Neutron

Background

Discovered in 1932, the neutron is a nucleon that resides in the atom’s nucleus, along with the proton. Unlike the proton which has a positive charge, the neutron has no electrical charge and does not attract an electron to the atom. Although neutrons are not necessary for attracting electrons, they are required to space protons in the atomic nucleus. Two protons will repel, but when sufficiently spaced apart by neutrons, they are stable and can build an atomic nucleus.

As a composite particle (made of other particles), the neutron is believed to contain three quarks, just like the proton. In the case of the neutron, it contains two down quarks and one up quark (the proton has two up quarks and one down quark).

Despite the belief that the neutron consists of three quarks, the following observations have been made in electron capture and beta decay:

1. In an atom, a proton can capture an electron to become a neutron
2. In an atom, a neutron is mostly stable but may decay to a proton with the emission of an electron and a neutrino
3. Outside of an atom, a free neutron decays within 15 minutes with the emission of an electron and a neutrino

Explanation

The model of the neutron is based on a pentaquark arrangement of the proton. It is very similar to the proton, but the neutron has an additional electron in the center of the structure that will cause destructive waves with the positron. Similar to electron-positron annihilation, this causes the cancellation of longitudinal waves and the particle is neutral. The structure is:

Neutron

The following structure of the nucleon could also be viewed as a neutron as it would have a neutral charge with no particles in the center. This structure is likely less stable, but is the result of beta plus decay when a proton converts to be a neutron. The empty shell of the neutron could then attract a positron to the center again later, to become a proton.

Neutron (empty nucleon shell)

Neutron Creation

The following animation describes the creation process of the empty nucleon shell and the neutron.

Creation Steps:

1. Particles with sufficient energy (such as electrons or positrons) may form composite particles if placed on standing wave nodes and in stable geometric structures.
2. Four of these particles transfer energy to transverse wave energy in the form of gluons and reduce longitudinal wave amplitude such that little to no charge exists.  It is an empty nucleon with no charge.
3. A positron is attracted to the center to become a proton.
4. An additional electron is attracted to the center. Due to destructive wave interference with the positron, the particle is now neutral and is a neutron.

Nucleon Conversion

A nucleon (neutron or proton) is stable until an event occurs at a given probability that increases energy to dislodge one of the center particles.  The tetrahedral particles require a significant amount of energy to separate and will only do so temporarily – known as quark confinement. It is the center particles of the nucleon that are held weakly in place by electric forces, not strong forces.

Random, but predictable collisions, such as solar neutrinos could provide the energy to dislodge the particle.  Consider a solar neutrino with inbound kinetic energy that collides with a particle in the atom, causing electron capture or beta decay.  This would satisfy the conditions of the creation and decay of the neutron:

1. Electron capture – a neutrino collides with an electron in an atom, transferring energy to the electron to overcome the repelling force of the proton.  The electron annihilates with the positron in the center and are now destructive waves. The proton becomes a neutron.
2. Beta minus decay – a neutrino collides with the electron in the neutron’s center, dislodging it. This event occurs frequently with a free neutron, with a probability of a solar neutrino hitting it every 15 minutes (with neutrons bound in an atomic nucleus, more energy is required due to nucleon binding energies). The neutron becomes a proton.

Proof

Proof of the energy wave explanation for the neutron is the calculations, derivations and explanations of:

• Fine structure constant – derivation shows relationship to electrons as quarks
• Strong force – calculations of the forces for binding energy of quarks and also the repelling force for orbitals
• Weak force – the explanation of beta decay and the weak force are shown for all possible decay scenarios