- Accepted Paper
Universal scaling law in alpha decay from nuclei to neutron-star mergers
Phys. Rev. D - Accepted 3 November, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/frbb-kjtm
Phys. Rev. D - Accepted 3 November, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/frbb-kjtm
We establish a universal scaling law for -decay half-lives based on the variable , which collapses experimental and theoretical data spanning over twenty orders of magnitude onto a single linear correlation. Global optimization over the complete set of even-even emitters reveals a uniquely sharp optimum at . Strikingly, five structurally distinct semi-empirical models and an independent microscopic WKB calculation, when independently optimized with respect to the exponent , yield values clustered around , while the corresponding correlations remain highly linear without refitting the original model parameters. This emergent scaling law implies smooth variations of decay times along the heavy -process path. We demonstrate analytically that, given a roughly uniform distribution of this variable, the scaling law naturally supports a quasi-power-law radioactive heating rate (), consistent with full network calculations. Furthermore, integrating these scaling predictions directly into nuclear source terms for radiative-diffusion models yields multimessenger observables that accurately reproduce the kilonova AT2017gfo associated with the gravitational-wave event GW170817, demonstrating that the scaling coordinate provides a robust tool for modeling the radioactive engines of neutron-star mergers.
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