Lecture 4

Nuclear Stability,
The Shell Model
 Nuclear Stability

A sufficient condition for nuclear stability is that,

for a collection of A nucleons, there exists no more
tightly bound aggregate.

• E. g., oneBe nucleus has less binding energy than two 4He nuclei,
8

hence 8Be quickly decays into two heliums.

• An equivalent statement is that the nucleus Z is stable if there is

A

no collection of A nucleons that weighs less.

• However, one must take care in applying this criterion, because

while unstable, some nuclei live a very long time. An operational
definition of “unstable” is that the isotope has a measurable abundance
and no decay has ever been observed (ultimately all nuclei heavier
than the iron group are unstable, but it takes almost forever for
them to decay).
 2.46 x 105 yr
4.47 x 109 yr
93
Protons
234
U 238
U
β-
91 α α
β-
230
Th 234
Th
89 α

α
226
Ra
87

222
Rn
85
α

210
Po β- 214
Po
β- 218
Po
α 83 α α
β- β-
α
206
Pb β- 214
Pb
81
210
Tl

79
126 128 130 132 134 136 138 140 142 144 146

238
U series Neutrons
last stable
isotope
must add
energy
 -decay:
Classification of Decays • emission of Helium nucleus
• Z  Z-2
• N  N-2
Protons

• A  A-4
 EC e--decay (or -decay)
e • emission of e- and 
• Z  Z+1
• N  N-1
• A = const
e+-decay
 • emission of e+ and 
• Z  Z-1
• N  N+1
• A = const
Neutrons Electron Capture (EC)
• absorbtion of e- and emiss 
• Z  Z-1
• N  N+1 5
• A = const
A′ + A′′ = A
Pb
Both 56 Fe and 57 Fe
are stable against strong decay.

For Fe the
neutron drip line
is found at A = 73;
the proton drip is
at A = 45.

Nuclei from 46Fe

to 72Fe are stable
against strong decay.
 nuclear part (but mH contains e-)
/c2 -
/c2
electronic binding energy

glected.
More commonly used is the Atomic Mass Excess

M( A Z )
i.e., mp + me the amomic mass

or M( A Z) = A + Δ amu's
A is an integer

This automatically includes

the electron masses
http://www.nndc.bnl.gov/wallet/
115 pages
The binding energy (MeV)is given in terms of the mass
excess by the previous definition of mass excess
(neglecting electronic binding energy)

BE
2
= Z m H + N m n - M( A
Z)
c
Δ
M( Z ) = A +
A
am u's (1 am u) c2 = 931.49... MeV
931.49...
BE Δ( AZ )
= Z (1.007825 am u) + N (1.008649 am u) -Z -N -
931.49.. 931.49...
Δ( A Z )
= Z (0.007825BE am u) + N(0.008649 am u) -
931.49...

BE = Z Δ p + N Δ n -Δ( A Z )

where Δ p = 7.288969 MeV = m assexcessof p in am u × 931.49... MeV

Δ n = 8.071323 MeV = m assexcesson n in am u × 931.49... MeV
Audi and Wapstra, Buc. Phys A., 595, 409 (1995)
Add Z-1 electron Nuclear masses
masses Atomic masses
Mass excesses
Δ = M −A

now add Z+1 electron masses

 xxxx
+
Add Z electrons
 −2me c 2

2me c 2 = 1.02 MeV

Frequently nuclei are unstable to both electron-capture

and positron emission.
Decays may proceed though excited states
The ones with the bigger
(less negative) mass excesses
are unstable.
(
At constant A
 Odd A. A=135
Single parabola
even-odd and odd-even

β-

β-
β+

β-
EC
β-

52 54 56 58
Te I Xe Cs Ba La Ce Pr
• Even A:
Even A. A=102
• two parabolas
Two parabolas separated by 2δ,
• one for o-o & one for e-e odd-odd and even-even
• lowest o-o nucleus often has
two decay modes odd-odd

• most e-e nuclei have two β+

stable isotopes
β-
• there are nearly no stable o-o
nuclei in nature because these β+
can nearly all -decay to an e- β-
β-
e nucleus
β+
even-even
42 44 46 48
Mo Tc Ru Rh Pd Ag Cd
an “even-even” nucleus must decay to
an “odd-odd” nucleus and vice versa.

mass 64

96
Zr is stable

mass 194
To summarize:

odd A There exists one and only one stable isotope

odd Z – odd N Very rarely stable. Exceptions 2H, 6Li, 10B, 14N.
Large surface to volume ratio. Our liquid drop
model is not really applicable.

even Z – even N Frequently only one stable isotope (below

sulfur). At higher A, frequently 2, and
occasionally, 3.
• Consequence: 2 or more even A, 1 or no odd A

11 Nov 2004, Lecture 3 27

The Shell Model
 Shortcomings of the Liquid Drop Model
• Simple model does not apply for A < 20
(10,10)
(N,Z) (6,6)
(2,2)
(8,8)

(4,4)
Z • Doesn’t Predict Magic Neutron Magic
Numbers 126
Numbers

82

Proton
Magic
Numbers
50

• Magic Proton Numbers

28 (stable isotopes)

20 • Magic Neutron Numbers

(stable isotones)

8
2
N
 Ba Neutron separation energy in MeV

• Neutron separation
energies
– saw tooth from
pairing term
– step down when N
goes across magic
number at 82
 Abundance patterns reflect magic numbers

N=126
Z=82
N=82
Z=50
N=50

iron mountain
Z = N = 28

no A=5 or 8
Shell Model – Mayer and Jensen 1963 Nobel Prize

Our earlier discussions treated the nucleus as sets of

identical nucleons and protons comprising two degenerate
Fermi gases. That is OK so far as it goes, but now we shall
consider the fact that the nucleons have spin and angular
momentum and that, in analogy to electrons in an atom, are
in ordered discrete energy levels characterized by conserved
quantized variables – energy, angular momentum and spin.

