In particle physics, a Yukawa potential (also called a screened Coulomb potential) is a potential of the form
where g is a magnitude scaling constant, m is the mass of the affected particle, r is the radial distance to the particle, and k is another scaling constant. The potential is monotone increasing, implying that the force is always attractive.
In interactions between a meson field and a fermion field, the constant g is equal to the coupling constant between those fields. In the case of the nuclear force, the fermions would be a proton and another proton or a neutron.
Read more about Yukawa Potential: History, Relation To Coulomb Potential, Fourier Transform, Feynman Amplitude
Famous quotes containing the word potential:
“Humanity has passed through a long history of one-sidedness and of a social condition that has always contained the potential of destruction, despite its creative achievements in technology. The great project of our time must be to open the other eye: to see all-sidedly and wholly, to heal and transcend the cleavage between humanity and nature that came with early wisdom.”
—Murray Bookchin (b. 1941)