids C N, Woods P J, Seweryniak D, Carpenter M P, Cizewski J A, Davinson T, Heinz A, Janssens R V F, Lister C J, Ressler J J, Sonzogni A A, Uusitalo J, Walters W B 2001 Phys. Rev. C 63 044304
2001
-
[51]
Čeliković I, Lewitowicz M, Gernhäuser R, Krücken R, Nishimura S, Sakurai H, Ahn D S, Baba H, Blank B, Blazhev A, Boutachkov P, Browne F, de France G, Doornenbal P, Faestermann T, Fang Y , Fukuda N, Giovinazzo J, Goel N, Górska M, Ilieva S, Inabe N, Isobe T, Jungclaus A, Kameda D, Kim Y K, Kwon Y K, Kojouharov I, Kubo T, Kurz N, Lorusso G, Lubos D, Moschne...
2016
-
[52]
Lalazissis G A, Vretenar D, Ring P 2001 Nucl. Phys. A 679 481
2001
-
[53]
Xu X D, Mukha I, Grigorenko L V , Scheidenberger C, Acosta L, Casarejos E, Chudoba V , Ciemny A A, Dominik W, Duénas-Díaz J, Dunin V , Espino J M, Estradé A, Farinon F, Fomichev A, Geissel H, Golubkova T A, Gorshkov A, Janas Z, Kamiński G, Kiselev O, Knöbel R, Krupko S, Kuich M, Litvinov Y A, Marquinez-Durán G, Martel I, Mazzocchi C, Nociforo C, Ordúz A K...
2018
-
[54]
Xu X D, Mukha I, Li J G, Wang S M, Acosta L, Bajzek M, Casarejos E, Cortina-Gil D, Espino J M, Fomichev A, Geissel H, Gómez-Camacho J, Grigorenko L V , Kiselev O, Korsheninnikov A A, Kostyleva D, Kurz N, Litvinov Y A, Martel I, Nociforo C, Pfützner M, Rodríguez-Tajes C, Scheidenberger C, Stanoiu M, Sümmerer K, Weick H, Woods P J, Zhukov M V 2025 Phys. Rev...
2025
discussion (0)
Sign in with ORCID, Apple, or X to comment. Anyone can read and Pith papers without signing in.