On the nucleon paradigm: the nucleons are closer to reality than the protons and neutrons

TL;DR

This paper argues that nucleons are the fundamental entities in nuclear physics, providing a broader theoretical framework that better captures physical reality than the traditional focus on protons and neutrons.

Contribution

It introduces a general approach demonstrating that nucleons are more physically relevant than just protons and neutrons, clarifying the relation between different theoretical domains.

Findings

Nucleons are closer to physical reality than protons and neutrons.

A general fermion theory for distinguishing identical particles is presented.

The relation between wider and narrower theories is clarified.

Abstract

There is a widespread delusion that in theoretical nuclear physics protons and neutrons are the real thing, and nucleons are not more than a mathematically equivalent formality. It is shown that, on the contrary, nucleons are the real thing, because only a part of the theory is essentially identical to proton-and-neutron theory, whereas the remaining part is physically relevant. The approach is general. Thus, this is a paradigm of relation of a wider and a more narrow theory, so that the wider theory describes reality better. Also the relation of disjoint domains to the exclusion principle is clarified. A general fermion theory of how to distinguish identical particles is presented.