Physics:Alpha nuclide

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Short description: Nuclide made up of alpha particles

An alpha nuclide is a nuclide that consists of an integer number of alpha particles. Alpha nuclides have equal, even numbers of protons and neutrons; they are important in stellar nucleosynthesis since the energetic environment within stars is amenable to fusion of alpha particles into heavier nuclei.[1][2] Stable alpha nuclides, and stable decay products of radioactive alpha nuclides, are some of the most common metals in the universe.

Alpha nuclide is also short for alpha-emitting nuclide, referring to those radioactive isotopes that undergo alpha decay and thereby emit alpha particles.[3]

List of alpha nuclides

The entries for 36Ar and 40Ca are theoretical: they would release energy on decay, but the process has never been observed, and the half-lives are probably extremely long. Likewise, the chains for masses 64, 84, 92, and 96 theoretically can continue one more step by double electron capture (to 64Ni, 84Kr, 92Zr, and 96Mo respectively), but this has never been observed.

Alpha number Nuclide Stability Decay mode Half-life[4] Product(s) of decay (bold is stable) Alpha decay energy
(MeV)Template:AME2020 II
1 42He Stable
2 84Be Radioactive α 8.19(37)×10−17 s 42He +0.09184
3 126C Stable −7.36659
4 168O Stable −7.16192
5 2010Ne Stable −4.72985
6 2412Mg Stable −9.31656
7 2814Si Stable −9.98414
8 3216S Stable −6.94766
9 3618Ar Observationally Stable (ECEC) never seen (3616S) −6.64092
10 4020Ca Observationally Stable (ECEC) never seen (4018Ar) −7.03978
11 4422Ti Radioactive EC 60.0(11) y 4421Sc → 4420Ca −5.1271
12 4824Cr Radioactive β+ 21.56(3) h 4823V → 4822Ti −7.698
13 5226Fe Radioactive β+ 8.275(8) h 52m25Mn → 5224Cr −7.936
14 5628Ni Radioactive β+ 6.075(10) d 5627Co → 5626Fe −8.0005
15 6030Zn Radioactive β+ 2.38(5) min 6029Cu → 6028Ni −2.6917
16 6432Ge Radioactive β+ 63.7(25) s 6431Ga → 6430Zn −2.566
17 6834Se Radioactive β+ 35.5(7) s 6833As → ... → 6830Zn −2.299
18 7236Kr Radioactive β+ 17.16(18) s 7235Br → ... → 7232Ge −2.176
19 7638Sr Radioactive β+ 7.89(7) s 7637Rb → ... → 7634Se −2.73
20 8040Zr Radioactive β+ 4.6(6) s 8039Y → ... → 8036Kr −3.70
21 8442Mo Radioactive β+ 3.8(9) ms 8441Nb → ... → 8438Sr −2.71
22 8844Ru Radioactive β+ 1.3(3) s 8843Tc → ... → 8838Sr −2.27
23 9246Pd Radioactive β+ 1.1(3) s 9245Rh → ... → 9242Mo −2.28
24 9648Cd Radioactive β+ 1.003(47) s 9647Ag → ... → 9644Ru −3.03
25 10050Sn Radioactive β+ 1.1(4) s 10049In → ... → 10044Ru −3.47
26 10452Te Radioactive α 7.2+2.3
−1.5 ns[5][n 1] 		10050Sn → ... → 10044Ru +5.10
27 10854Xe Radioactive α 58+106−23 μs 10452Te → 10050Sn → ... → 10044Ru +4.57

As of 2024, the heaviest known alpha nuclide is xenon-108.[6]

  1. ↑ This appears reliable but the NUBASE2020 value is <4 ns and the discrepancy is yet to be explained.

References

  1. ↑ Appenzeller, ed (1998). Astrophysics Library (3rd ed.). New York: Springer. 
  2. ↑ Carroll, Bradley W.; Ostlie, Dale A. (2007). An Introduction to Modern Stellar Astrophysics. Addison Wesley, San Francisco. ISBN 978-0-8053-0348-3. 
  3. ↑ John Avison (November 2014). The World of Physics. Nelson Thornes. pp. 397–. ISBN 978-0-17-438733-6. https://books.google.com/books?id=DojwZzKAvN8C&pg=PA397. 
  4. ↑ Audi, G.; Kondev, F. G.; Wang, M.; Huang, W. J.; Naimi, S. (2017). "The NUBASE2016 evaluation of nuclear properties". Chinese Physics C 41 (3): 030001. doi:10.1088/1674-1137/41/3/030001. Bibcode: 2017ChPhC..41c0001A. https://www-nds.iaea.org/amdc/ame2016/NUBASE2016.pdf. 
  5. ↑ Cox, Ian; Grzywacz, Robert; King, T. T.; Rykaczewski, K. P.; Nishimura, S.; Yokoyama, R.; Fukuda, N.; Kitamura, N. et al. (27 May 2026). "Direct observation of the superallowed α-decay of 104Te". Nature 654: 52-56. doi:10.1038/s41586-026-10581-w. 
  6. ↑ Auranen, K. (2018). "Superallowed α decay to doubly magic 100Sn". Physical Review Letters 121 (18). doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.182501. PMID 30444390. https://www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/files/77942573/PhysRevLett.121.pdf. 



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