Electron-capture decay in isotopic transfermium chains from self-consistent calculations

Abstract

Weak decays in heavy nuclei with charge numbers Z=101-109 are studied within a microscopic formalism based on deformed self-consistent Skyrme Hartree-Fock mean-field calculations with pairing correlations. The half-lives of beta+ decay and electron capture are compared with alpha-decay half-lives obtained from phenomenological formulas. Transfermium isotopes of Md, No, Lr, Rf, Db, Sg, Bh, Hs, and Mt that can be produced in the frontier of cold and hot fusion-evaporation channels are considered. Several isotopes are identified whose beta+/EC- and alpha-decay half-lives are comparable. The competition between these decay modes opens the possibility of new pathways towards the islands of stability.

Comments: 14 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in Journal of Physics G