I'm just curious what causes radioactivity. I've been told that in the case of alpha decay, since the nucleus is quantum mechanical, there is a probability that the configuration of protons and neutrons is in such a way as to have an alpha particle outside the nucleus, and then the electric repulsion pushes it away. Is this true? Does quantum mechanics give a probability of this sort of thing happening which would be connected to the half life?
Also the second part of my question: why don't we have many other kinds of decay, why alpha particles or beta only (and fission etc. artificially)? Thanks a lot in advance, if you can point to articles or books I can read on the subject it would also be a plus.
Note: for the configuration, I mean some kind of quantum entanglement or uncertainty principle.
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