Quantum Nucleon Configurations and the Heavy-Nucleus Stability Limit: Short-Range Nuclear Cohesion, Long-Range Coulomb Repulsion, Barrier Penetration, and a Critical Analysis of Very Large Z

The research paper is still being further developed and refined.AbstractThis article develops the author’s hypothesis that configuration-dependentproton–neutron correlations, finite-range residual nuclear cohesion, and long-rangeproton Coulomb repulsion together provide an intuitive mechanism for the decreasing stability of heavy nuclei. We formulate it within an interacting nucleusenvironment framework rather than assuming a physically isolated nucleus. Theprincipal macroscopic destabilizing trend is derived from the liquid-drop scalingEC ∼Z2/A1/3 and ES ∼ A2/3, giving the fissility x ∼ Z2/A. We distinguish quantum fluctuations of a stationary state from real-time classical reshuffling: protonclustering can raise a conditional Coulomb contribution, but fission typically lowers Coulomb self-energy as the nucleus elongates. We derive the fixed-A isobaricmass optimum, an analytic alpha-decay barrier-penetration integral, and a modelspecific inequality demonstrating how extreme neutron loading fails to rescue hypothetical Z ∼ 1000 nuclei. Detailed examples include a six-proton/six-neutronconfiguration comparison, uranium-238 alpha emission, beryllium-8, carbon-14,iron-56, lead-208, and environment-dependent rhenium-187 beta decay. A newfigure integrates the author’s visual hypothesis, while additional plots quantifyalpha tunneling and large-Z fissility. We conclude that finite-range nuclear saturation opposed by long-range Coulomb repulsion is a leading macroscopic reasonto expect no stable, long-lived nuclei with proton numbers in the thousands. Neither a universal threshold at Z = 1000 nor a rule that instantaneous Coulombmaxima cause decay follows from these formulas; the tunneling rate requires adecay channel, collective barrier, and microscopic transition amplitude. The proposed principle is a physically motivated synthesis of established nuclear physics,with testable hypotheses explicitly separated from proven model relations.1Keywords: nuclear configurations; interacting nuclei; open quantum systems; nucleoncorrelations; Coulomb self-energy; nuclear saturation; neutron excess; semi-empiricalmass formula; uranium-238; radioactive decay; environmental charge state; quantumtunneling; macroscopic fissility; superheavy nuclei; large proton number