Gamow’s Theory of Alpha-Decay

Abstract

In 1928, George Gamow used some knowledge about tunneling and the WKB approximation (to the one-dimensional time independent Schrodinger equation) to provide the first theoretical account of alpha decay (emission of 2 protons and 2 neutrons, ie, a positive charged particle, 2e, by heavy nuclei). In this paper, it will be discussed, in first place, the WKB approximation and its application to one-dimensional potentials which act as barriers (the scattering problem). After that, the alpha decay will be discussed. Introduction: