R. Ramanna et Bv. Sreekantan, ON THE CORRELATIONS OF MASSES AND LIFETIMES OF RADIONUCLIDES AND FUNDAMENTAL PARTICLES, Modern physics letters A, 10(9), 1995, pp. 741-753
We show that for unstable fundamental particles and beta and alpha emi
tting nuclides the product of mass M (ergs) and lifetime T (seconds) c
an be expressed by the quantized form MT = (h) over bar(2(n)/n) where
n is an integer. The lifetime T is then expressible in the form T = ((
h) over bar/M)e(n/lambda), where lambda in the case of fundamental par
ticles is a function of ''n'' only. In the case of beta-emitters the m
ass M is that of the nucleon and in the case of alpha-emitters, the ma
ss is equivalent to the binding energy of the nucleus. The log T vs n
plots for the fundamental particles separate them out according to the
ir flavor. The Heisenberg energy spread relation for decay can be writ
ten in the form Delta E = M(n/2(n)) shows the connection between the r
est mass and lifetime through n. The ranges of n values indicate the s
trength of interaction during decay; n < 10 - strong, n = 10-30- elect
romagnetic and ''hidden strong'' and n > 40 - weak. On this basis we s
et a lower limit of 6 x 10(-21) s for the weak decay of the top quark
(mass similar to 174 GeV). Some interesting mathematical properties of
the functional form n/2(n) which is the backbone of the present analy
sis are discussed at the end of the paper.