- #1
wuhtzu
- 9
- 0
Hi everyone
For the past few months I have been learning about the nucleus and the nuclear shell model.
The experimental evidence for a shell structure is overwhelming and easy to understand. It is also quite straight forward to obtain the correct shell closures (magic numbers) using a 3d spherical harmonic oscillator potential plus a spin orbit coupling.
What I do not understand is the intuitive argument for modelling the nucleus as single, independent particles in an average potential. Could other models also have led to a shell structure?
It is experimentally known that the mean free path of the nucleons in the nucleus is large compared to the spacing between individual nucleons - sometimes even comparable to the radius of the nucleus. Is this the reason?
Thank you for your thoughts and inputs.
Wuhtzu
For the past few months I have been learning about the nucleus and the nuclear shell model.
The experimental evidence for a shell structure is overwhelming and easy to understand. It is also quite straight forward to obtain the correct shell closures (magic numbers) using a 3d spherical harmonic oscillator potential plus a spin orbit coupling.
What I do not understand is the intuitive argument for modelling the nucleus as single, independent particles in an average potential. Could other models also have led to a shell structure?
It is experimentally known that the mean free path of the nucleons in the nucleus is large compared to the spacing between individual nucleons - sometimes even comparable to the radius of the nucleus. Is this the reason?
Thank you for your thoughts and inputs.
Wuhtzu