Further Reading — Chapter 13: Alpha Decay

Textbooks

Krane, K.S. Introductory Nuclear Physics. Wiley, 1987. Chapter 8 (Alpha Decay). Clear treatment of the Gamow theory with worked numerical examples. The standard undergraduate text; alpha decay treatment is concise and well-organized.
Lilley, J.S. Nuclear Physics: Principles and Applications. Wiley, 2001. Chapter 5. Excellent balance of theory and applications, with good discussion of alpha spectroscopy and its use in nuclear structure studies.
Heyde, K.L.G. Basic Ideas and Concepts in Nuclear Physics. 3rd ed., IOP Publishing, 2004. Chapters 3 and 6. Strong conceptual treatment with careful discussion of the WKB method applied to alpha decay.

Wong, S.S.M. Introductory Nuclear Physics. 2nd ed., Wiley-VCH, 2004. Chapter 5. Thorough derivation of the Gamow factor with careful attention to the nuclear radius and preformation factor.
Bertulani, C.A. Nuclear Physics in a Nutshell. Princeton University Press, 2007. Chapter 10. Compact but rigorous treatment including cluster radioactivity and proton emission, with useful comparison of theoretical predictions to data.
Mayer-Kuckuk, T. Kernphysik. 7th ed., Teubner, 2002. Chapter 6 (in German). Particularly clear derivation of the WKB integral for the Coulomb barrier.
Preston, M.A. and Bhaduri, R.K. Structure of the Nucleus. Addison-Wesley, 1975. Chapter 12. Advanced treatment of alpha decay theory including angular momentum effects, deformation, and the connection to nuclear structure.

Gamow, G. "Zur Quantentheorie des Atomkernes." Zeitschrift für Physik 51, 204--212 (1928). The original paper deriving the tunneling explanation for alpha decay. Gamow derives the penetration factor and shows it explains the Geiger-Nuttall law.
Gurney, R.W. and Condon, E.U. "Wave Mechanics and Radioactive Disintegration." Nature 122, 439 (1928). The independent discovery of the tunneling mechanism, published as a letter to Nature. More qualitative than Gamow's paper but equally insightful.
Gurney, R.W. and Condon, E.U. "Quantum Mechanics and Radioactive Disintegration." Physical Review 33, 127--140 (1929). The full paper following their Nature letter, with detailed calculations.

Geiger, H. and Nuttall, J.M. "The Ranges of the Alpha Particles from Various Radioactive Substances and a Relation between Range and Period of Transformation." Philosophical Magazine 22, 613--621 (1911). The original empirical observation of the range-lifetime relationship.
Geiger, H. and Nuttall, J.M. "The Ranges of Alpha Particles from Uranium." Philosophical Magazine 23, 439--445 (1912). Extension of the empirical law.

Sandulescu, A., Poenaru, D.N., and Greiner, W. "New Type of Decay of Heavy Nuclei Intermediate between Fission and Alpha Decay." Soviet Journal of Particles and Nuclei 11, 528--541 (1980). The theoretical prediction of cluster radioactivity.
Rose, H.J. and Jones, G.A. "A New Kind of Natural Radioactivity." Nature 307, 245--247 (1984). The experimental discovery of ${}^{14}\text{C}$ emission from ${}^{223}\text{Ra}$.

Hofmann, S. et al. "Proton Radioactivity of ${}^{151}\text{Lu}$." Zeitschrift für Physik A 305, 111--123 (1982). First observation of ground-state proton radioactivity.
Blank, B. and Borge, M.J.G. "Nuclear Structure at the Proton Drip Line: Advances with Nuclear Decay Studies." Progress in Particle and Nuclear Physics 60, 403--483 (2008). Comprehensive review of proton radioactivity and related phenomena.

Pfützner, M. et al. "First Evidence for the Two-Proton Decay of ${}^{45}\text{Fe}$." European Physical Journal A 14, 279--285 (2002).
Giovinazzo, J. et al. "Two-Proton Radioactivity of ${}^{45}\text{Fe}$." Physical Review Letters 89, 102501 (2002).

Viola, V.E. and Seaborg, G.T. "Nuclear Systematics of the Heavy Elements — II. Lifetimes for Alpha, Beta, and Spontaneous Fission Decay." Journal of Inorganic and Nuclear Chemistry 28, 741--761 (1966). The Viola-Seaborg parametrization of the Geiger-Nuttall law, widely used in nuclear data evaluations.
Poenaru, D.N. and Greiner, W. "Cluster Radioactivity." In Nuclear Decay Modes, ed. D.N. Poenaru, IOP Publishing, 1996. Comprehensive review by the theorists who predicted cluster radioactivity.
Bonetti, R. and Guglielmetti, A. "Cluster Radioactivity: An Overview after Twenty Years." Romanian Reports in Physics 59, 301--310 (2007). Summary of experimental and theoretical progress since the 1984 discovery.
Qi, C. et al. "Universal Decay Law in Charged-Particle Emission and Exotic Cluster Radioactivity." Physical Review Letters 103, 072501 (2009). A unified treatment of alpha, proton, and cluster radioactivity using a generalized Gamow-like formula.
Delion, D.S. Theory of Particle and Cluster Emission. Lecture Notes in Physics, Vol. 819. Springer, 2010. A monograph covering the full theoretical apparatus for charged-particle emission, from alpha decay through cluster radioactivity.

NUBASE2020: Kondev, F.G. et al. "The NUBASE2020 Evaluation of Nuclear Physics Properties." Chinese Physics C 45, 030001 (2021). Comprehensive tabulation of nuclear half-lives, decay modes, and branching ratios.
AME2020: Wang, M. et al. "The AME2020 Atomic Mass Evaluation." Chinese Physics C 45, 030003 (2021). Atomic masses used for Q-value calculations.
National Nuclear Data Center (NNDC): https://www.nndc.bnl.gov/. Interactive databases for nuclear data, including the NuDat chart of nuclides, evaluated nuclear structure data (ENSDF), and decay radiation search.
IAEA Nuclear Data Services: https://www-nds.iaea.org/. The International Atomic Energy Agency's nuclear data portal, including the RIPL-3 reference input parameter library (nuclear masses, level densities, optical model parameters).

Gamow, G. My World Line: An Informal Autobiography. Viking Press, 1970. Gamow's memoir, including a vivid account of his work on alpha decay tunneling and subsequent contributions to nuclear astrophysics.
Reines, F. "The Early Days of Experimental Neutrino Physics." Science 203, 11--16 (1979). While focused on neutrinos, this article provides context for the post-1928 development of nuclear physics that Gamow's work helped initiate.
Stuewer, R.H. "Gamow's Theory of Alpha-Decay." In The Kaleidoscope of Science, ed. E. Ullmann-Margalit, 147--186. Springer, 1986. Detailed historical analysis of Gamow's contribution and the simultaneous work of Gurney and Condon.