Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society13 Oct 2026

Impact of decay-chain feeding by long-lived heavy nuclei on nuclear cosmochronology

Qiu-Hong Chen¹
Meng-Hua Chen¹
Xianlin Yang²
En-Wei Liang¹

¹Guangxi Key Laboratory for Relativistic Astrophysics, School of Physical Science and Technology, Guangxi University , Nanning 530004 ,
²Laboratory of Karst Environmental Evolution and Ecological Security, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Guiyang 550081 ,

Abstract

Nuclear cosmochronology provides an independent method for determining the ages of astrophysical objects without relying on Galactic chemical evolution models. Long-lived radioactive actinides synthesized via the rapid neutron-capture process (r-process), particularly thorium and uranium serve as ideal chronometric nuclei. However, predicting the initial abundances of these nuclei and their subsequent long-term evolution remains a major source of uncertainty in nuclear cosmochronology. In this work, we investigate the impact of decay-chain feeding from long-lived progenitor nuclei on nuclear cosmochronology and estimate the corresponding age corrections. We develop a self-consistent radioactive decay network that includes all relevant decay pathways and couple it to r-process nucleosynthesis calculations. By tracking the long-term evolution of r-process nucleosynthesis based on neutron star merger trajectories, the dominant long-lived nuclei shaping the evolution of the chronometric elements Th and U are identified as ²³²Th, ²³⁵U, ²³⁶U, ²³⁸U, and ²⁴⁴Pu. It is found that delayed feeding substantially modifies the long-term evolution of actinides particularly for ²³²Th, which receives significant late-time contributions from heavier progenitor nuclei such as ²⁴⁴Pu and ²³⁶U. As a consequence, the U/Th and Th/X chronometers exhibit significant sensitivity to delayed feeding from the progenitor nuclei ²⁴⁴Pu and ²³⁶U, with age corrections reaching ∼ 5 Gyr. These results suggest that decay-chain feeding from long-lived progenitor nuclei plays a crucial role in nuclear cosmochronology and should be properly accounted for in age determinations based on actinide chronometers.

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BibTeX

@article{chen2026impact,
  title = {{Impact of decay-chain feeding by long-lived heavy nuclei on nuclear cosmochronology}},
  author = {Qiu-Hong Chen and Meng-Hua Chen and Xianlin Yang and En-Wei Liang},
  journal = {Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1093/mnras/stag1940},
  url = {https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/doi/10.1093/mnras/stag1940/8914590},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}

RIS

TY  - JOUR
TI  - Impact of decay-chain feeding by long-lived heavy nuclei on nuclear cosmochronology
AU  - Qiu-Hong Chen
AU  - Meng-Hua Chen
AU  - Xianlin Yang
AU  - En-Wei Liang
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/13
JO  - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
DO  - 10.1093/mnras/stag1940
UR  - https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/doi/10.1093/mnras/stag1940/8914590
AB  - Nuclear cosmochronology provides an independent method for determining the ages of astrophysical objects without relying on Galactic chemical evolution models. Long-lived radioactive actinides synthesized via the rapid neutron-capture process (r-process), particularly thorium and uranium serve as ideal chronometric nuclei. However, predicting the initial abundances of these nuclei and their subsequent long-term evolution remains a major source of uncertainty in nuclear cosmochronology. In this work, we investigate the impact of decay-chain feeding from long-lived progenitor nuclei on nuclear cosmochronology and estimate the corresponding age corrections. We develop a self-consistent radioactive decay network that includes all relevant decay pathways and couple it to r-process nucleosynthesis calculations. By tracking the long-term evolution of r-process nucleosynthesis based on neutron star merger trajectories, the dominant long-lived nuclei shaping the evolution of the chronometric elements Th and U are identified as ^232Th, ^235U, ^236U, ^238U, and ^244Pu. It is found that delayed feeding substantially modifies the long-term evolution of actinides particularly for ^232Th, which receives significant late-time contributions from heavier progenitor nuclei such as ^244Pu and ^236U. As a consequence, the U/Th and Th/X chronometers exhibit significant sensitivity to delayed feeding from the progenitor nuclei ^244Pu and ^236U, with age corrections reaching ∼ 5 Gyr. These results suggest that decay-chain feeding from long-lived progenitor nuclei plays a crucial role in nuclear cosmochronology and should be properly accounted for in age determinations based on actinide chronometers.
SN  - 0035-8711
SN  - 1365-2966
ER  -

Abstract

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