Related papers: Is Radioactive Decay Really Exponential?

Time evolution of the decay process of unstable particles is investigated in field theory models. We first formulate how to renormalize the non-decay amplitude beyond perturbation theory and then discuss short-time behavior of very…

Radioactivity is understood to be described by a Poisson process, yet some measurements of nuclear decays appear to exhibit unexpected variations. Generally, the isotopes reporting these variations have long half lives, which are plagued by…

The quantum-mechanical theory of the decay of unstable states is revisited. We show that the decay is non-exponential both in the short-time and long-time limits using a more physical definition of the decay rate than the one usually used.…

Radioactive components of the interstellar medium provide an entirely-different and new aspect to the studies of the interstellar medium. Injected from sources of nucleosynthesis, unstable nuclei decay along their trajectories. Measurements…

We propose a new class of metastable dark energy (DE) phenomenological models in which the DE decay rate does not depend on external parameters such as the scale factor or the curvature of the Universe. Instead, the DE decay rate is assumed…

The operator of time formalism is applied to radioactive decay. It appears that the proposed approach offers better insight and understanding of the phenomena in a way that the decay exponential-law becomes the Boltzmann distribution in…

Since the 1930s, and with very few exceptions, it has been assumed that the process of radioactive decay is a random process, unaffected by the environment in which the decaying nucleus resides. There have been instances within the past few…

Radioactive decay of unstable atomic nuclei leads to liberation of nuclear binding energy in the forms of gamma-ray photons and secondary particles (electrons, positrons); their energy then energises surrounding matter. Unstable nuclei are…

We analyze the survival probability of unstable particles in the context of quantum field theory. After introducing the spectral function of resonances, we show that deviations from the exponential decay law occur at short times after the…

Data from the power output of the radioisotope thermoelectric generators aboard the Cassini spacecraft are used to test the conjecture that small deviations observed in terrestrial measurements of the exponential radioactive decay law are…

The most important law of radioactivity is that of the exponential decay. In the realm of quantum mechanics, however, this decay law is neither rigorous nor fundamental. The deviations from the exponential decay have been observed…

Knowledge of the decay rates (or half-lives) of radioisotopes is critical in many fields, including medicine, archeology, and nuclear physics, to name just a few. Central to the many uses of radioisotopes is the belief that decay rates are…

We study the decay process of an unstable quantum system, especially the deviation from the exponential decay law. We show that the exponential period no longer exists in the case of the s-wave decay with small $Q$ value, where the $Q$…

A rigorous quantum relativistic approach has been used to calculate the relationship between the decay laws of an unstable particle seen from two inertial frames moving with respect to each other. In agreement with experiment, it is found…

Because of the extreme smallness of the energy spread of the unstable state describing the decaying proton, due in its turn to the anomalous smallness of the resonance width expected for the proton decay, the application of the Heisenberg…

Isotopes with low-lying long-lived isomers can behave very differently from other isotopes in astrophysical environments. In particular, the assumption of thermal equilibrium in computing the temperature-dependent $\beta$-decay rates of…

Electromagnetic properties provide information about the structure of strongly interacting systems and allow for independent tests of hadronic models. The radiative decay of the Delta(1700) is studied, which appears dynamically generated in…

We study the elusive transition from exponential to post-exponential (algebraic) decay of the probability density of a quantum particle emitted by an exponentially decaying source, in one dimension. The main finding is that the probability…

We consider a cosmology with decaying metastable dark energy and assume that a decay process of this metastable dark energy is a quantum decay process. Such an assumption implies among others that the evolution of the Universe is…

The decay of an unstable system is usually described by an exponential law. Quantum mechanics predicts strong deviations of the survival probability from the exponential: indeed, the decay is initially quadratic, while at very large times…