Radioactive -Decay and Nuclear Exchange Force as a Consequence of a Unitary Field Theory

Abstract

THE hypothesis is put forward that positive electron, neutrino, positive proton and neutron are four different quantum states of one elementary particle. Such an assumption would be trivial unless transitions between the different states occur. It is required that Dirac's equation follows from the theory, and that the conservation law of electric charge holds, so only a small number of transitions are allowed. If in addition we satisfy a certain symmetry condition (corresponding to the conservation law of Jordan's neutrino charge¹) the number of possible processes is further reduced. The permitted transitions are: (I) positive electron neutrino (II) positive electron neutron (III) positive proton neutrino (IV) positive proton neutron. Any one of these transmutations can occur only if another one of them takes place in the reverse direction.