Alpha decay represents a fundamental mode of radioactive disintegration wherein an unstable nucleus emits an alpha particle—a tightly bound cluster of two protons and two neutrons. This process not ...

Scientists refer to atomic nuclei as “quantum many-body systems” because they are formed by many particles (nucleons, which include neutrons and protons) that interact with each other in complex ways.

Elements that do not exist in nature—that have been created in a laboratory—are unstable. After hours or days of one element bombarding another with enough energy for both to fuse, the resulting new ...

In a random moment, all energy is lost. The unstable subject cannot help but decay, slowly but surely, letting go of particles to become stable. It loses itself to become balanced again. This is a ...