NUCLEAR MATTER AND THE LONG-RANGE PART OF THE NUCLEON–NUCLEON POTENTIAL

Abstract

Elementary nuclear-matter calculations are performed with five different central nucleon–nucleon potentials. These are all static with a hard core of radius 0.4 fm and an OPEP tail, but are characterized by vastly different forms in the intermediate region. It is concluded that nuclear matter is insensitive to the precise form of the central part of the nucleon–nucleon potential everywhere beyond the short-range repulsive region, provided the nucleon–nucleon data are well fitted.