Modes of Radioactive Decay

Radioactive decay is spontaneous nuclear transformation which results in the formation of new elements. In this process, an
unstable “parent” nuclide P is transformed into an energetically more stable “daughter” nuclide D through various processes.
Symbolically the process can be described as follows:

where the light products d1 + d2 + … are the emitted particles. The process is usually accompanied by the emission of gamma
radiation. If the daughter nuclide is also unstable, the radioactive decay process continues further in a decay chain until a stable
nuclide is reached. Radioactive nuclides decay spontaneously by the following processes:

• Alpha () decay

• Beta-minus (β-) decay
• Beta-plus (β+) decay
• Electron capture (ε)
• Gamma emission
• Isomeric transitions (I)
• Spontaneous fission (sf)
• Proton decay (p)
• Beta-delayed processes (βn, βα, βp, etc.)
• Heavy-ion radioactivity (14C, 24Ne, etc.)
• Decay of bare nuclei-bound beta decay

Radioactive decay is a nuclear process and is largely independent of the chemical and physical states of the nuclide. The actual
process of radioactive decay depends on the neutron to proton ratio and on the mass-energy relationship of the parent,
daughter, and emitted particle(s). As with any nuclear reactions, the various conservation laws must hold.

Alpha () Decay

In alpha decay, the parent atom AZP emits an alpha particle 42α and results in a daughter nuclide A-4 Z-2D. Immediately following
the alpha particle emission, the daughter atom still has the Z electrons of the parent – hence the daughter atom has two
electrons too many and should be denoted by [A-4 Z-2]D2- . These extra electrons are lost soon after the alpha particle emission
leaving the daughter atom electrically neutral. In addition, the alpha particle will slow down and lose its kinetic energy. At low
energies the alpha particle will acquire two electrons to become a neutral helium atom. The alpha decay process is described
by:

The process of alpha decay is found mainly in proton rich, high atomic number nuclides due to the fact that electrostatic
repulsive forces increase more rapidly in heavy nuclides than the cohesive nuclear force. In addition, the emitted particle must
have sufficient energy to overcome the potential barrier in the nucleus of about 25 MeV. Nevertheless, alpha particles can
escape this barrier by the process of quantum tunneling.
Due to the conservation of momentum, the  emission produces a recoil of the daughter nuclide. The recoil energy is given by
Erecoil = Eαm/mD ≈ 4E/(A−4) (non-relativistic case). It follows that the  particle energy is always less then the energy difference
between starting and ending levels.

Beta-minus (β-) Decay

β radioactivity occurs when a nucleus emits a negative electron from an unstable radioactive nucleus. This happens when the
–

nuclide has an excess of neutrons. Theoretical considerations (the fact that there are radio nuclides which decay by both
positron and negatron emission and the de Broglie wavelength of MeV electrons is much larger than nuclear dimensions),
however, do not allow the existence of a negative electron in the nucleus. For this reason the beta particle is postulated to arise
from the nuclear transformation of a neutron into a proton through the reaction

where is an anti-neutrino. The ejected high energy electron from the nucleus and denoted by β to distinguish it from other
–

electrons denoted by e .
–

Beta emission differs from alpha emission in that beta particles have a continuous spectrum of energies between zero and some
maximum value, the endpoint energy, characteristic of that nuclide. The fact that the beta particles are not mono-energetic but
have a continuous energy distribution up to a definite maximum energy, implies that there is another particle taking part i.e. the
neutrino υ.

This endpoint energy corresponds to the mass difference between the parent nucleus and the daughter as required by
conservation of energy. The average energy of the beta particle is
approximately 1/3 of the maximum energy.

More precisely, the “neutrino” emitted in β decay is the antineutrino (with the neutrino being emitted in β+ decay). The neutrino
–

has zero charge and almost zero mass. The maximum energies of the beta particles range from 10 keV up to 10 MeV. Although
beta minus particles have a greater range than alpha particles, thin layers of water, glass, metal, etc. can stop them.

The β decay process can be described by:

–
Immediately following the decay by beta emission, the daughter atom has the same number of orbital electrons as the parent
atom and is thus positively charged. Very quickly, however, the daughter atom acquires an electron from the surrounding
medium to become electrical neutral.

