Systematic study of various proximity potentials in 208Pb-daughter cluster radioactivity

Various types of nuclear proximity potentials are employed to study the cluster decay of radioactive nuclei, particularly those decaying to a doubly closed shell Pb-208-daughter nucleus using the preformed cluster-decay model (PCM). The deformation effect is included up to quadrupole (beta(2)) with optimum cold orientations. The use of different proximity potentials modifies the potential barrier characteristics (i.e., barrier height, position, and frequency), which in turn change the preformation probability P-0 and tunneling probability P, and hence the decay half-life considerably. The analysis of Pb-208-daughter cluster radioactivity is worked out at touching as well as at an elongated neck configuration by taking the neck-length parameter Delta R = 0.5 fm. A wide range of barrier characteristics is covered by using various nuclear proximity potentials. We observe that Prox 1977 and Prox 1988 can reproduce the experimental half-lives very well at Delta R = 0.5 fm; however, the use of the mod-Prox 1988 potential seems more reliable for C-14 cluster decay. The relevance of barrier characteristics of other nuclear proximity potentials is also explored in the context of Pb-208 cluster radioactivity.