One-proton emission from 148-151Lu in the DRHBc plus WKB approach

One-proton radioactivity in 149Lu, the latest identified proton emitter, is studied in the Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin (WKB) approach with the proton-nucleus potential extracted from the deformed relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov theory in continuum (DRHBc) for the first time. The predicted half-life turns out to be consistent with the experimental measurement within uncertainties and (almost) independent of the density functionals in the DRHBc theory. Such a microscopic self-consistent calculation reveals that 149Lu is oblately deformed with a quadrupole deformation beta 2 approximate to -0.18, and rules out the possibility of a prolate quadrupole deformation suggested in the nonadiabatic quasiparticle model. We also check the validity of this approach in the description of 150,151Lu and their isomeric states. The deviations of the predicted half-lives from their experimental counterparts are mostly smaller than those of the theoretical studies without considering deformation effects. Furthermore, we predict 148Lu to be a more oblately deformed proton-emitter with a longer half-life than that of 149Lu, which can be checked in the future. Our studies show that the DRHBc + WKB approach provides a new alternative method to evaluate the half-lives of well-deformed proton emitters.(c) 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons .org /licenses /by /4 .0/). Funded by SCOAP3.

Automated summary

One-proton radioactivity in 149Lu has been studied using the Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin (WKB) approach and the proton-nucleus potential extracted from the deformed relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov theory in continuum (DRHBc). The results show that 149Lu is oblately deformed and the predicted half-life is consistent with experimental measurements. The study also checks the validity of the approach in describing other Lu isotopes and their isomeric states, with good agreement between predicted and experimental half-lives.