Search for heavy ion emission from the decay of U-230

the exotic nuclear decay of u-230 by emission of heavy ions has been investigated by use of pa-230 --> u-230 sources and polyester track detectors. after a run of 248 d, two cases of decay via heavy ion emission, which were most probably for the neon decays of u-230, were observed for the first time. the preliminary branching ratio for the emission of heavy ions relative to alpha particles from u-230 comes out to be (1.3+/-0.8) x 10(-14).