James D. Wells

Abstract: Throughout geological time natural Uranium has been composed to within a fraction of a percent of only two isotopes, U-235 and U-238. In this note, the abundance fractions of U-235 and U-238 and the ratio of U-235 to U-238 are computed throughout the earth’s history. This computation is of interest since the U-235 isotope, which …

U-235 and U-238 isotopic fractions of natural Uranium throughout geological time Read More »

J.Wells et al. “Neutrons for the Nation: Discovery and Applications while Minimizing the Risk of Nuclear Proliferation”. American Physical Society Report, August 2018 [link].

J. Phillips, J.Wells. “Walking the nuclear risk tightrope” The Hill, 8/4/18 http://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/400366-walking-the-nuclear-risk-tightrope

Implications of an Improved Neutron-Antineutron Oscillation Search for Baryogenesis: A Minimal Effective Theory Analysis Christophe Grojean, Bibhushan Shakya, James D. Wells, Zhengkang Zhang Abstract: Future neutron-antineutron (n-nbar) oscillation experiments, such as at the European Spallation Source and the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, aim to find first evidence of baryon number violation. We investigate implications of …

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Naturalness, Extra-Empirical Theory Assessments, and the Implications of Skepticism James D. Wells Abstract: Naturalness is an extra-empirical quality that aims to assess plausibility of a theory. Finetuning measures are one way to quantify the task. However, knowing statistical distributions on parameters appears necessary for rigor. Such meta-theories are not known yet. A critical discussion of …

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