A Hypothesis on State-Dependent Nuclear Decay Rates and Emergent Randomness
Moritz Kopp
Abstract
This project presents a conceptual and mathematical hypothesis concerning the apparent randomness of radioactive decay. While current nuclear physics models describe decay as a fundamentally stochastic and random process with a constant decay rate, this work explores the possibility that the randomness may come from rapidly fluctuating internal nuclear states that are not directly obsercable by measurement. The central idea is that the effective decay constant measured experimentally represents a time-averaged quantity over a distribution of internal configurations, associated with slightly different decay probabilities. In this framework, radioactive decay remains statistically exponential at observable timescales, while allowing for hidden internal dynamics consistent with established quantum mechanical principles. My work does not claim experimental verification. Instead, it aims to outline a phenomenological structure compatible with known decay laws and to identify conditions under which small, systematic deviations might arise under perturbations.