Beta radiation can be an external radiation hazard. Beta particles with less than about 200 keV have limited penetration range in
tissue. However, beta particles can also give rise to Bremsstrahlung radiation which is highly penetrating.

Beta-plus (β+) Decay (Positron Emission)

In nuclides where the neutron to proton ratio is low, and alpha emission is not energetically possible, the nucleus may become
more stable by the emission of a positron (a positively charged electron). Within the nucleus a proton is converted into a
neutron, a positron, and a neutrino i.e.

Similarly to the β , the positron β+ is continuously distributed in energy up to a characteristic maximum energy. The positron, after
–

being emitted from the nucleus, undergoes strong electrostatic attraction with the atomic electrons. The positron and negative
electrons annihilate each other and result in two photons (gamma rays) each with energy of 0.511 MeV moving in opposite
directions.

Electron Capture (ε)

Neutron deficient nuclides can also attain stability by capturing an electron from the inner K or L shells of the atomic orbits. As a
result, a proton in the nucleus transforms to a neutron i.e.

The process is similar to β+ decay in that the charge of the nucleus decreases by 1. The electron capture decay process can be
described by:

and the daughter is usually produced in an excited state. The resulting nucleus is unstable and decays by the ejection of an
neutrino (υ) and the emission of an X-ray when the electron vacancy in the K or L shell is filled by outer orbital electrons.

Gamma Emission and Isomeric Transition (I)

Gamma emission is not a primary decay process but usually accompanies alpha and beta decay. Typically this type of radiation
arises when the daughter product resulting from alpha or beta decay is formed in an excited state. This excited state returns
very rapidly (< 10-9 s) to the lower lying ground state through the emission of a gamma photon. Instead of having a well-defined
range like alpha and beta particles, gamma rays lose characteristically a certain fraction of their intensity per unit distance
through matter. Gamma rays are highly penetrating and can result in considerable organic damage. Gamma emitting sources
require heavy shielding and remote handling.

In contrast to normal gamma emission that occurs by dipole or quadrupole radiation, isomeric transitions must occur by higher
order multi pole transitions that occur on a longer time-scale. If the lifetime for gamma emission exceeds about one
nanosecond, the excited nucleus is defined to be in a metastable or isomeric state (denoted by m). The decay process from this
excited state is known as an isomeric transition.

The gamma emission or isomeric transition process can be described by:

where the asterisk * denotes the excited state and m the isomeric or metastable state.

Internal Conversion
Alternative to gamma emission, the excited nucleus may return to the ground state by ejecting an orbital electron from the inner
shells K, L, …. This is known as internal conversion and results in an energetic electron and X-rays due to electrons cascading
to lower energy levels. The ratio of internal conversion to gamma emission photons is known as the internal con version
coefficient denoted as αTotal = K + L + …. Conversion electrons are mono - energetic.

Internal conversion is around proportional to Z3 and increases with decreasing transition energy and increasing half-life of the
energy level. In contrast to emission, internal conversion can also occur between states with spin 0.

The internal conversion process can be described by:

Consider the decay of the isomeric state 137mBa. This nuclide emits a 0.661 MeV photon but undergoes 11 internal conversions
for 100 emissions (because T = 0.11). These conversion electrons are seen in the beta spectrum of 137Cs.

Following the internal conversion, outer orbital electrons fill the deeper energy levels and result in characteristic X-ray emission.
The X-rays can in turn lead to the ejection of outer electrons through an internal photoelectric effect. The low energy ejected
electrons are known as Auger electrons.
Spontaneous Fission (sf)
The discovery of fission by neutrons is credited to Hahn and Strassmann (1938), and to Meitner and Frisch (1939) for their
explanation of the phenomena and introduction of the term nuclear fission. Spontaneous fission was discovered in 1940 by
Petrzak and Flerov.

Although the alpha emitting properties of 238U were well known by that time, the much less common spontaneous fission had
been “masked” due to its very small branching ratio of about one sf in 2x106 alpha emissions. With the exception of 8Be (which
decays into two alpha particles), sf has not been detected in any elements lighter than thorium. In the 1960s, sources of 252Cf
became available and detailed measurement of the fissioning of this system contributed much to our understanding of the
process.

Actinides and trans-actinides can undergo radioactive decay by spontaneous fission. In this process the nucleus splits into two
fragment nuclei, with mass and charge roughly half that of the parent, and several neutrons.

