Fermi Gas Model

Assumptions
1.Nucleons (like molecules of a gas) move freely inside a spherical volume of
radius R.
2. Though the nucleons move freely, yet they are bound to the nucleus and
move freely within the nucleus. This is equivalent to saying that the nucleons
are within an attractive potential well. Since the gradient of potential is the force
exerted on the nucleon therefore we assume that the potential well has a
constant depth V0 . (F=-dV/dx). If F is 0(nucleons are free implying that no
forces act between them and they can be considered as non interacting and
Potential is a constant wrt x.)
2. When a nucleus is in the ground state , the neutrons and protons fill the
energy levels respecting Pauli’s Principle. The highest energy level filled in the
ground state at 0K is called the Fermi level. Each level can be filled by two
neutrons(spin up and spin down corresponding to different quantum
numbers/states) and 2 protons(spin up and spin down corresponding to different
quantum numbers/states).
3. Since protons and neutrons can be distinguished, therefore Pauli’s principle
operates independently these two types of nucleons.
4. It is reasonable to ignore the Coulombic repulsion between protons(since the
nuclear force is much stronger) in which case we can assume that the average
potential due to the nuclear force for protons and neutrons will be identical.
2/3
ℏ2 3𝜋2 𝑛
Mathematically EF ,the Fermi energy is expressed as
2𝑚
( 𝑉
) (1)
4
With 𝑉 = 𝜋(𝑅0 3 𝐴) is the nuclear volume, 𝑚 as the nucleonic mass and 𝑛 is
3
the total number of Fermions.
Substituting for the constants , EF = 33MeV. To this we add the binding energy
of a nucleon which approximately 7.6-8.0 MeV.
Therefore the depth of potential is 33+8= 41 MeV
Applications of Fermi Gas Model
1. This model is useful for explaining the properties of nucleus in excited
states.
2. It helps in computing the nuclear depth.
3. It explains the odd even asymmetry energy term in the semi-empirical
mass formula .