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THE STRUCTURE OF ATOMIC NUCLEUS

Dezső Sarkadi
Research Centre of Fundamental Physics
RFP Hungary, June 2020
dsarkadi@gmail.com
http://www.hungarianphysics.eu
https://sarkadidezso.academia.edu/research#papers

With my present work, I would like to contribute to today’s hugely swollen theory of the atomic
nucleus, a very simple but hardly refutable nuclear structure model. I took the first important step
in the subject years earlier when I assumed that nuclei are formed by thermal radiation. During a
supernova explosion, the star loses tremendous energy due to temperature and neutrino radiation.
The radiated energy manifests as a lack of mass in the resulting atoms (nuclei), thus providing their
binding energy. By supplementing Planck's theory of temperature radiation, I was able to find a
calculation method for determining the ground state masses of neutral atoms, which can be a serious
competitor to the Bethe – Weizsäcker liquid droplet nuclear model. In the second step, I was able to
prove that nuclei are made up of building blocks (universal mass quantums). A clear geometric im-
age can be attached to the new exponentially quantized nuclear model.

1. Introduction
The present work is another attempt to understand the structure of the nucleus. According to today's
physics, particles can be divided into elementary and non-elementary, i.e. complex particles. In the first place
is the photon as an elementary particle with zero mass, so the photon as a particle could only be born with
Einstein's theory. The next best-known elementary particle is the electron and antiparticle pair, the positron.
Back in 1928, the English physicist P. A. M. Dirac discovered the “exact” quantum mechanical equation (rel-
ativistic wave equation) of the electron, which “inherently” (alone) contains the electron’s half spin, magnetic
moment, and the equation also infers the existence of the positron. Dirac initially thought of a positively
charged proton instead of a positron particle, although the mass of the electron and positron in the equation
was equal. Finally, in 1932, C. D. Anderson found the positron in cosmic radiation. According to the classifi-
cation of modern physics, the electron (and the positron) are the smallest particles in the family of leptons,
and the family of leptons also includes two types of particles, the muon and the tau particle, and their anti-
pairs. The picture is further complicated by the fact that each of the listed mass leptons includes neutrinos
(and antineutrinos), which, to the best of our knowledge, have masses other than zero, but are negligibly
small. Lepton particles are considered by physics to be simple, elementary particles, but outside of them, it
seems that the other particles of nature are no longer elementary, that is, complex particles.
The position of today’s physics is simple: every non-elementary particle is a bound state of different
mystic particles: quarks. Quarks are rather theoretically existing particles, their experimental detection is not
possible for theoretical reason (this is the principle of quark entrapment), but their existence is supported by
physical theory. Quarks are elementary particles (fermions) with half spin, so they cannot be further divided.
There is only indirect experimental evidence for the existence of quarks, and there are only theoretical esti-
mates for the masses of quarks. Further details on quarks can be found in abundance on the Internet, which
are an important part of the Standard Model formulated in recent years in physics (the name quark itself is
of English origin, meaning common curd).
The topic of the present work is the structure of the nucleus, the nuclei are not elementary particles, as
it has long been known that nuclei are the bound states of protons and neutrons (nucleons). Even today,
nucleons cannot be considered elementary particles either, as they consist of the binding of three quarks each.
Part of the Standard Model is the so-called quantum chromodynamics (QCD, [1.1]), which is the theoretical
basis for quarks and is used to describe strong interactions. Because, among other things, nuclear nuclei are
held together by strong interactions, the QCD theory is currently sanctified for their “exact” description.

THE STRUCTURE OF ATOMIC NUCLEUS Dezső Sarkadi RFP HUNGARY dsarkadi@gmail.com June 2020
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Physics textbooks provide a detailed description of the Bohr atomic model and its quantum mechanical
discussion (Schrödinger wave equation), but a similar derivation based on QCD theory is not found for even
the simplest atomic nucleus, deuterium. However, high-energy scattering experiments such as the Swiss
LHC acceleration experiments are said to validate the validity of the QCD.
Returning to deuterium, which is the bound state of a proton and a neutron, it is already a mathemati-
cally “six-body problem” for the quark constituents, for which there are only complicated approximative
calculation methods. As for reality, there is no generally accepted QCD-based theoretical model for deuter-
ium bonding.
However, we cannot underestimate the liquid drop model containing the classical description of nuclei
(Liquid Drop Model: LDM [1.2, 1.3, 1.4]), which is detailed in nuclear physics textbooks. In addition to the
liquid droplet model, a number of similar, illustrative papers on the nucleus have been published in the
world so far. As there are illustrative physical models for the hydrogen atom and for the nuclei, we cannot
give up on further illustrative structural modeling of the nuclei in the future either. Such an attempt is pre-
sented in the present work.

