Nuclear force 1982496 220907784 2008-06-22T04:30:46Z Kanags 1225654 ta: added {{Refimprove|date=October 2007}} {{expert-subject|Physics}} {{Confusing|date=March 2008}} :''This article is about the force sometimes called the '''residual strong force'''. For the "strong nuclear force" see [[strong interaction]]; for the "weak nuclear force", see [[weak interaction]].'' [[Image:pn scatter pi0.png|thumb|300px|A [[Feynman diagram]] of a strong [[proton]]-[[neutron]] interaction mediated by a neutral [[pion]]. Time proceeds from left to right.]] [[Image:pn scatter quarks.png|thumb|300px|The same diagram with the individual [[quark]] constituents shown, to illustrate how the ''fundamental'' [[strong interaction]] gives rise to the '''nuclear force'''. Straight lines are quarks, while multi-colored loops are [[gluon]]s (the carriers of the fundamental force). Other gluons, which bind together the proton, neutron, and pion "in-flight," are not shown.]] The '''nuclear force''' (or '''nucleon-nucleon interaction''' or '''residual strong force''') is the force between two or more [[nucleon]]s. It is responsible for binding of [[proton]]s and [[neutron]]s into [[Atomic nucleus|atomic nuclei]]. To a large extent, this force can be understood in terms of the exchange of virtual light [[meson]]s, such as the [[pion]]s. Sometimes the nuclear force is called the '''residual strong force''', in contrast to the [[strong interaction]]s which are now understood to arise from [[quantum chromodynamics]] (QCD). This phrasing arose during the 1970s when QCD was being established. Before that time, the ''strong nuclear force'' referred to the inter-nucleon potential. After the verification of the [[quark model]], ''strong interaction'' has come to mean QCD. Since nucleons have no [[color charge]], the nuclear force does not ''directly'' involve the force carriers of [[quantum chromodynamics]], the [[gluon]]s. However, just as electrically neutral atoms (each composed of cancelling charges) attract each other via the second-order effects of electrical polarization, via the [[van der Waals force]]s ([[London force]]s), so by analogy, "color-neutral" nucleons may attract each other by a type of polarization which allows some basically gluon-mediated effects to be carried from one color-neutral nucleon to another, via the virtual mesons which transmit the forces, and which themselves are held together by virtual gluons. It is this ''van der Waals-like'' nature which is responsible for the term "residual" in the term "residual strong force." The basic idea is that while the nucleons are "color-neutral," just as atoms are "charge-neutral," in both cases, polarization effects acting between near-by neutral particles allow a "residual" charge effect to cause net charge-mediated attraction between uncharged species, although it is necessarily of a much weaker and less direct nature than the basic forces which act internally within the particles.<ref> See Harald Fritzsch: Quarks ISBN-13: 978-0465067817 for the verbal analogy argument, from one of the original inventors of QCD theory as an explanation of nuclear physics. </ref> ==History== The nuclear force has been at the heart of [[nuclear physics]] ever since the field was born in 1932 with the discovery of the [[neutron]] by [[James Chadwick]]. The traditional goal of nuclear physics is to understand the properties of [[atomic nuclei]] in terms of the 'bare' interaction between pairs of nucleons, or '''nucleon-nucleon forces''' ('''''NN'' forces'''). In 1935, [[Hideki Yukawa]] made the earliest attempt to explain the nature of the nuclear force. According to his theory, massive [[boson]]s ([[meson]]s) mediate the interaction between two nucleons. Although, in light of [[Quantum_chromodynamics|QCD]], meson theory is no longer perceived as fundamental, the meson-exchange concept (where [[hadron]]s are treated as [[elementary particles]]) continues to represent the best working model for a quantitative ''NN'' potential. Historically, it was a formidable task to describe the nuclear force phenomenologically, and the first semi-empirical quantitative models came in the mid-1950s. There has been substantial progress in experiment and theory related to the nuclear force. Most basic questions were settled in the 1960s and 1970s. In recent years, experimenters have concentrated on the subtleties of the nuclear force, such as its charge dependence, the precise value of the π''NN'' coupling constant, improved [[phase shift analysis]], high-precision ''NN'' data, high-precision ''NN'' potentials, ''NN'' scattering at intermediate and high energies, and attempts to derive the nuclear force from QCD. == Basic properties of the nuclear force == * The nuclear force is only felt among [[hadron]]s. * At