Nuclear forces likened to a game of catch (IMAGE)

Kyushu University

Nuclear forces likened to a game of catch

Caption

Nuclear forces can be compared to a game of catch. With the two-nucleon force, two players, or nucleons, interact by throwing a ball to each other. The ball, a subatomic particle called a meson, can vary in heaviness, with the lightest meson, known as a pion, responsible for the long-range attraction between nucleons. With the three-nucleon force, there are three players, or nucleons, and balls, or mesons, are passed between them.

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Tokuro Fukui / Kyushu University

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