Talk:Isospin

Dynamical Aspects of Isospin
It would be useful to include in this article a discussion of the distinction between isospin as a notational convenience and isospin as a concept which has dynamical implications. This is discussed, for example, in Griffiths . . The example he uses is that the Hamiltonian for the deuteron can have terms that depend on the product of the isospins of the two nucleaons e.g. $${I^{(1)}} \cdot {I^{(2)}}$$ so long as it is unchanged under isospin rotations (e.g. SU(2)). Without some kind of example like this introduction of the symmetry group SU(2) to describe isospin is very perplexing, especially to the novice. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Luriol (talk • contribs) 19:47, 6 April 2013 (UTC)

Weak Isospin
The lede in this article really, really, really needs to make explicit that isospin (discussed) is NOT weak isospin (found elsewhere). A reader shouldn't have to dig through 2/3rds of it to find that out.Abitslow (talk) 20:59, 5 March 2015 (UTC)


 * Agreed. This article should be renamed to Strong isospin to reflect current literature nomenclature, with Isospin made into a disambiguation page. — wing  gundam  17:37, 22 July 2015 (UTC)

Rename to Strong isospin
This article should be renamed to Strong isospin to reflect current literature nomenclature. The name isospin is only used when there is no likelihood of ambiguity. This is typically the case for discussions of Weak isospin and Strong isospin in the literature, where the technical content provides differentiating context to familiar readers, but for not an encyclopedia. — wing  gundam  17:37, 22 July 2015 (UTC)

Mischaracterization of Heisenberg's work.
The section describing Heisenberg's work does not match the comments in
 * "Remarks on the history of isospin" Brown, L.M. (Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (USA). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy) in Festi-Val: Festschrift for Val Telegdi 1988

Specifically "strong interaction between any pair of nucleons is the same" did not come from Heisenberg. Furthermore his work was not related to the kind of symmetry was ultimately connected to isospin. Johnjbarton (talk) 17:22, 26 February 2024 (UTC)


 * I corrected the worst of the bits about Heisenberg. More of the Brown history could be used to complete the History section. (The only other major secondary sources seem to be in German and French?) Johnjbarton (talk) 18:21, 26 February 2024 (UTC)