17-The nuclear force

All before depends on the nucleons sticking together

Nuclear Force misc

arises from strong force that binds quarks

leakage of strong force

acts like fundamental force

potent, since able to overcome protons

properties

repulsive ~<1fm

attractive at intermediate distances

feeble at a larger distance

plot

need Schrodinger equation

form of potential is important

find depth of potential

find shape of potential

tells us how strong it is

does spin play a role?

This the the N-N which goes into the Schrodinger equation

Deuteron

2H nucleus

simplest nucleus in nature so good to study

so solve Schrodinger eqn for it

General properties

only just a bound state

no excited states, any excitation just disitigrates

low binding energy 2.22 MeV

how binding energy was measured

measure energy released on formation

measure energy required to cause a photo-dissociation

neutron is unstable, but when bound to proton stops being unstable

decay becomes energetically unstable

wavefunction

simplifications

take r as separation between neutron and proton

R diameter of deuteron

V(r) function of r only

assume 1d

assume square well

maths:

wavefunction finite at infinite r and r=0

If nuclear force slightly less deuteron would not exist, and world would not exist

Nuclear Spin

Could be either I=0 or I=1

found to always be 1

therefore NP spins must be parallel

alignment of spins must be important in nuclear potential

known as triplet S state (three projections of S, 1,0 and -1)

therefore the wavefunction needs spin part as well as spatial

Isospin

if only spin and spatial parts included in wavefunction it should asymmetric

describes groups of particles which have nearly the same mass

think of N and P as different states of the same particle

analogous to interinsic spin, but don't get mixed up

each individual nucleon can take on specific values

called third component of t

Arises from strong force independence from elec charge

total isospin is vector sum of individual intrinsic isospins

singlet 0, or triplet, 1

know s=1 so for deuteron choose singlet

because S=0 no n-n or p-p are allowed

operator t

maths: