Effects of electric fields on 7Be half-life

Abstract

First-principle calculations based on the density functional theory (DFT) method are adopted to investigate the influence of a strong electric field on the 7Be half-life. Accordingly, electronic structures of Be and BeO are examined in the presence of a homogeneous electric field. The electron density at the nucleus is estimated upon the geometry optimization. Our computations for the Be metal indicate a 0.02% increase in the decay rate of the 7Be nucleus, corresponding to a 0.02% decrease in the 7Be half-life, both at 5.14 V/Å (0.1 a.u.). Furthermore, it is determined that the decay rate of 7Be is not considerably altered up to 3.6 V/Å in the BeO structure. Our results show that the screening energy of the electron can be dependent on the applied electric field strength. Furthermore, we predict variations in the Coulomb potential at the 7Be nucleus due to electric field application.