2. Radiation model of the formation of atoms (RM)

To the best of our knowledge, elements and their isotopes can only be formed by the synthesis of hydro-
gen atoms at very high temperatures. Atoms in the entire periodic table appear to be formed only during the
high-temperature explosion process of supernova stars. During its short life, the supernova loses a huge
amount of mass (energy), mainly due to electromagnetic and neutrino radiation. The synthesis of atoms (nu-
clei), i.e. their nuclear bonding, takes place through precisely this complex radiation, ensuring the “lack of
mass” characteristic of each atom (nucleus). For quite a few years now, the idea that the binding energy of
nuclei can be combined with the high-temperature black body radiation of supernova stars was born in me.
Planck's law of radiation applies to electromagnetic radiation, which assumes a Maxwell-Boltzmann distri-
bution due to unit spin of the photon. At very high temperatures, half-spin neutrino radiation also follows
the Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics in a good approximation.
The essence of the Radiation Model (RM) is that each atom behaves as a unique quantized harmonic
oscillator at very high temperatures. The frequency of atomic oscillators is determined by the mass of that
atom. The highest level of excitation of the atom with mass number A is the loose set of component neutrons.
The strongly binding, lowest energy state (zero-point state) of an atom is the measurable atomic mass that
exists at ordinary temperature. In the radiation model, the separation energy curve of the atoms of the entire
periodic table corresponds to the radiation curve of a sufficiently high temperature black body if the radiation
frequency is chosen to be proportional to the square root of the atomic masses. The implemented radiation
core model determined the ground state masses of the atoms with amazing accuracy: with two fitting pa-
rameters, the accuracy of the model reached the accuracy of the five-parameter Bethe-Weizsäcker liquid drop
model [2.1, 2.2].
The radiation model is therefore suitable for a good approximation of the ground state mass of each
atom (nucleus). The physical basis of the model corresponds to the generalization of black body radiation,
the energy radiated during the formation of the atom having atomic mass A

Erad ( A)  Crad F 4 ( A) /  exp(F / kT )  1 

(2.1)
 Crad ( A  1.5)2 M 02 / B F 1, ( A  2).

where F is the electromagnetic radiation frequency associated to the atom having mass number A

F ( A)  ( A 1.5)Mn ;  A  2 . (2.2)

In the formula, Mn denotes the resting mass of the neutron. The frequency of radiation is called the mass
frequency, which is proportional to the square root of the mass of the atom with mass number A. The formula
was fitted to the ground state mass of about 2000 atoms, and the neutron mass and atomic masses were
calculated in Dalton (Da). A Dalton mass is equal to 12ths of the mass of the C-12 carbon atom.

THE STRUCTURE OF ATOMIC NUCLEUS Dezső Sarkadi RFP HUNGARY dsarkadi@gmail.com June 2020
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A dimensionless Q variable was introduced in the successful matching procedure

 
Crad  Q5 / 2 Da1 , B  1  Q, Q  0.221403...  2 / 9. (2.3)

I also fitted the Radiation Model to the neutron mass, according to which the fitted neutron mass in the model
is approximately smaller with 5 MeV/c2 than the neutron experimental mass. The temperature ( T fus ) required
to fuse the entire periodic table according to the model

exp(F0 / kT )  B  1  Q   exp  
M 0 Da / kT ;
(2.4)
T  Tfus  5.413 1013 K .

It is important to note that in nuclear physics to this day there is no such purely theoretical model that could
determine the ground state masses of atoms under a generally formulated, simple physical condition. How-
ever, in atomic physics, we find in the Bohr model of the hydrogen atom a special condition that the orbital
momentum of an electron can only be an integer multiple of Planck constant. I consider the physical condi-
tion I have set to be of similar importance: the synthesis of the ground state masses of atoms can only take
place as a result of high-temperature radiation. In today’s physics, there is no other such simple but general
condition for determining ground state atomic masses.

