Abstract
The macroscopic-microscopic model based on the folded-Yukawa singleparticle potential and a “finite-range” macroscopic model is probably the approach that has provided the most reliable predictions of a large number of nuclear-structure properties for all nuclei between the proton and neutron drip lines. I will describe some basic features of the model and the development philosophy that may be the reason for its success. Examples of quantities modeled within the same model framework are, nuclear masses, ground-state level structure, including spins, ground-state shapes, fission barriers, heavy-ion fusion barriers, sub-barrier fusion cross sections, β-decay half-lives and delayed neutron emission probabilities, shape coexistence, and α-decay Qα energies to name a few. I will show how well it predicted various properties measured after published results. Rather than giving an incomplete model description here I will give a timeline of model development and provide references to typical applications and references that are sufficiently complete that several individuals have written computer codes based on these references, codes whose results have excellent agreement with ours.
Highlights
Most insight into and understanding of nuclear properties have historically and are currently obtained in terms of surprisingly simple models
In systems which depend mainly on electron behavior their properties can be obtained from solving the Schödinger equation with realistic, known Coulomb potentials
For the nuclear system with its up to a few hundred nucleons a many-body a Scrödinger equation with a potential based on the much more complicated nuclear forces cannot be solved in practice
Summary
Most insight into and understanding of nuclear properties have historically and are currently obtained in terms of surprisingly simple models. In systems which depend mainly on electron behavior their properties can be obtained from solving the Schödinger equation with realistic, known Coulomb potentials. They are often referred to in a condescending manner as phenomenological, but, in a sense all “models” are phenomenological. We will here focus on the remarkable insights into nuclear properties that have been obtained by the “liquid-drop model”, the single-particle model and a combination of those, the “macroscopic-microscopic” method that still today is providing much insight about the properties of nuclei
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