Reexamining the relation between the binding energy of finite nuclei and the equation of state of infinite nuclear matter

The volume term of the semi-empirical mass formula (16 MeV) is usually assumed to be the binding energy per nucleon in symmetric nuclear matter---a considerable extrapolation from finite nuclei. The authors use the dispersive optical model to estimate the nucleon self-energy by fitting a wide range of cross sections for nucleon elastic scattering and ground-state properties. The binding energy per nucleon obtained for saturated matter in the interior of ${}^{208}$Pb is 13--14 MeV, which casts doubt on the widely used 16 MeV from symmetric nuclear matter.