The spontaneous fission decay process can be described qualitatively by:

and in more detail by:

wn schematically in Fig. 4.12.

A “parent” nuclide splits into two “daughter” nuclides and together with the release of prompt neutrons and energy E*. Typically
υ ranges from 2 – 4 and E* is approximately 200 MeV. Additional, so-called delayed neutrons may be emitted by the primary
fission products. The daughter nuclides or fission products have in general different mass numbers A and atomic numbers Z.
Since there are more than two decay products, the products and their energies cannot be uniquely identified. In the case of the
spontaneous fission of fermium-256, one such reaction is:

(this reaction represents only one of many fission product combinations). The kinetic energy release in this process, due mainly
to large electrostatic repulsion of the fragments, is approximately 200 MeV.

About 87% of the total energy is emitted promptly with the fission fragments. Most of the neutrons released are prompt neutrons
and are released within 10-14s of fissioning. Some neutrons are released on a much longer time scale and are associated with
the fission decay chains.

Proton Decay
As one moves further to the left of the line of stability, the proton to neutron ratio increases with increasing distance and the
nuclides are increasingly proton rich. In such proton rich nuclides, positron (β+) decay is usually energetically more favorable.
However, as the binding energy of these protons decreases further, there comes a point in which proton emission becomes
energetically possible.

A review of the early theoretical speculations on the subject of proton emission has been given by Goldansky in 1966. The first
observation of proton emission was reported by Jackson et al. in 1970 with the nuclide 53mCo. This decay process, is exhibited
by the metastable state of cobalt-53, i.e.

with branching ratios of 1.5% (p mode) and 98.5% (β+ mode). Proton radioactivity from a ground state, i.e. 151Lu, was first
reported by Hofmann et al. in 1981. More recently, due to various experimental improvements, proton transitions haven been
found in many nuclei [12].

The proton decay process can be described by:

following emission of the proton, the daughter atom has an extra electron which is rapidly ejected to the surrounding media such
that the daughter is electrically neutral. The phenomena of two proton radioactivity has been discussed by Blank and Grigorenko
[13].

Beta Delayed Processes

To the right of the line of stability, the nuclides are neutron rich and neutron emission can be expected in this region by analogy
with proton emission from proton rich nuclides. Through the β decay process, the daughter nuclide is formed in an excited state
which is unstable against particle emission. The characteristic timescale of this particle emission process is that of the β decay
of the parent.
Beta Delayed Neutron Emission
Neutron emission immediately following β emission (beta delayed neutron emission denoted βn) has been observed in many
–

neutron-rich nuclides. An example of this type of emission is given by 17N i.e.

where the asterisk denotes the short-lived intermediate excited states of oxygen-17. The effective half-life for this process is
4.17 s. The phenomena of delayed neutron emission is very important in the control of nuclear reactors since neutron emission
occurs on a timescale much longer than that associated with fission – this allows a response time long enough to move control
rods and thereby control the fission reactor.

Beta Delayed Alpha Emission

Some nuclides in the light-element region beta decay partly to excited states which are unstable with respect to emission of an
alpha particle (β). Both the positron decay from boron-8 and negatron decay from lithium-8 (β 2) are beta-delayed alpha
emission, because ground as well as excited states of beryllium-8 are unstable with respect to breakup into two alpha particles.
Another example is the decay of 20Na, i.e.

Beta Delayed Proton Emission

In many cases, positron decay leads to an excited nuclear state not able to bind a proton. One example of this is the decay of
111
Te, i.e.

In addition to βn, β, βp described above, βd, βt, βsf have also been observed.

Heavy-Ion or Cluster Radioactivity

In 1984, Rose and Jones at Oxford University announced the discovery of a new rare type of radioactive decay in the nuclide
223
Ra. Their article entitled “A new kind of natural radioactivity” was published in Nature. The possibility that such a decay
process, intermediate between alpha decay and spontaneous fission, may exist was postulated by A. Sandulescu, D. N.
Poenaru, and W. Greiner a few years earlier in 1980. Rose and Jones showed that the 223Ra parent nuclide decays with a small
probability to 229Pb by the emission of a 30 MeV 14C ion i.e.

