RULES: Free desktop application to perform activity calculations and radiometric dating

Area of Science:

• Nuclear Physics and Geochemistry
• Radiometric Dating Techniques
• Computational Science

Background:

• Radioactive series calculations and radiometric dating often involve complex mathematical expressions.
• Existing software may not adequately address the needs for calculating radionuclide activities and populations across multiple decay chains.
• Accurate dating estimations require robust methods for handling isotopic disequilibria.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce RULES (RaPCUBES, URADS and LEADS Encompassed Software), a novel, free, and user-friendly software for radioactive series calculations and radiometric dating.
• To provide a computational tool for determining radionuclide activities and populations within the four major radioactive series (238U, 235U, 232Th, 237Np).
• To implement advanced uncertainty propagation methods for reliable dating estimations based on isotopic disequilibria within the 238U decay chain.

Main Methods:

• Development of a MATLAB AppDesigner-based application with an integrated Microsoft Excel database.
• Inclusion of three distinct computational tools within the RULES software.
• Implementation of a revised propagation of uncertainties in all calculation stages.

Main Results:

• RULES accurately calculates activities and populations for radionuclides in the four main radioactive series.
• Dating estimations using 238U family disequilibria are performed with a novel uncertainty propagation.
• The software demonstrates satisfactory performance, with results showing discrepancies not exceeding 4% compared to established tools.

Conclusions:

• RULES offers a straightforward, offline, and accessible solution for complex radioactive series and radiometric dating tasks.
• The software's intuitive interface requires no programming knowledge, making it valuable for researchers and educators.
• RULES serves as an effective educational instrument for understanding radioactive decay, equilibrium concepts, and dating strategies.