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I was curious as to the difference in free neutron decay and the lack of decay when bound in a nucleus. I found the following statement here http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutron#Free_neutron_decay
I don't understand that. Is the wave function of the neutron different when free or bound? The phrase "is balanced" sounds wrong; balanced by who or what?
Perhaps they mean that instead of a Feynman diagram with a neutron in and proton/electron/anti neutrino out, we should use a diagram with a nucleus in and a nucleus(with higher atomic number)/electron/anti neutrino out. That would suggest to me the wave function of the nucleus supersedes the wave functions of the constituent nucleons.
Would someone please explain those two Wikipedia sentences, or point me to a more understandable source?
Follow up question: Since the binding energy per nucleon is different in different elements, is the stability of a bound neutron a function of which element/isotope it is bound in?
Wikipedia said:When bound inside of a nucleus, the energetic instability of a single neutron to beta decay is balanced against the instability that would be acquired by the nucleus as a whole if an additional proton were to appear by beta decay, and thus participate in repulsive interactions with the other protons that are already present in the nucleus. As such, although free neutrons are unstable, bound neutrons in a nucleus are not necessarily so.
I don't understand that. Is the wave function of the neutron different when free or bound? The phrase "is balanced" sounds wrong; balanced by who or what?
Perhaps they mean that instead of a Feynman diagram with a neutron in and proton/electron/anti neutrino out, we should use a diagram with a nucleus in and a nucleus(with higher atomic number)/electron/anti neutrino out. That would suggest to me the wave function of the nucleus supersedes the wave functions of the constituent nucleons.
Would someone please explain those two Wikipedia sentences, or point me to a more understandable source?
Follow up question: Since the binding energy per nucleon is different in different elements, is the stability of a bound neutron a function of which element/isotope it is bound in?