PROTONS and neutrons can form tiny 鈥渕olecules鈥� within an atom rather than
uniform clumps, say physicists in Europe.
In normal molecules, electrons hold the atoms together. Researchers suspected
that the particles inside atomic nuclei might be able to link up in a similar
way. So Martin Freer of the University of Birmingham and his colleagues studied
the decay patterns of a heavy isotope of beryllium that they created using a
cyclotron in Caen, France (Physical Review Letters, vol 82, p
1383).
The team鈥檚 findings suggest that protons in the beryllium nuclei form
molecule-like structures by sharing neutrons, just as atomic nuclei link up by
sharing electrons. 鈥淚t鈥檇 be nice to think that these structures could get
really, really big,鈥� says Freer.
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