Analysis of various emission modes in the ground state decay of ²⁴⁰Pu nucleus

In the present work, we intend to investigate the role of quadrupole (β₂) deformations on the possible fragmentations of ²⁴⁰Pu parent in view of α-, cluster and heavy particle decay modes using the Preformed Cluster Decay Model (PCM). In PCM, the mass and shape of all possible fragments are treated on equal footing and are found to influence the pre-formation factor P₀ accordingly, which is determined using the mass (or charge) asymmetry coordinate. Whereas the barrier penetrability P in PCM is computed through tunneling along the relative distance coordinate. Note that the half-life depends on P₀ as well as P and hence our PCM calculated half lives T_1/2 are found to exhibit decent comparison with the available experimental data for both α- as well as cluster decay. The structural aspects in the fragmentation profile of ²⁴⁰Pu become relatively pronounced after the inclusion of deformation effects of decaying fragments