Observations also have been made of carbon-14 from radium-222, radium-224, and radium-226, as well as neon-24 from
thorium-230, protactinium-231, and uranium-232. Such heavy-ion radio activity, similar to alpha decay and spontaneous fission,
involves quantum-mechanical tunnelling through the potential-energy barrier. Shell effects play an important role in this
phenomenon and in all cases observed to date the heavy partner of carbon-14 or
neon-24 is close to doubly magic lead-208.

The ratio of carbon-14 decay to alpha decay is about 5.5 x 10-10. This low value explains why the spontaneous decay mode had
not been observed earlier. Since the probability of cluster emission is expected to be greatest when the daughter nuclide
configuration is close to that of a full shell, attempts have been made to observe the phenomenon with parent nuclides near
Z = 88 (Z = 82 corresponds to a magic proton line). Hence the search has concentrated on the elements francium and actinium
with potential daughter of thallium and bismuth, e.g.

Oxygen cluster emission was discovered by Bonetti et al. in the decay of thorium, i.e.

241
Similarly, 34Si cluster should result from the decay of Am and 240Pu.

The discovery of trans-tin cluster emitters may confirm the idea of “magic radioactivity” proposed by Sandulescu in 1989. Magic
numbers in the trans-tin region are at N = 50 and 82 and Z = 50. The doubly magic closed shell nuclides 132Sn and 100Sn lie far
from the line of stability. In the proton rich region between Ba – Sm cluster emission would lead to nuclides close to the doubly
magic 100Sn.
Sandulescu has also proposed the idea of cold fission as a special case of cluster radioactivity where the fission fragments lie in
the Z = 50 region. An example could be the decay of fermium i.e.

in which the neutron rich fermium splits into two identical doubly magic tin fragments with a probability comparable to that of
alpha decay.

Decay of Bare Nuclei – Bound Beta Decay

The effect of external physical conditions on the nuclear decay rate has been of interest for many decades. Many attempts have
been made to alter the decay rate by varying the temperature, pressure, chemical environment etc. but only small effects have
been observed. This situation has now changed with the observation that the half-lives of highly charged ions can be modified.

When a stable atom is fully ionised, the resulting ion may be unstable. These nuclei give rise to a special kind of β- emission in
which an electron is liberated from the nucleus, through transformation of a neutron to a proton, and captured into one of the
empty energy shells of the atom. This “bound beta decay” was predicted in 1947 by the French physicists Daudel et al. but was
observed for the first time only in 1992 at the Institute of Heavy Ion Research
(GSI) at Darmstadt [14].

A bound beta isotope, denoted βb, is an isotope which is (nearly) stable as a neutral atom, but which decays by βb decay when
fully ionised. There are now four such isotopes known in nature: 163Dy, 187Re, 193Ir, and 205Tl. The isotope 187Re is included
because of its extremely long continuum beta decay half-life (5 x 1010 a).

Bound beta decay was first observed with highly charged ions of the stable nuclide 163Dy and 187Re provided by the synchrotron
and stored in the storage cooler ring at GSI. The ionised [163Dy]66+ is observed to decay with a half-life of 47 d by β emission to
163
Ho. For the almost stable 187Re, the fully ionised [187Re]75+ shows a decrease in the half-life of 9 orders of magnitude. In
addition to the 163Dy/163Ho transmutation under extreme conditions, other such reactions pairs are 205Tl/205Pb and 193Ir/193Pt and
these may have an impact in stellar nucleo-synthesis where terrestrial and stellar half-lives may be different.

Recently the opposite effect has been demonstrated [15] in that instead of the nuclear decay process being accelerated in bare
atoms, it has been hindered. The main decay channel of the isomeric states of neutral atoms is internal conversion. The results
show an increase of the half-life by up to a factor 30 for the bare isomers [151mEr]68+, [149mDy]75+, and [144mTb]65+.

References

[12] A. A. Sonzogni, Nuclear Data Sheets 95, 1 (2002).

[13] B. Blank et al., Rep. Prog. Phys. 71, 046301 (2008); L.V. Grigorenko, Physics of Particles and Nuclei 40, 674 (2009).
[14] M. Jung et al. Phys. Rev. Letts. 69, 2164 (1992).
[15] Yu. A. Litvinov et al., Phys. Letts. B 573, 80 (2003).