3. The exponential model of the nucleus

The liquid drop model of the nucleus gave an illustrative picture of the spatial structure of the nucleus
from the very beginning. Adherence to the illustrative spatial structure has remained in nuclear research

Figure 3.1.: Illustrative model of the nucleus,

red spheres: protons, blue spheres: neutrons.

In several similar dissertations, the authors infer the experimentally experienced properties of nuclei, such
as nucleus stability, based on the symmetries of spatial nucleus models [3.1,… 3.4]. Bohr's atomic model, in
another sense Schrödinger's wave mechanical model of the hydrogen atom, was also a vivid idea. Illustrative
modeling is of key importance in quantum chemistry, such as the electron density distribution of a water
molecule (Figure 3.2). However, a similar illustrative picture of the simplest deuterium quark model cannot
be found on the Internet.

Figure 3.2.: Electron density distribution of a water molecule

THE STRUCTURE OF ATOMIC NUCLEUS Dezső Sarkadi RFP HUNGARY dsarkadi@gmail.com June 2020
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I want to avoid misunderstandings, by this I do not want to question the quark model of atomic nuclei,
as the real physical background of the quark model is supported by both experiment and theory from many
sides. At the same time, I am strongly convinced that nature, and in particular physical phenomena, can be
traced back to basic principles, which at the same time brings with it an illustrative idea and pictorial repre-
sentation of phenomena. It follows from all this that it is difficult for me to accept the theory of QCD, which
is too artificial for me, and thus to leave the illustration out of nuclear physics.
In my opinion, the current over-complicated approach to nuclear physics can be traced back to the still-
existing ambiguity of the existence and origin of the physical mass. The concept of mass is closely related to
energy, physical inertia, gravity, which means that mass is the most basic concept in physics, along with the
kinetic concepts of physical motion, such as path, speed, acceleration.
Today, perhaps everyone accepts that the physical concepts of mass and energy are closely intertwined.
Yet there are two fundamental differences between them, namely that we associate point-like particles (or
sets of them) with mass the most, while the concept of energy is most closely related to spatial extent, physical
force field or to general physical work. Of course, the wording here is highly subjective, probably everyone
sees the difference between energy and mass in different ways.
I link the mass to the particle image. I call a particle a physical object in which energy densely condenses
in space. Thus, in addition to its mass, a particle must also have a finite geometric radius that is specific to
the particle. I consider it necessary for the particle to have some illustrative spatial structure as well. The
visual particle image is complicated by quantum mechanics, for example a classical electron beam can be
assigned to an electron, but due to the uncertainty relation, the spatial position of the electron and thus its
geometry is “indeterminate” depending on the electron linear momentum.
A particle image cannot be directly linked to my successful Radiation Model of the atomic nucleus, as
the model primarily calculates the ground state masses of atoms. An important feature of the RM is that it
also gives a mass number dependence on the “gravitational radius” of the atoms. However, it does not give
a clear picture of the atoms themselves. The exponential atomic mass model presented here, which can be
linked to the Radiation Model, shows a simple picture of the structural structure of atoms. A basic require-
ment in the development of the new atom model was that it contained the same two parameters as the RM,
i.e. the mass of the neutron and the dimensionless parameter Q ≈ 2 / 9.
The mass of the neutron can also be written into equivalent form

 
1
M n  (1  Q)M n  (1  Q)M n  Qk M n   Qk  Qk 1 , (3.1)
1 Q k 0 k 0

where is applied the sum formula of the decreasing infinite geometric series. The mass of the neutron corre-
sponds to the highest excitation state of the nucleons, the mass of any atom is less than the mass of neutron
A in each case

M  Z , A  M ( A) Ck  Z , A  Qk  Qk 1   M ( A)  AM n . (3.2)
k 0

Here, the coefficients Ck  Z , A  denote the configuration vectors of the nuclei, the components of which can
be zero or positive integers. The clarity of the configuration vectors is determined by the requirement that
the sum of the vector components be minimal.

According to the exponential nuclear model, the building blocks of a free neutron are universal
mass quantums from which all ground and excited nuclei are composed.

The ground and excited masses of the nucleus are, in principle, best known from the experiments. The
ground state masses of the nucleus can be calculated with a more or less accurate approximation using the
Bethe-Weizsäcker liquid drop model, or based on the Radiation Model I developed [2.1, 2.2], or using another
similar nuclear computational model.

