Could Magnetic Monopoles Cause Accelerated Decay?


ABSTRACTS


Bruce Oliver, Eugene Chaffin*

We study the effect of superheavy magnetic monopoles on nuclei such as Aluminum-26 and Potassium-40, to see if the rate of beta decay is enhanced by the nearby passage of a magnetic monopole. Following an idea of Carrigan (1980a, 1980b), we consider the possibility that monopoles are trapped in the earth’s interior by a balance between gravitational and magnetic forces from the earth’s fields. Magnetic reversals such as those considered by Humphreys sent the monopoles to the surface during the Genesis Flood, causing nuclear decay rates to seem to accelerate. We use theory developed by Lipkin in the 1980s to treat the theory of perturbation of the decay rates by the monopoles. We show that the monopole velocities attained during a field reversal are sufficient for them to escape during the Flood, but not large enough to produce tracks in rocks and minerals similar to fission tracks