Clayton 311 – 319

DeShalit and Feshbach , Theoretical Nuclear Physics, 191 - 237
 ∞
A highly idealized nuclear potential
looks something like this “infinite V
square well”.
-R r
0 R
As is common in such problems
one applies boundry conditions to
Schroedinger’s equation.

V = −Vo r <R
= ∞ r ≥R

Ψ ( R) = 0
Ψ '( R ) = 0 Vo ≈ 50 − 60 MeV

-Vo

(In the case you have probably seen before of electronic energy levels in
an atom, one would follow the same procedure, but the potential would
be the usual [attractive] 1/r potential.)
Schroedinger's Equation:

h2 2
− ∇ Ψ + ( V - E0 ) Ψ = 0
2M
Spherical symmetry:
Ψ n,l,m (r , θ , ϕ ) = f n ,l (r ) Yl m (θ , φ)
Nuclear Energy
Radial equation: eigenstate
potential
h 2 ⎛ ∂2 2 ∂ ⎞ ⎡l (l + 1) h 2 ⎤
- ⎜ 2 + f
⎟ n ,l ( r ) + ⎢ 2
+ Vnuc ( r ) ⎥ f n ,l ( r ) = E f n ,l ( r )
2M ⎝ ∂r r ∂r ⎠ ⎣ 2 Mr ⎦
Rotational
energy Clayton 4-102
Solve for E.
Substitute:
2 M (E + Vnuc )
ρ= 2
r
h
To obtain:

∂2 f ∂f
ρ 2
+ 2 ρ + ( ρ 2
−l (l + 1)) f = 0
∂ρ 2
∂ρ
Solution is:
π
f = J l +1/ 2 ( ρ )
2ρ
Spherical Bessel Functions

Abramowitz and Stegun 10.1.1

 Z or N = 2, 8, 18, ...

So far we have considered the angular momentum of the nucleons, but

have ignored the fact that they are Fermions and have spin.
cumulative
occupation
desired
magic
numbers

126

82

50

28
20

8
2
 Improving the Nuclear Potential Well

The real potential should be of finite depth and should

probably resemble the nuclear density - flat in the middle with
rounded edges that fall off sharply due to the short range
of the nuclear force.

for neutrons

R ≈ Nuclear Radius
d ≈ width of the edge
 states of higher l
shifted more to
higher energy.

Infinite square With Saxon-Woods

well potential
But this still is not very accurate because:
• Spin is very important to the nuclear force
• The Coulomb force becomes important for protons
but not for neutrons.
Introduce spin-orbit and spin-spin interactions
r r r r
lgs and sgs
Define a new quantum number
r r r
j = l +s
Get spliting of levels into pairs
1p → 1p1/2 1p3/2
2f → 1f5/2 2f7/2
etc
Labelstatesby nlj
This interaction is quite different from the fine
structure splitting in atoms. It is much larger and lowers
the state of larger j (parallel l and s) compared to one
with smaller j. See Clayton p. 311ff)

Empirically V = - α l⋅s
α = 13 A -2/3 MeV

α 1
ΔE = − l j= ( l+ ) These can be large
2 2 compared even to the
α 1 spacing between the
+ ( l+ 1) j= ( l− ) principal levels.
2 2

The state with higher j is more tightly bound; the splitting is

bigger as l gets larger.
 infinite fine structure splitting
harmonic square
oscillator well

closed shells

Protons:

For neutrons
see Clayton p. 315
The closed shells are the
same but the ordering of
states differs from 1g7/2 on
up. For neutrons 2d5/2 is
more tightly bound. The
3s1/2 and 2d3/2 are also
reversed.
Each state can hold (2j+1) nucleons.
2(2l+1)
Some implications:

A. Ground states of nuclei

Each quantum mechanical state of a nucleus can be specified

by an energy, a total spin, and a parity.

The spin and parity of the ground state is given by the

spin and parity (-1)l of the “valence” nucleons, that is the
last unpaired nucleons in the least bound shell.
1s1/2 2 1 p3/4 21 p1/2 2 1d5/6 2 2 s1/2 21d3/4 2 ...

6n,6p

10n,8p
 8 protons
9 neutrons

8 protons
7 neutrons

(the parity is the product of the parity of

the two states)
(l < n is true for 1/r potentials but not others)
spin and
parity
Nuclear Reactions
Larger l implies a smaller cross section.
 The Shell Model

Magic: 2, 8, 20, 28, 50, 82, 126