Isospin is a symmetry in nuclear physics under the interchange of neutrons and protons. The strong nuclear force conserves isospin, but the symmetry is broken by the electromagnetic force, which only operates between protons.
3
votes
2answers
79 views
Coulomb barrier and proton evaporation
Why is it that neutrons evaporate from nuclei more easily than protons do?
Intuitively, since protons are electrostatically repelled (in addition to whatever nuclear forces they have in common with ...
0
votes
1answer
95 views
Difference between $|0\rangle$ and $0$ in the context of isospin
I know this has been asked before, but I am confused having read it in the context of isospin, where the creation operators act on the "vacuum" state (representing no particles) $$a^\dagger_m|0\rangle ...
0
votes
2answers
318 views
Why are the antimatter compositions of neutrons and protons different? Why by about 1%? References?
In his blog at http://motls.blogspot.com/2010/09/can-antimatters-gravity-be-repulsive.html Lubos Motl writes
"...neutrons contain a slightly different mass contribution from the antiquarks ...
