The frontier lines of the constituents of matter

Abstract Looking at the chart of nuclides as presented at the URL of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) [1] – that, one supposes, contains all the known nuclides, the natural and the artificial ones – one verifies the existence of two delimiting lines admitted to be the borders of the constituents of matter. One assumes that the lighter atoms have been formed in a nucleosynthesis process within the core of certain stars while the heavier were produced during the implosion of old stars, a supernova or in the fusion of two neutron stars. Making use of the nuclear semiempirical mass formula along with the energy-time uncertainty relation of quantum mechanics, we show that the calculated border lines show an appreciable agreement with the data obtained from the Chart of Nuclides, the nuclides that are situated far away from those that define the line, or valley, of stability. We also briefly discuss, qualitatively, what is currently known about the astrophysical nucleogenesis processes of the heavier nuclei and their relation with the border lines.

摘要 参考国际原子能机构（International Atomic Energy Agency，IAEA）公开网址中展示的核素图（Chart of Nuclides）[1]——该图据推测收录了所有已知的天然与人工核素——可以发现存在两条公认的限定边界，它们被视作物质组成成分的临界界线。学界普遍认为，较轻原子形成于特定恒星核心内的核合成过程，而较重原子核则诞生于老年恒星坍缩（超新星爆发）或双中子星并合事件中。本文借助核半经验质量公式，结合量子力学的能量-时间不确定关系，证明计算得到的边界线与核素图中的实测数据吻合度较高，尤其针对远离稳定线（或称稳定谷）的核素而言。此外，本文还将定性简要探讨当前学界对重核天体物理核合成过程及其与上述边界线关联的现有认知。