Nuclear physics and the quark model: Six quarks with chromodynamics

Abstract

We have studied the six-quark system in a nonrelativistic quark model which incorporates some of the features expected from chromodynamics. Using a large basis space which includes color, spin, and orbital excitations, and a Hamiltonian completely determined by previous studies of baryon structure, we derive a number of the features of low-energy nuclear physics. Among our findings are (1) a strong dynamical clustering of the $3u-3d$ system into a neutron-proton configuration and (2) an effective nucleon-nucleon potential with a strong repulsive core and an intermediate-range attraction similar to those of semiphenomenological potentials. When supplemented with a reasonable model for one-pion exchange, this effective potential gives a good account of the properties of the deuteron.