Atomic Excitation Caused by α-Decay of the Nucleus

Abstract

<p> The prevailing theory of Migdal for predicting the excitation probabilities of an atom from α-decay of the nucleus, considers the α-particle, after it has been emitted by the nucleus, as following a classical trajectory and interacting with the atom quantum mechanically. Recently an attempt was made to properly model this quantum mechanical phenomenon, in one dimension, with a quantum wavefunction treatment of the decaying α-particle, but a discrepancy was found between the new predictions and that of the traditional method. In light of this discrepancy, we have studied the various approximations made in that work. Our results concur with recent follow up work suggesting that agreement should be found between a fully quantum mechanical model and with the classical model of α-particle propagation where the α-particle is treated as a point particle.</p>