THE STRUCTURE OF ATOMIC NUCLEUS Dezső Sarkadi RFP HUNGARY dsarkadi@gmail.com June 2020
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4. Calculation results
In the implemented calculations the dimensions of the configuration vectors are finite, we get a result
with sufficient accuracy to calculate with the first, 12th member of the power series, according to which the
configuration vectors are 13 dimensional

12
M  Z , A  M ( A) Ck  A, Z   Qk  Qk 1 , (4.1)
k 0

I calculated the exponential nuclear model for nearly 2000 nuclei masses, which includes the known value of
the neutron resting mass.
M n  1.008664916 Da. (4.2)

In the calculation, the value of Q corresponded to the nominal value

Q  Q0  2 / 9  0.222.... (4.3)

The standard relative standard deviation that determines the accuracy of an exponential nuclear model

2
1  M i ,calc  M i ,exp 
n
  
n  1 i 1  M i,exp
  8.706...10 .
-9
(4.4)


The following table lists the last 9 quantum numbers of some nucleus configuration vectors

ATOM Z A C'(Z,A) R.err ATOM Z A C'(Z,A) R.err

n 0 1 111 111 111 ‐3.22E‐09 Ca 20 52 40 121 412 ‐5.96E‐09
He 2 4 123 013 102 ‐4.30E‐10 Fe 26 56 24 030 030 ‐6.65E‐09
Li 3 8 231 040 002 ‐7.76E‐09 Ni 28 58 30 024 203 ‐1.72E‐09
B 5 10 140 400 012 ‐2.57E‐09 Co 27 59 24 201 241 ‐7.27E‐10
C 6 12 110 302 304 ‐1.43E‐09 As 33 75 30 341 223 ‐3.71E‐09
N 7 14 113 001 340 ‐4.10E‐09 Sr 38 86 30 321 041 ‐8.07E‐09
O 8 16 101 331 224 ‐3.80E‐09 Mo 42 98 31 311 103 ‐1.09E‐08
Ne 10 20 101 034 114 ‐5.14E‐09 Cd 48 114 32 413 041 ‐3.52E‐09
Na 11 23 100 204 000 ‐1.07E‐08 Cs 55 133 34 140 031 ‐9.15E‐09
Mg 12 24 40 333 031 ‐7.19E‐09 Nd 60 142 40 222 102 ‐1.44E‐09
Al 13 24 110 300 121 ‐5.45E‐09 W 74 184 102 130 114 ‐4.07E‐10
Si 14 28 33 100 032 ‐1.03E‐08 Pb 82 208 104 000 301 ‐5.23E‐09
S 16 32 32 303 322 ‐8.87E‐09 Ra 88 226 111 341 421 ‐9.87E‐10
P 15 34 33 312 020 ‐7.14E‐09 Th 90 232 112 141 030 ‐4.84E‐09
Cl 17 34 33 321 031 ‐9.63E‐09 U 92 235 112 300 311 ‐1.02E‐08
Ca 20 40 32 004 120 ‐1.04E‐08 U 92 238 112 411 211 ‐8.77E‐09
V 23 51 30 114 020 ‐4.50E‐09 Pu 94 244 113 203 123 ‐2.87E‐09

Table 4.1.: Configuration vectors for some nuclei

It can be seen that the components of the configuration vectors can take the values [0, 1, 2, 3, 4], which quan-
tum numbers result from the given value of Q. The complete configuration vector of the neutron is as defined
above
C (0,1)  1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 , (4.5)

while, for example, the deuteron configuration vector

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C (1, 1)  1, 1, 1, 1, 0, 3, 3, 2, 4, 0, 1, 2, 3 . (4.6)

The first four components of the configuration vectors are the same for all atoms

C 0 ( Z , A)  1, 1, 1, 0  , (4.7)

to which a constant mass proportional to the mass number belongs

M S ( Z , A)  M ( A)(1  Q ) 1  Q  Q 2  . (4.8)

From the table, for example, the mass of the aluminum isotope Al (13,24) is calculated as follows

M S (13, 24)  M '(13, 24) 

(4.9)
 24 M n (1  Q ) 1  Q  Q 2    Q 4  Q 5  3Q 7  Q10  2Q11  Q12   .

