The nuclei 12C, 16O and the role of the Pauli Exclusion Principle

Abstract

Abstract We investigate the role of the Pauli Exclusion Principle (PEP) for light nuclei, at the examples of 12C and 16O. We show that ignoring the PEP does lead not only to a too dense spectrum at low energy but also to a wrong grouping into bands. Using a geometrical mapping, a triangular structure for 12C and a tetrahedral structure in 16O in the ground state is obtained by using the indistinguishably of the α-particles.