Travel to the Center of Atomic Nuclei

Abstract

Nuclei, with their internal proton-neutron transformations, electron and neutrino emission, are the ultimate motor of the universe both at the atomic and cosmological scale. The flux of neutrino governs the motion of the Earth around the Sun, the electronic orbital, the physical-chemical properties of substances, while the proton-neutron transformations are responsible for the nuclear bond and nuclear stability. The mechanical and chemical world is well known and understood while the structure of the nucleus and the nature of the nuclear bond are still a mystery due to the lack of experimental techniques at the subatomic scale. The recent consciousness of nuclei global role at the macroscale forces additional investigations. In our travel, we use, as a guide, the available mass defect data, propose a new approach to reconcile unexplained binding energies of lighter nuclides and give additional rules to build stepwise all known isotopes. While the rules appear to be sound, the picture that comes out is however only a first rough tentative of radiography of the internal structure of the nuclei of existing atoms.