Toward an accurate determination of half-life of Sm isotope.

The task of an accurate determination of alpha-decay rate of Sm isotope, a topic of importance in both basic and applied science, has been performed in the present research following two different routes. First, a critical review and data analysis of the whole set of half-life values obtained till date yielded an average of 106.3?±?0.5 Ga. Second, a one-parameter, semi-empirical model for alpha emission from nuclei, developed in the framework of quantum mechanical tunneling mechanism through a Coulomb-plus-centrifugal-plus-overlapping potential barrier, that yielded a value of 108.2?±?3.0 Ga. The good agreement found between the half-life values obtained from these procedures represents a net progress toward the assessment of a reliable Sm alpha-decay rate to be used in geo- and cosmo-chronological investigations.