Proton emission

Proton emission can occur from high-lying excited states in a nucleus following a beta decay, in which case the process is known as beta-delayed proton emission, or can occur from the ground state (or a low-lying isomer) of very proton-rich nuclei, in which case the process is very similar to alpha decay.

Although prompt (i.e. not beta-delayed) proton emission was observed from an isomer in cobalt-53 as early as 1969, no other proton-emitting states were found until 1981, when the proton radioactive ground states of lutetium-151 and thulium-147 were observed at experiments at the GSI in West Germany.

[2] Research in the field flourished after this breakthrough, and to date more than 25 isotopes have been found to exhibit proton emission.

The study of proton emission has aided the understanding of nuclear deformation, masses, and structure, and it is a pure example of quantum tunneling.

In 2002, the simultaneous emission of two protons was observed from the nucleus iron-45 in experiments at GSI and GANIL (Grand Accélérateur National d'Ions Lourds at Caen).

The decay of a proton rich nucleus A populates excited states of a daughter nucleus B by β+ emission or electron capture (EC). Those excited states that lie below the separation energy for protons (Sp) decay by γ emission towards the ground state of daughter B. For the higher excited states a competitive decay channel of proton emission to the granddaughter C exists, called β-delayed proton emission.