Liquid-Drop and Independent-Particle Models Revisited

Traditionally, the difference in binding energy from the experimental value with respect to the theoretical liquid-drop model value, has been seen as indication of independent-particle character along with magicity for particular number of protons and neutrons. We study this carefully to demonstrate that it actually indicates that the liquid-drop and the independent-particle phases of the nucleus have equal fundamental primacy and coexist simultaneously in a nucleus to provide a complete and a consistent description of the same.