Relevance of Deformation Effects in Decay Modes of Radioactive Nucleus 242Cm

The role of deformations is studied in the various radioactive decay modes of parent nucleus 242Cm, using the Preformed Cluster Model (PCM). This model treats the cluster emission process via tunnelling across the potential barrier, the cluster/fragment being preformed with a relative probability. With the incorporation of deformation effects (i.e. β2 alone and with β2–β4), the fragmentation potential, the penetration path and related barrier characteristics get significantly modified, due to which both the preformation probability (P0) and penetrability (P) of the emitting cluster are accordingly modified. The influence of deformations on the decay of 242Cm is also seen in terms of various barrier characteristics such as barrier height, and barrier position etc. The half-lives corresponding to α-decay, cluster decay and spontaneous fission have been calculated using PCM and are compared with the available experimental data. The most probable spontaneous fission fragments are also identified. Furthermore, along with the deformations of the decay fragments, the effect of orientations is also analyzed in view of hot and cold orientation criteria.