much smaller separations between nucleons the force is very powerfully repulsive, which keeps the nucleons at a certain average separation. * Beyond about 1.7 fm separation, the force drops to negligibly small values. * At short distances, the nuclear force is stronger than the [[Coulomb force]]; it can overcome the Coulomb repulsion of protons inside the nucleus. However, the Coulomb force between protons has a much larger range and becomes the only significant force between protons when their separation exceeds about 2.5 fm. * The ''NN'' force is nearly independent of whether the nucleons are neutrons or protons. This property is called ''charge independence''. * The ''NN'' force depends on whether the [[spin (physics)|spin]]s of the nucleons are parallel or antiparallel. * The ''NN'' force has a noncentral or ''[[tensor]]'' component. This part of the force does not conserve [[orbital angular momentum]], which is a constant of motion under [[central force]]s. == Nucleon-nucleon potentials == Two-nucleon systems such as the [[deuteron]] as well as proton-proton or neutron-proton scattering are ideal for studying the ''NN'' force. Such systems can be described by attributing a ''[[potential]]'' (such as the [[Yukawa potential]]) to the nucleons and using the potentials in a [[Schrödinger equation]]. The form of the potential is derived phenomenologically, although for the long-range interaction, meson-exchange theories help to construct the potential. The parameters of the potential are determined by fitting to experimental data such as the deuteron binding energy or ''NN'' [[elastic scattering]] [[cross section (physics)|cross sections]] (or, equivalently in this context, so-called ''NN'' phase shifts). The most widely used ''NN'' potentials are the [[Paris potential]], the [[Argonne AV18 potential]], the [[CD-Bonn potential]] and the [[Nijmegen potentials]]. A more recent approach is to develop [[effective field theory|effective field theories]] for a consistent description of nucleon-nucleon and three-nucleon forces. In particular, [[chiral symmetry breaking]] can be analysed in terms of an [[effective field theory]] (called [[chiral perturbation theory]]) which allows [[perturbation theory|perturbative calculation]]s of the interactions between nucleons with pions as exchange particles. === From nucleons to nuclei === The ultimate goal of [[nuclear physics]] would be to describe all [[nuclear interaction]]s from the basic interactions between nucleons. This is called the ''microscopic'' or ''ab initio'' approach of nuclear physics. There are two major obstacles to overcome before this dream can become reality: * Calculations in [[many-body system]]s are difficult and require advanced computation techniques. * There is evidence that [[three-nucleon force]]s (and possibly higher multi-particle interactions) play a significant role. This means that three-nucleon potentials must be included into the model. This is an active area of research with ongoing advances in computational techniques leading to better first-principles calculations of the [[Shell model|nuclear shell structure]]. Two- and three-nucleon potentials have been implemented for nuclear masses up to [[atomic mass|A]]=12. === Nuclear potentials === A successful way of describing [[nuclear interaction]]s is to construct one potential for the whole nucleus instead of considering all its nucleon components. This is called the ''macroscopic'' approach. For example, scattering of neutrons from nuclei can be described by considering a plane wave in the potential of the nucleus, which comprises a real part and an imaginary part. This model is often called the '''optical model''' since it resembles the case of light scattered by an opaque glass sphere. Nuclear potentials can be ''local'' or ''global'': local potentials are limited to a narrow energy range and/or a narrow nuclear mass range, while global potentials, which have more parameters and are usually less accurate, are functions of the energy and the nuclear mass and can therefore be used in a wider range of applications. ==See also== *[[Nuclear data]] *[[Nuclear reaction]] *[[Three-body force]] *[[Yukawa potential]] ==References== {{Reflist}} * Gerald Edward Brown and A. D. Jackson, ''The Nucleon-Nucleon Interaction'', (1976) North-Holland Publishing, Amsterdam ISBN 0-7204-0335-9 * R. Machleidt and I. Slaus, "The nucleon-nucleon interaction", ''J. Phys.'' G '''27''' (2001) R69 ''(topical review)''. * Kenneth S. Krane, "Introductory Nuclear Physics", (1988) Wiley & Sons ISBN 0-471-80553-X * P. Navrátil and W.E. Ormand, "Ab initio shell model with a genuine three-nucleon force for the p-shell nuclei", Phys. Rev. C '''68''', 034305 (2003). 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