5. Illustrative geometry of the exponential nuclear model

A simple geometric image can be attached to the exponentially quantized nuclear model. From the
atomic mass formula (3.2) the radially spatial distribution of the exponentially quantized masses follows

 (kr0 )  Qk  Qk 1  exp   kr0  1  exp   r0   ;  k  0, 1, 2,... (5.1)

The mass (energy) quantums that make up the atomic nucleus are belong to concentric spherical shells of
radius
rk   k , k  1 r0 , (k  0, 1, 2, ...). (5.2)

Spherical shells with increasing quantum numbers and uniformly increasing radii contain exponentially
quantized decreasing mass (energy) fractions. The result of the encapsulated mass shells is comparable to
the putative spherical Bethe-Weizsäcker nuclear liquid droplet model. At the same time, the exponentially
quantized (and moving) masses of nuclei can even be located in a single plane, in concentric orbits, to which
quantized momentum can also belong, and which ultimately lead to measurable nuclear spins. The spatial
structure of the planar exponential nucleus model is macroscopically similar to the huge astronomical ob-
jects, the galaxies.

Attachments

M1. Exponential oscillator mass levels

2
N=0 9.39565413E+02 MeV/c
2 2
N=1 2.08792314E+02 MeV/c N=7 2.51442928E-02 MeV/c
2 2
N=2 4.63982920E+01 MeV/c N=8 5.58762062E-03 MeV/c
2 2
N=3 1.03107316E+01 MeV/c N=9 1.24169347E-03 MeV/c
2 2
N=4 2.29127368E+00 MeV/c N = 10 2.75931882E-04 MeV/c
2 2
N=5 5.09171929E-01 MeV/c N = 11 6.13181961E-05 MeV/c
2 2
N=6 1.13149318E-01 MeV/c N = 12 1.36262658E-05 MeV/c

This Mass Table shows the mass levels (energy levels) of the exponential oscillator in MeV. The levels of the
exponential oscillator are calculated as follows

THE STRUCTURE OF ATOMIC NUCLEUS Dezső Sarkadi RFP HUNGARY dsarkadi@gmail.com June 2020
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M N  M nQ ; (Q  2 / 9, N  0, 1, 2,...),
N

where M n is the neutron resting mass. The energy for the quantum number N = 1 is close to the mass of two
muon particles (muon-antimuon pair) ≈ 209 MeV/c2, the experimental value is 2 x 105.66 MeV/ c2. The value
for the quantum number N = 4 is very close to the separation energy of deuterium ≈ 2.29 MeV/c2, the experi-
mental value is 2.23 MeV/c2. Finally, the value for the quantum number N = 5, which is close to the mass of
the electron ≈ 0.509 MeV/c2, the experimental value is 0.511 MeV/c2.

M2. Physical constants

Planck constant   1.054571817 1034 Js
Planck constant   6.58211899 1022 MeVs
C-12 Carbon atomic rest mass = 12 Da
1 Dalton (Da) = 931.494102 MeV
Boltzmann constant k B  8.61733034 1011 MeV / K
Boltzmann constant k Da  9.251084 1014 Da / K
Fusion temperature of periodic system T fus  5.436 1013 K .
2 
Planck’s radiation law Erad (, T )d   2 3 / kT
d .
c e 1
Author: Dezső Sarkadi

References
[1.1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_chromodynamics
[1.2] Weizsäcker, C. F., "Zur Theorie der Kernmassen", Zeitschrift für Physik, 96 (7–8), 431-458. (1935).
[1.3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi-empirical_mass_formula
[1.4] http://www.hungarianphysics.eu/The_Nuclear_Liquid_Drop-Model.pdf
[2.1] http://www.hungarianphysics.eu/Formation_of_Atoms.pdf
[2.2] http://www.hungarianphysics.eu/Az_atomok_keletkezese_Hungarian.pdf
[3.1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nucleon
[3.2] http://www.hungarianphysics.eu/NUCLEAR_GEOMETRY_SINDELY.pdf
[3.3] https://www.scirp.org/pdf/WJNST_2017072015192910.pdf
[3.4] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/284166703_The_Cubic_Atomic_Model

THE STRUCTURE OF ATOMIC NUCLEUS Dezső Sarkadi RFP HUNGARY dsarkadi@gmail.com June 2020