On Wed, Dec 9, 2015 at 9:06 PM, David Roberson <dlrober...@aol.com> wrote:
Guys, what would you expect to happen if the identity of individual > nucleons is lost once they enter the nucleus? There is an assumption that the identity is lost, in a sense. Through meson exchange, neutrons are thought to regularly become protons and vice versa, very rapidly, and it might be considered experimentally impossible to keep track of any one nucleon over time. Since each is supposed to be constructed from 3 quarks, it may be logical > to assume that nearby nucleons behave as one greater one composed of 6 or > more quarks. How would one prove that each proton and neutron keeps its > identity separate? > I think the current understanding is that by using probes with sufficient energy to "see" individual nucleons rather than the nucleus as a whole (e.g., using electrons accelerated to very high energies), the data are consistent with nucleons containing three valence quarks. Beyond this I don't know much more. Eric
