The internucleon potential

Abstract

Throughout the previous chapter it has been assumed that there is an essentially attractive force-the nuclear force — between any two nucleons, responsible for holding stable nuclei together. This force is of necessity powerful since it must hold the nucleons together in a very small volume as well as overcome the disruptive effect of the repulsive Coulomb force between protons. Normally discussion of the force, F(r), is in terms of the related internucleon potential, V(r), where r is the vector separation between two nucleons and where force and potential are related by the usual expression F(r) = - ∇ V(r).