Binding Energy of the Triton with the Hamada-Johnston Potential

Abstract

A variational method that involves solution of inhomogeneous linear equations is used to calculate the wave function and binding energy of the triton. Cohen and Willis's classification of the triton wave function is employed. Internal wave functions are expanded in terms of polynomials of the interparticle distances up to 170 terms. A binding energy of -6.7 MeV is obtained for the unmodified Hamada-Johnston potential. Due to the simplicity of our variational wave function, all the matrix elements are evaluated analytically in terms of the exponential integrals. With the aid of recurrence relations, the computing time has been reduced to a minimum.