Potential energy in strong- and weak- nuclear interaction

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers on the potential energy associated with strong and weak nuclear interactions, particularly in the context of quark interactions. Participants explore various formulas and models for calculating potential energy in systems of quarks, addressing both theoretical frameworks and specific scenarios involving color charges.

Discussion Character

  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested
  • Mathematical reasoning

Main Points Raised

  • One participant presents the Schrödinger equation for N-particles and asks how to calculate the system potential energy considering both weak and strong nuclear interactions.
  • Another participant notes the absence of a good potential function for the strong force analogous to the Coulomb potential, explaining the concept of confinement and the necessity of producing quark-antiquark pairs when attempting to isolate quarks.
  • The Cornell potential is introduced as an approximate model for heavy quarks, with a specific form provided, including terms that mimic confinement.
  • Participants discuss the Yukawa potential as a description of the strong interaction at lower energies, with a focus on meson exchange between hadrons.
  • Questions arise regarding the interpretation of the variable r in the Cornell potential, specifically whether it represents the distance between quarks with different color charges and what the values of the parameters a and b are.
  • Clarifications are provided that r does indeed represent the interquark distance, and the values of a and b are discussed, with references to the QCD coupling constant and string tension.
  • One participant emphasizes that the description of quark interactions is approximate and mentions the existence of various refinements in the literature, such as NRQCD and quarkonia.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express varying views on the potential energy models and their applicability, with some agreeing on the use of the Cornell potential while others raise questions about its parameters and the nature of quark interactions. The discussion remains unresolved regarding the exact values of the parameters and the implications of different color charges.

Contextual Notes

The discussion highlights limitations in the models presented, including the dependence on approximations and the need for further refinements in understanding quark interactions. There are unresolved questions regarding the specific values of parameters in the Cornell potential and their implications for different quark configurations.

olgerm
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Schrödinger equation for N-particles is:
U_{System Potential Energy}(r_1,r_2,r_3,...,r_n,t)-\sum_{n=1}^{n_{max}}(\sum_{d=0}^{d_{max}}(\frac{d^2Ψ(r_1,r_2,r_3,...,r_n,t)}{dx_n^2})*\frac{ħ^2}{m_n})=i*ħ \frac{dΨ(r_1,r_2,r_3,...,r_n,t)}{dt}
Where \sum_{d=0}^{d_{max}} is summation over dimensions.
Where \sum_{n=1}^{n_{max}} is summation over particles.

1.Which formula is used to calculate U_System Potential Energy(r_1,r_2,r_3,...,r_n,t) energy if we also consider weak nuclear and strong nuclear interaction?
2.Is there any potential between 2 particles with different color charges?
3.Is there any potential between 2 or more particles with same color charges?
4.Which is U_System Potential Energy(r_1,r_2,r_3,...,r_n,t) for particle system:
a) One green Up-quark and one blue Down-quark?
b) Two blue Up-quark?
c) One red Down-quark ,one green Up-quark and one blue Down-quark?
d) One blue Up-quark and one green Charm-quark?
 
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For the strong force, there isn't really good potential function that is analogous to the Coulomb potential for electrodynamics. Because of confinement, asymptotic states have no net color charge. Basically, if you had some sort of subatomic tweezers that would allow you to pull at a quark inside a proton, instead of pulling out an isolated quark, you would have to do enough work to produce a quark-antiquark pair. You'd end up with another proton and something like a pion.

For heavy enough quarks, one can try to study the bound state problem using an approximate potential, called the Cornell potential

$$ U(r) = - \frac{a}{r} + b r. $$

The first term is like the Coulomb potential, while the 2nd term is a linear potential that mimics the confinement of the quarks. Because of this linear term, we won't find solutions where the average separation between the quarks is arbitrarily large.

At much lower energies, the strong interaction can be effectively described as a theory where mesons are exchanged between hadrons. Then the potential is of Yukawa type

$$U(r) = g^2 \frac{ e^ {-m_\pi r}}{r},$$

which is valid for distances ## r\gg 1/m_\pi##.

The weak interaction at low-energies is also of Yukawa type where now ##m_W##, the mass of the W-boson appears in the exponent, since it is a theory of exchange of virtual W and Z particles.
 
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fzero said:
For heavy enough quarks, one can try to study the bound state problem using an approximate potential, called the Cornell potential

$$ U(r) = - \frac{a}{r} + b r. $$
Is r distance between two quarks,which have different color charges an U(r) potential between those quarks?
what are values of a and b?
 
olgerm said:
Is r distance between two quarks,which have different color charges an U(r) potential between those quarks?
what are values of a and b?

Yes, ##r## is the interquark distance and the color charges will be different because the hadrons are color singlets. The Coulomb term corresponds to a single gluon exchange and the value of ##a## I see quoted in the literature is ##a = 4 \alpha_s/3##, where ##\alpha_s## is the running QCD coupling constant. The value of ##b## is called the QCD string tension, which can be computed approximately in a couple of ways. I've found a quoted value of ##b\sim 0.87~\text{GeV/fm}##.

I should stress that this is a very approximate description of quark-quark interactions. There are various refinements in the literature, which you can search for under the name NRQCD, for Non-Relativistic QCD or the term quarkonia, which is the name used to refer primarily to bound states of charm-anticharm and bottom-antibottom.
 

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