The importance of nucleon substructure in nuclear ground states

T. Goldman, K. R. Maltman, G. J. Stephenson, K. E. Schmidt

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

38 Scopus citations

Abstract

Using a potential model, constrained by the hadron spectrum, for the confinement of relativistic quarks we explore the consequences of the substructure of nucleons for the binding energy and ground state wavefunction of 4He. In its simplest form, this model gives a binding energy of 19 MeV. Quark wavefunctions differ from those associated with free nucleons by less than 10%, the rms quark radius is 1.34 fm and the resulting structure differs considerably from that of an expansion beginning from the (0s)4 shell model. Considerable contributions to the binding energy, attractive from quark delocalization and repulsive from the quark hyperfine interaction, appear unavoidable. We conclude that these effects cannot be excluded from a detailed understanding of the properties of nuclear ground states.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)621-667
Number of pages47
JournalNuclear Physics, Section A
Volume481
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - May 16 1988
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Nuclear and High Energy Physics

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