Cluster decay

Cluster decay, also named heavy particle radioactivity or heavy ion radioactivity, is a type of nuclear decay in which an atomic nucleus emits a small "cluster" of neutrons and protons, more than in an alpha particle, but less than a typical binary fission fragment. Ternary fission into three fragments also produces products in the cluster size. The loss of protons from the parent nucleus changes it to the nucleus of a different element, the daughter, with a mass number A_d = A - A_e and atomic number Z_d = Z - Z_e where A_e = N_e + Z_e. For example: