Power LawsCSF
Power LawsCSF
Power LawsCSF
www.elsevier.com/locate/chaos
Abstract
A power law is introduced for the description of the line of stability of atomic nuclei, and for the description of
atomic weights and molecular weights. The power law for the line of stability is compared with the semi-empirical
formula of the liquid drop model. It is shown that the power law corresponds to a reduction of neutron excess in superheavy nuclei with respect to the semi-microscopic formula. Some fractal features of the nuclear valley of stability and of
the isotopic abundance set of molecules are shown and the corresponding fractal dimensions are determined. With
respect to the problem of truncating fractals of natural objects, it is shown that a simple mathematical model of an
extended map on an annulus provides a similar type of truncated fractals. It is argued that the origin of the observed
fractal property of nuclei, atoms and molecules lies in the basic fractal nature of quantum mechanics. 2002 Elsevier
Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
The concept of fractal geometry, closely linked to scale invariance, provides a framework for the analysis of natural
phenomena in various scientic domains [17]. Many investigations have implemented fractal ideas to study various
forms in nature. Fractal structures have been found on dierent length scales, from astronomic to microscopic scales.
Examples include clusters of galaxies [1,8,9], distribution of earthquakes [10], the structure of coastlines and rivers [11],
cracks in sedimentary rocks [12], protein surfaces [13], etc. Moreover, the occurrence of fractals is not limited to
structures in real space. In many cases fractal properties are hidden and can only be perceived if data are studied as a
function of time or mapped in some special way [6]. For example, in some cases the length scale in the fractal denition
is replaced by a time scale, for example, in the time series of heartbeat [6,14], in electric current through ion channels in
a cell membrane [15], in reactions of heterogeneous chemistry [2], in the basal metabolic rate in biological organisms
[16].
It is well known that a power law is often connected with an underlying fractal geometry of the system [3,4]. Examples of such relations are the power law dependence of the basal metabolic rate on the mass of mammals and the
fractal structure of organs [16], the power law distribution of a drainage-basin area and the fractal dimension of a river
network [11], the power law in X-ray scattering from a rat lens nucleus which may be evidence of fractal structures in
the lens [17], etc.
Power laws have been found also in cases without being related to an underlying fractal geometry. For example, a
power law dependence on molecular weights was found experimentally for the interactions between polyethylene oxide
layers adsorbed to glass surfaces [18], for stretching ridges in a crumpled elastic sheet [19], etc.
0960-0779/02/$ - see front matter 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 9 6 0 - 0 7 7 9 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 0 3 2 - 2
902
In this paper we apply ideas from fractal geometry to the valley of stability of atomic nuclei and to atomic and
molecular weights. In Section 2 we introduce the power law for the description of the line of nuclear stability and
consider its extension to super-heavy nuclei. The relation of the power law to the well-known semi-microscopic formula
is discussed. In Section 3 the fractal nature of the valley of stability in the N ; Z-chart of nuclides is investigated. In
Section 4 we introduce the power law for description of the systematic of atomic weights. In Section 5 we introduce the
power law for the description of molecular weights and exemplify it for a random selection of molecules. In Section 6
the fractal nature in the isotopic composition of chemical compounds is analyzed. In Section 7 we present a model for a
truncated fractal, which is a feature characterizing all natural fractals, including hidden fractals studied in this paper.
More specically, this formula corresponds to the b-stable species, i.e., to the valley of b-stability [22]. This should be
kept in mind when extrapolating to super-heavy nuclei, where the b-stable isotopes of longest lifetime lie on the line of
b-stability.
The prediction of the semi-empirical formula (1) for the line of stability is displayed in Fig. 2 (dotted line).
Fig. 1. Valley of stability in the N ; Z-chart of nuclides. Solid boxes: stable nuclei and long-lived naturally occurring b-stable nuclei in
dependence on the neutron number N and the atomic number Z.
903
Fig. 2. A; Z-plot of the power law (2) (dashed line) tted to nuclei on the line of stability (open circles). For comparison, prediction of
the semi-empirical mass formula (1) is displayed too (dotted line). In addition to stable nuclei, the position of super-heavy doubly
closed shell nucleus 298 114 is also shown (not included in the t).
Here we propose another approach to the problem of stability of atomic nuclei, related to identifying basic features
in underlying dynamics, which give rise to the structure of atomic nuclei. In this connection we note that the role of
fractal geometry in quantum physics and quark dynamics was recently discussed [35]. It was pointed out that the fractal
geometry, which shows up in particular observables, is generated by the dynamics of the quantum system, the rst
example of fractal geometry in quantum systems showing up in the self-similarity of paths of the Feynman path integral. It was shown that velocity-dependent interactions, which appear in the theory of nuclear matter, lead to a
noninteger dimension and that the fractal dimension appears for free the fermion propagator which is relevant for the
geometry of quark propagation in quantum chromodynamics [35]. On this basis one may argue for the appearance of
scale invariance at the level of bulk properties of atomic nuclei.
On the basis of this argument and of the observation that the shape of the valley of stability in nuclear chart resembles a fractal-like pattern, we suggest to introduce a scale invariant power law for the line of stability:
A aZ b :
A t of the power law (2) to data for the naturally occurring nuclei forming a line of stability gives:
a 1:47 0:02;
b 1:123 0:005:
The tted curve of the power law is displayed in Fig. 2 (dashed line). A rather good quality of t is obtained. The v2 value given by
X 1
Zi Zi Ai 2
v2
5
N
i
with summation over N 81 stable nuclei and using the power law formula (2) with parameters (3), (4) for Zi Ai yield
v2 0:44. This is a comparable and slightly better t than the t obtained by using the semi-empirical mass formula (1)
where v2 0:69. Even if we modify the semi-microscopic formula (1) by introducing free parameters a and
b : A aA5=3 bZ, the power law formula still provides a comparable and a slightly better t. In any case, we can
conclude that the ts of the power law formula (2) and of the semi-empirical mass formula (1) to the line of stability are
comparable.
If we extrapolate the graphs corresponding to both formulas towards heavier nuclei, above the naturally occurring
nuclei, it is observed that the graph corresponding to the semi-empirical mass formula (1) (dotted line) is more concave
than the graph corresponding to the power law (2) (dashed line). Thus, the dierence between predictions of the two
formulas increases with increasing mass of super-heavy nuclei.
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Most of the theoretical calculations predicted the next double shell closure beyond 208 Pb at the proton number
Z 114 and the neutron number N 184 [2430], which appears in accordance with recent experiments [3134]. This
nucleus is expected to have a very long lifetime, lying on the extrapolation of the line of stability. The position of this
nucleus is shown by in Fig. 2. As can be seen, it lies somewhat closer to the graph predicted by the power law (2) than
to the graph predicted by the semi-empirical formula (1).
We may conclude that for naturally occurring nuclei the power law formula (2) is in good accordance with the semiempirical formula (1), i.e., that the underlying fractal nature leads to a similar bulk pattern as the dynamics of the semiempirical model. Only if extended towards super-heavy nuclei, the power law formula (2) starts to show a systematic
dierence with respect to the semi-empirical formula, giving a somewhat slower increase of the neutron excess with Z,
than predicted by the semi-empirical formula (1). Thus the tendency toward stability for N Z for super-heavy nuclei is
more pronounced for the power law formula (2) than for the semi-empirical formula (1). This could be accounted for in
the semi-empirical formula (1) by slightly enhancing the symmetry energy term with increasing mass for super-heavy
nuclei, i.e., by increasing the strength of symmetry energy for super-heavy nuclei over its standard value of
bsym 50 MeV in the semi-empirical mass formula, for example, by introducing a slight increase of bsym with A as
bsym 501 eAg MeV, with e being a small parameter.
On the other hand, one should note that the expression 12bsym fN Z2 g=A for the symmetry energy in the semiempirical mass formula represents only a leading eect for small values of N Z=A, while there is no corresponding
approximation in the power law formula. It was pointed out [22] that more exact tests of the semi-empirical mass
formula are encountered when one tries to treat nuclei much heavier than those naturally occurring. For this purpose
additional terms in the semi-empirical formula may be required, describing, for example, a dependence of the surface
energy and of the average nuclear density on the charge symmetry parameter, N Z [22]. These additional terms could
increase the tendency in favor of N Z for the line of stability, thus bringing the prediction of modied semi-empirical
formula closer to the prediction of the power law formula for super-heavy nuclei.
As seen from Fig. 3, the loglog plot for the chart of stable nuclei signicantly diers from the line which would
correspond to a nonfractal distribution (i.e., of dimension 1).
Thus, the valley of stability in the nuclear chart appears as a line-area hybrid, a fractal object over roughly a
decade in the length scale e. For comparison, we note that this range, although limited, is within the range of fractals
occurring in natural objects; an analysis of a wide collection of physical systems showed that the range of appropriate
scaling properties for declared fractal objects in nature is centered around one (more precisely, 1.3) orders of
magnitude [38].
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Fig. 3. Loglog plot for the number of nonempty boxes vs. 1=e (e is the size of a grid box) covering the N ; Z-chart of nuclides. Straight
line: a t through the points calculated for dierent values of the box size e. Dashed line: straight line which would correspond to
df 1.
A t of the power law (7) to the data of atomic weights [39] gives the values of parameters in the power law:
ac 1:44 0:02;
bc 1:120 0:004:
P
The tted curve is displayed in Fig. 4 (solid line). The corresponding v2 -value is v2 i 1=N Ari Ar Zi 2 0:28,
where Ari denotes the standard atomic weight of a chemical element with atomic number Zi , and Ar Zi denotes the value
of atomic weight calculated using the atomic power law (7). The summation is extended over N 81 stable chemical
elements.
In addition to stable chemical elements (open circles), we display an extrapolation of the atomic power law (7) using
the parametrization (8), (9) to atomic weights of unstable heavy and super-heavy elements for which the most stable
isotopes are known (open triangles), and to the region of expected island of stability at Z 114 [34].
The atomic power law (7) provides a good phenomenological description of atomic weights. On the other hand, the
power law captures something about the internal structure of the object. We note that the semi-empirical formula (1)
approximately corresponds to the atomic power law (7). This is seen from the t of both formulas to the stable chemical
elements: the v2 -value in the loglog plot for a t of the semi-empirical formula is v2 0:007, while the t of the atomic
power law (1) gives v2 0:004. One might further argue whether the somewhat smaller v2 -value for the power law
formula is signicant.
In conclusion, we have introduced the power law for atomic weights Ar in dependence on the atomic number Z. A t
of this formula to the data for Ar leads to a power law exponent, which is practically the same as the value corresponding to the nuclear line of stability. Consequences of this expression in the astrophysical context are discussed in
[43].
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Fig. 4. Ar ; Z-plot of the power law (7) (solid line) tted to atomic weights of stable chemical elements (open circles). Open triangles:
atomic weights of naturally occurring radioactive elements and of super-heavy elements up to Z 100 dened according to [39,41] ; :
the expected Z 114 super-heavy element.
10
P
907
12
where Zeff denotes a parameter characterizing the molecule (10), which has to be determined.
On the basis of comparison of Eq. (11) and the power law (12) the eective molecular number Zeff is dened by
!1=bc
X
bc
ni Zi
;
13
Zeff
i
where b bc is used. Let us take bc 1:120 from the t of Eq. (7) to the data of atomic weights. (We note that because
of the power law functions in Eqs. (11) and (12) similar results are obtained by considering a more general relation
b kbc , with k being an arbitrary coecient of proportionality.)
We note thatP
for the value bc 1, Eq. (13) reduces to the sum of atomic numbers of all atoms contained in the
molecule, Ztot i ni Zi .
For some molecules the values of Zeff and Ztot dier sizably, up to 50%. For example, for the molecule
H5 BW12 O40
30H2 O there is Zeff 995, Ztot 1518.
Let us now display the loglog plot for molecular weights Mr in dependence on Zeff for a random set of 381 molecules. This set was formed by selecting 381 molecules from the list of inorganic molecules in [67]. Molecules were
selected by using the logistic equation with the control parameter of 4 as the generator of random numbers, used to
select ordering numbers of molecules from the list of molecules in [67] (Table 1).
For each chemical compound the corresponding data point is displayed (open circles in Fig. 5).
In the next step, a t of the power law (12) to these data points is performed (solid line in Fig. 5). Very good t was
obtained with:
a 1:55 0:03;
14
b 1:114 0:002;
15
Table 1
Randomly selected ordering numbers of molecules from the list of molecules in [67]. The logistic equation at r 4 was used as the
random number generator
a17, a20, a23, a24, a28, a35, a40, a44, a47, a78, a101, a112, a134, a137, a138, a140,
a142, a143, a147, a169, a186, a197, a217, a221, a227, a237, a251, a285, a286, b4, b7,
b22, b31, b54, b67, b74, b98, b110, b112, b157, b164, b168, b179, b211, b213, b215, c4,
c19, c26, c44, c48, c51, c67, c83, c118, c131, c132, c135, c148, c158, c165, c169, c202,
c203, c213, c232, c235, c236, c239, c250, c259, c260, c286, c290, c294, c316, c324,
c336, c362, c367, c386, c394, c396, c399, c403, c422, c451, c454, c469, c473, c477,
c479, c486, c504, c509, c512, c524, c532, c547, c551, c558, c571, c576, c586, c594,
c598, c615, c621, c625, c630, c631, c634, c646, c655, c664, d11, d16, e10, e18, e19, e21,
f11, g14, g16, g22, g23, g32, g35, g37, g42, g56, g62, g71, g72, g78, g93, g99, h9, h21,
h31, h46, h66, i19, i24, i26, i27, i36, i49, i63, i70, i82, i83, i93, i107, i108, i116, i121,
i134, i139, i155, i156, i157, i163, l2, l7, l34, l47, l60, l73, l74, l87, l88, l98, l104, l129,
l130, l135, l137, l138, l151, l168, l169, l174, l175,
l196, l220, m34, m36, m56, m64, m72, m82, m88, m133, m141, m155, m196, m211,
m216, m223, m257, m258, m264, m289, m299, m301, n18, n27, n42, n44, n56, n82,
n88, n108, n126, n139, n140, o2, o20, p11, p13, p37, p56, p74, p75, p80, p136, p141,
p176, p190, p195, p204, p230, p255, p293, p302, p314, p316, p325, p338, p348, p356,
p358, p364, p369, p374, p379, p383, p387, p393, p409, p415, p458, p467, p475, p488,
p491, p501, p508, p527, p532, r2, r25, r27, r31, r47, r60, r70, r79, r84, r91, r116, r118,
r120, s3, s18, s23, s45, s46, s54, s55, s57, s75, s79, s105, s106, s110, s117, s132, s146,
s155, s171, s172, s182, s198, s226, s229, s237, s262, s275, s317, s341, s361, s363, s375,
s381, s392, s396, s419, s437, s443, s457, s482, s499, s507, s510, s515, s520, s540, s548,
s556, t5, t8, t19, t25, t39, t45, t51, t66, t73, t90, t120, t121, t128, t136, t150, t161, t169,
t172, t188, t193, t208, t209, t251, t258, t268, t289, u15, u18, u20, u22, u23, v1, v2, v4,
v16, v23, v32, y7, y9, y11, y19, y21, y22, y24, y27, y31, y35, z2, z7, z12, z19, z20, z32,
z58, z75, z77, z81, z95, z97, z111
908
Fig. 5. Loglog Mr ; Zeff -plot of data points for molecular weights of 381 randomly selected inorganic compounds from [67] in
dependence on the eective molecular number Zeff (open circles). The straight line presents a t of the power law (Eq. (12)) to
data.
indicating applicability of the power law (12) to molecular weights. Similar values were obtained in the previous t for a
set of 180 randomly chosen molecules [66].
To gain a better insight into the quality of the power law (12) in tting molecular data in the Mr vs. Zeff diagram
for the set of molecules from Table 1, we have considered, for comparison, a diagram displaying Mr in dependence
on the total proton number Ztot (Fig. 6). The scattering of data points in the Mr vs. Ztot diagram in Fig.
P 6 is much
larger (the v2 -value is 15 times larger) than in the Mr vs. Zeff diagram in Fig. 5. (Here, v2 1n i ln Mr i
ln a b ln Zeff i 2 .)
In order to test the consistency of the tted values (14), (15) let us consider an alternative tting procedure.
Instead of using the tted value of bc to calculate Zeff for construction of data points in the Mr vs. Zeff diagram, let
us start with a set of uniformly distributed initial values of bc . For each initial value of bc we calculate the corresponding Zeff -value using Eq. (13), and the corresponding Mr vs. Zeff diagram is constructed. Then, the t of the
Fig. 6. Loglog Mr ; Ztot -plot of data points in dependence on the total proton number Ztot (open circles) for the set of molecules from
Table 1.
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Fig. 7. Test of t of the power law (12) for the Mr vs. Zeff diagrams constructed for Zeff -values corresponding to a set of uniformly
distributed initial values of bc . For each initial value of bc the corresponding Zeff value was calculated using Eq. (13). (a) v2 -value in
dependence on the initial value bc . (b) Fitted values of b in dependence on the initial values of bc .
power law (12) is performed to the data points in each of these diagrams. For each initial value of bc the tted value
of b and the corresponding v2 -value were determined. Fig. 7(a) displays v2 and Fig. 7(b) the power law exponent
b in dependence on initial values of bc . As seen, the best t is obtained for bc 1:1 (Fig. 7(a)), in accordance with
14, 15.
The molecular power law (12) holds only for a nite scaling window. More stringent, the semi-empirical model of
nuclei is not a very good t for light nuclei. Thus, one can expect that the power law would be less appropriate for
molecules consisting of very light nuclei only. This is seen by an analysis comparing deviations of atomic weights from
the atomic power law formula for chemical elements.
In the loglog plot the v2 -value for deviation of the atomic power law (7) from data for all stable elements is
2
v 0:004, while excluding the ve lightest elements from the t a sizably lower v2 -value of 0.0005 was obtained, i.e., a
sizably better t.
As a further example, the loglog plot for molecular weights Mr is presented for two sets of polymers, CH2 CH2 n
and CH2 CHCln n 1; 2; 3; . . ., in dependence on Zeff (Fig. 8) and Ztot (Fig. 9).
Fig. 8. Loglog Mr ; Zeff -plot of data points for molecular weights of organic polymers CH2 CH2 n and CH2 CHCln (n 1; 2; 3; . . .),
in dependence on the eective molecular number Zeff (open and closed circles, respectively).
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Fig. 9. Loglog Mr ; Ztot -plot of data points for molecular weights of organic polymers CH2 CH2 n and CH2 CHCln (n 1; 2; 3; . . . ;)
in dependence on the total number of protons Ztot (open and closed circles, respectively).
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Fig. 10. Loglog plot for the number of nonempty boxes Ni vs. 1=ei (ei is the size of a grid box) overlaying the set of points displaying
isotopic composition of the chemical compound Sb2 Se3 along the coordinate axis. The straight line is tted through the points calculated at several values of the box size ei and corresponds to the fractal dimension of 0.4. For comparison, the line corresponding to
dimension of 1 is presented (dashed line).
It was recently pointed out that the scaling range of experimentally observed fractals is extremely limited, spanning
roughly between 0.5 and 2.0 decades (factors of 10), while the exact fractals obey power laws over all scales [38]. On this
basis it might be questionable if natural objects with a power law of limited range are indeed fractals. On the other
hand, regardless of that, the result of resolution analysis is often a very useful power law, which condenses the description of a complex fractal geometry and allows one to correlate in a simple way properties of a system to its
structure [38].
Here we present a discussion which could contribute to the understanding of the question whether one can claim
fractal geometry of natural objects by comparing phenomenological evidence over a limited range to mathematical
fractals. This is interesting for truncated fractals studied in this paper, but the same argument can be used more
generally for any type of natural fractals.
In this context it should be noted that solutions of dierence and dierential equations for dynamical problems can
also lead to fractals which are truncated and statistical, resembling the pattern of natural fractals.
One of the most prominent consequences of nonattracting chaotic sets is the phenomenon of fractal basin
boundaries [6871]. The closure of a set of initial conditions which approach a given attractor is the basin of attraction
corresponding to this attractor. The boundary separating the regions belonging to dierent basins of attraction is referred to as the basin boundary. It is well known that the basin boundary can be fractal [68,69].
Here we address the problem whether a fractal basin boundary can be truncated, i.e., whether there is a lower cuto
at which self-similarity stops.
To this end we extend the well-known two-dimensional map on the annulus
hn1 hn a sin 2hn b sin 4hn xn sin hn ;
xn1 J0 cos hn
17
whose fractal basin boundaries were studied in [68,69]. For parameters J0 0:3, a 1:32, and b 0:90 the only attractors are the xed points h; x 0; J0 and p; J0 . Computer generated pictures of the corresponding basins of
attraction have revealed the Cantor set structure of the basin boundary, i.e., an innitely ne scaled structure.
In order to induce truncation in sequences of self-similarity at a certain scale we introduce in this article a new map
by extending the map (17) treating parameters a and b as dynamical quantities an ; bn (n 0; 1; 2; . . .) as follows. In the
rst four steps the values of an ; bn are 1.32 and 0.90, respectively, in accordance with [68,69], corresponding to the
chaotic regime. For all the later steps n P 4 the values of an ; bn are 0 and 0.2, respectively, corresponding to the regular
regime. Thus, we have induced a sudden jump from chaotic into regular regime.
912
18
n 0; 1; 2; 3;
n P 4:
The map (18) has three coexisting attracting xed points. Two of them, h; x 0; J0 and p; J0 for
j1 2a 4bj < 1, are the same as for the map (17). In addition, the map (18) has the third attractor at the position
p2; 0. Each of these three attractors has the corresponding basin of attraction. These three basins are displayed in Fig.
11(a). The basins are intertwined and the fractal nature of the basin boundary is revealed.
At the level of accuracy of the grid used the basin boundaries appear fractal, similarly as for the map (17), but the
pattern is more complicated due to the presence of the third basin.
Let us now investigate whether this basin boundary has a Cantor set nature as in the case of map (17). From a
successively magnied detail of basin boundaries in Fig. 11(b) and (c), it is seen that the basin boundaries, although
having a fractal-like pattern at the scale used in Fig. 11(a), do not exhibit a Cantor set structure on ner scales. Instead,
the self-similarity stops at a certain level of magnication. Thus, instead of innitely ne scaled structure found
Fig. 11. (a) Basins of attraction for three attractors of the extended map (18). This gure is constructed using a 500 500 grid of initial
conditions for h; x. Each initial condition is iterated until reaching the neighborhood of one of the attractors. If an orbit goes to the
attractor at p; J0 a black dot is plotted at the corresponding initial condition. If the orbit goes to the attractor at p2; 0 a blank space is
left at the position of the corresponding initial condition. If the orbit goes to the attractor at 0; J0 a gray dot is plotted. Thus, the
black, gray and blank regions are pictures of the basins of attractions associated with three attractors to the accuracy of the grid used.
(b) Magnication of the rectangular region in (a). (c) Magnication of the rectangular region in (b).
913
Fig. 12. Eect of truncation of fractal basin boundaries in Fig. 11 on the loglog plot for the box-counting method. For description see
the text.
previously for the system (17), with fractals being self-similar at all scales [68,69], for the new system (18) we obtain
truncated fractal structure for the basin boundaries, i.e., the self-similarity of fractal basin boundary stops at some
critical scale. This feature of a mathematical fractal closely resembles the pattern of natural fractals, which are statistically self-similar only above some lower cuto.
Let us note the connection of these truncated fractals for the map (18) to the previously found truncated fractals in
two cases of models described by dierential equations. For the sinusoidally forced pendulum modied by introduction
of an additional exponential factor, so that the nonautonomous driving term decays exponentially to zero, truncated
fractals were obtained [72,73]. On the other hand, in the case of a single-well Dung oscillator it was found that the
truncated fractal Arnold tongues are nely intermingled with innitely self-similar fractal Arnold tongues, showing that
a phenomenon of fractal truncation is possible in the case where the external forcing does not decrease with time [74]. It
can be shown that the truncation of a fractal structure is associated with cuto of the scaling law [75,76].
To provide an additional insight into truncated fractal in Fig. 11, we apply the box-counting method to the pattern
of basin boundaries in Fig. 11. In Fig. 12 we display the number of nonempty boxes on a grid overlaid over these basin
boundaries as a function of 1=e (e is the box size). It is clearly seen that a clearcut phase transition takes place at a
certain value of e, referred to as the critical value ec , from the fractal pattern below 1=ec (dashed line corresponding to
fractal dimension of 1.7) to the nonfractal pattern above 1=ec (solid line corresponding to fractal dimension of 1.0). The
critical value of box size ec can be related to the nest strips in Fig. 11(c), reecting truncation of the fractal from below.
8. Conclusion
In this paper we have introduced the power law for the line of stability of atomic nuclei, for atomic weights and for
molecular weights and displayed evidence for fractality of the valley of stability in nuclear chart, and of the isotopic
abundances of chemical compounds.
For almost seventy years the line of stability of atomic nuclei has been described on the basis of models employing
dynamics which captures some important parts of dynamics in the nuclear system. In this framework the semi-empirical
mass formula appears to be a cornerstone to understand nuclear stability. In this paper an alternative approach has
been adopted, based on fractal nature which appears to be present at the basic quantum mechanical level. In its quality
of tting data the power law formulated in this framework for the line of stability is comparable to the semi-microscopic
formula with respect to reproducing data. Extended to most stable super-heavy nuclei, the power law corresponds to a
small eective decrease of neutron excess in comparison to the semi-microscopic formula, bringing the theoretical
prediction closer to the super-heavy island of stability around Z 114, N 184.
The power law for atomic weights arises as a consequence of fractal properties for atomic nuclei. The power law for
molecular weights employs the power law for atomic weights and the new concept of the fractal-type eective molecular
number Zeff .
914
One may ask whether the molecular power law can be traced back to the power law of nuclei. Because of small
electron energies, the molecular power law is determined by isotopic composition of molecules. However, one should
note its close resemblance to the laws governing critical properties of assemblies of molecules.
Another point with regard to fractal geometry of natural objects is the question of the dynamics which creates the
fractal character. In connection to the origin of power laws and fractal geometry introduced in this paper, it should be
noted that the fractal geometry has a role in quantum physics and quark dynamics, as shown in [35]. On this basis one
could expect the appearance of scale invariance at the nuclear, atomic and molecular levels.
Finally, we have presented a mathematical model which could contribute to elucidate the general problem of deducing fractal geometry of natural objects by comparing phenomenological evidence over a limited range to mathematical fractals.
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