Abstract
Coulomb displacement energies in a series of isotopes generally decrease with A. This decrease can arise from an increase with A of the average distance of interaction between pairs of protons. In the shell model a decrease can also result from charge-independence-breaking effects if the neutron-proton interaction for the valence nucleons is more attractive than the neutron-neutron interaction. Using the model recently proposed by Sherr and Talmi for the 1d32 shell, existing data for this shell and also the 1d52 and 1f72 shells were analyzed allowing all matrix elements to vary as Aλ3. Least squares calculations of the rms deviation σ were carried out for varying values of λ from -2 to +2. It was found that although there was a minimum in σ vs λ it was too shallow to exclude any λ for -1 to +1 in the 1d32 and 1f72 shells or 0 to +1 in the 1d52 shell. It is therefore not possible to distinguish between A dependence and charge dependence in this model. The magnitude of the latter as expressed in terms of npnn matrix elements depends strongly on the former. As λ increases from -1 to +1, these npnn matrix elements decrease roughly linearly in absolute magnitude and eventually change sign. For λ=0 they have appreciable and reasonable magnitudes for the 1d32 and 1f72 shells but for the 1d52 shell the values are too small to be considered significant.