Neutron repulsion

All matter particle has a spin value of either -1/2 or 1/2 and Pauli's exclusion principle states that no two particles with same spin exist in same space. Then It must be true that neutrons must repel each other if they have same quantum number.

Only in 3 cases False Only in 5 cases True

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1 solution

Laszlo Mihaly
Feb 1, 2019

Actually, the answer is incorrect. There is no repulsion between neutrons due the Pauli principle.

It is true that two neutrons with the same spin cannot be at the same place, but we cannot interpret this fact as an evidence for a force. It simply follows from the antisymmetry of the spatial part of the two-particle wavefunction. The energy of the two-neutron system does not depend on their separation (as long as the distance is much larger than the range of the strong nuclear force). The force is the negative derivative of the potential energy with respect to distance. Constant energy -> zero force.

The story gets more interesting if there is an interaction between the particles. In that case the spin alignment will lead to an extra contribution to the energy, and therefor there will be a force. There is an excellent and simple discussion of that here: https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/18395/simple-description-of-exchange-interaction

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