The change of proton and neutron skin thicknesses is investigated in nuclei after α decay. The skin thicknesses are self-consistently calculated. The observed α decays lead to relatively large decrease of the proton skin in the daughter nuclei. A large increase of the neutron skin in the daughter nucleus reflects the hindered α decay. This hindrance is related to the decrease of both the $Q_{\alpha }$ value and the preformation probability in the parent nucleus. For each isotopic chain, the observed half-lives consistently correlate with the change of the proton (neutron) skin thickness, from parent to daughter nuclei.

• Received 21 August 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevC.96.054328