On the nuclear interaction. Potential, binding energy and fusion reaction

Abstract

The nuclear interaction is responsible for keeping neutrons and protons joined in an atomic nucleus. Phenomenological nuclear potentials, fitted to experimental data, allow one to know about the nuclear behaviour with more or less success where quantum mechanics is hard to be used. A nuclear potential is suggested and an expression for the potential energy of two nuclear entities, either nuclei or nucleons, is developed. In order to estimate parameters in this expression, some nucleon additions to nuclei are considered and a model is suggested as a guide of the addition process. Coulomb barrier and energy for the addition of a proton to each one of several nuclei are estimated by taking into account both the nuclear and electrostatic components of energy. Studies on the binding energies of several nuclei and on the fusion reaction of two nuclei are carried out.