New solution to the puzzle of the long lifetime of 14C

TL;DR

This paper introduces a cluster model with tetrahedral symmetry to explain the unusually long lifetime of 14C, accurately describing various nuclear decay and scattering data, and providing new insights into nuclear structure.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel cluster model incorporating tetrahedral symmetry and multi-nucleon interactions to explain 14C's long lifetime and related nuclear properties.

Findings

Accurately describes beta-decay data for 14O and 14N.

Reproduces gamma decay and electron scattering data.

First calculation of the large quadrupole moment of 14N.

Abstract

A new cluster model solution to the long standing nuclear structure problem of describing the anomalously long lifetime of 14C is presented. Related beta-decay data for 14O to states in 14N, gamma decay data between low lying positive parity states in 14N and the elastic and inelastic magnetic dipole electron scattering from 14N data are all shown to be very accurately described by the model. The shapes of the beta spectra for the A=14 system are also well reproduced by the model. The model invokes four-nucleon tetrahedral symmetric spatial correlations arising from three- and four-nucleon interactions which yields a high degree of SU(4) singlet structure for the clusters and a tetrahedral intrinsic shape for the doubly magic 16O ground state. The large quadrupole moment of the 14N ground state is obtained here for the first time and arises because of the almost 100% d-wave deuteron-like-hole cluster structure inherent in the model.