Chapter 40: Light Nuclei: Helium to Iron

From helium-4 to iron-56, the nuclear landscape is shaped by two organising principles: magic numbers and the binding energy curve. Magic numbers (2, 8, 20, 28, 50, 82, 126) mark T² shell closures; the binding energy curve peaks at iron-56, where T² saturation efficiency reaches its maximum. This chapter derives both from the τ³ framework and traces the nuclear journey from the lightest to the most tightly bound nucleus.