Studies of the Dependence of Nuclear Half-lives on Changes in the Strength of the Nuclear Force

Nuclei which are of importance in radioisotope dating have very long half-lives, and calculations show that they are vulnerable to changes in the strength of the nuclear force. Their half-lives can change drastically. Although the “weak force” is the one responsible for beta-decays, the decay process is nonetheless very sensitive to the strength of the strong force gluing the nucleus together. In this paper, various possible sensitivities of the half-life for nuclear decays are investigated. In recent years, nuclear phase changes, such as the onset or loss of pairing interactions, or the shape transitions such as triaxial to oblate spheroidal and prolate spheroidal, have been a topic of interest among physicists. The pairing interactions, protons to protons or neutrons to neutrons have been found to disappear at high spin or at nuclear “temperatures” of a few tenths of an MeV. We investigate whether the change in nuclear force strength could cause breaking of the pairing bonds, hence leading to the possible loss of superfluidity or to mixed-phase nuclei. Quantum mechanical calculations are presented linking changes in various factors in alpha- and beta-decays to variation of the half-life. Tunneling processes, including nonlinear tunneling mechanisms, are investigated. According to modern theory, the W-particle has a mass-energy of 80.4 GeV and briefly enters the beta-decay process as a virtual particle leading to the emission, say in the beta-minus case, to an electron and an antineutrino. Calculations are given showing the sensitivity of this process to masses of the particles and other quantities which would be influenced by strong force variation. We discuss the linkage between various quantities and mechanisms by which small changes could possibly lead to large changes in the half-life

A Study of Roemer\u27s Method for Determining the Velocity of Light

Data taken by the author during August to December 1988 on eclipses of the first major satellite of Jupiter are compared with data taken by Roemer and Picard 300 years ago. Both sets of data are analyzed by the same method, or as nearly the same as possible, to determine whether the speed of light has changed. The conclusion depends on, and is rather sensitive to, whether or not Io\u27s mean daily motion has changed in the 300 years

Are the Fundamental Constants of Physics Really Variables?

The equations of physics contain constants such as the speed of light, the value of the charge of the electron or proton, the gravitational coupling constant, the weak coupling constant, the strong coupling constant, Planck\u27s constant, and elementary particle masses. Non-trivial variations in these quantities would not just involve a change of scale caused by a redefinition of units, but would involve the variation with time of certain dimensionless ratios of these sO-{)8l1ed constants. I will examine the theoretical basis for possible variations in these dimensionless ratios and relate experimental and observational results to place limits on these variations. In particular, I will examine the tunnelling theory of alpha decay and relate it to the possible variation of weak and strong interaction strengths, showing that decay rates may vary without significantly changing the radii of radiohalos. Also, I will examine the data of James Bradley taken in 1727-1747 on the aberration of light from the star gamma Draconis and show that there are extra solar and lunar influences on the nutation of the earth\u27s axis which Bradley unfortunately left out. This suggests that the speed of light in 1727 was the same as it is today. The results will also be related to the author\u27s study of the Roemer method for determining the speed of light (7)

Accelerated Decay: Theoretical Models

I discuss the possibility of variation of coupling constants and particle masses within modern physics. Quantum mechanical calculations are presented giving the decay constant for alpha decay and its variation with depth of the nuclear potential well. Finally, a concrete, numerical approach is given for the possible variation of the Fermi constant over the history of the earth

Radioisotopes and the Age of the Earth

RATE is an acronym applied to a research project investigating radioisotope dating sponsored by the Institute for Creation Research and the Creation Research Society. It stands for Radioisotopes and the Age of The Earth. This article summarizes the purpose, history, and intermediate findings of the RATE project five years into an eight-year effort. It reports on the latest status of the research on helium diffusion through minerals in granitic rock, accelerated nuclear decay theory, radiohalos, isochron discordance studies, case studies in rock dating, and carbon-14 in deep geologic strata. Each of the RATE scientists will present separate technical papers at the Fifth International Conference on Creationism on the details of this research