New Wrinkles on an Old Model: Correlation Between Liquid Drop Parameters and Curvature Term

TL;DR

This paper explores the relationship between liquid drop model parameters in nuclear physics, extending the model with a curvature term and a generalized Wigner term, resulting in improved fits to experimental nuclear masses.

Contribution

It introduces a curvature term and a generalized Wigner term into the liquid drop model, enhancing its physical accuracy and fitting performance.

Findings

Excellent fit to experimental nuclear masses

Reduced number of parameters needed for accurate modeling

Validation of the physical connection between coefficients

Abstract

The relationship between the volume and surface energy coefficients in the liquid drop A^{-1/3} expansion of nuclear masses is discussed. The volume and surface coefficients in the liquid drop expansion share the same physical origin and their physical connection is used to extend the expansion with a curvature term. A possible generalization of the Wigner term is also suggested. This connection between coefficients is used to fit the experimental nuclear masses. The excellent fit obtained with a smaller number of parameters validates the assumed physical connection.