Radioactivity of Quark Nuggets

Abstract

Quark nuggets $^A_ZQ$, as Fermionic non-topological solitons, could have their mass per baryon smaller than ordinary nuclei and behave as exotic nuclei with different relations of atomic number and atomic mass number. Using both the degenerate Fermi gas model and the Friedberg-Lee shell model, we calculate the properties of quark nuggets made of up and down quarks. Similar to ordinary nuclei, quark nuggets could exhibit their own radioactivity, including gamma decay, beta decay, and (explosive) spontaneous fission, with the qualitative properties presented here. These quark nugget properties may provide guidance for searching for quark nuggets in situ from binary neutron star mergers.