Nuclear Physics has evolved over the last 100 years to develop many
branches. A perusal of the abstracts submitted to the Division of
Nuclear Physics meetings
shows topics ranging from "low energy" processes involved in stellar
nucleosynthesis to "high energy" processes involving heavy ion
collisions
producing quark-gluon plasmas. Most of the subjects dealt with in the
next ten weeks will center on basic nuclear properties although
higher energy issues and particle physics issues will also be touched
upon.
Lect
Number
Date
Subject
1
Sept 18
chap.1, app. A, cross sections
2
Sept 23
chap. 2, leptons and electroweak interactions, symmetries
3
Sept 25
chap. 3, nucleons and the strong interaction, quark models
4
Sept 30
chap. 4, nuclear sizes and masses, app. B
5
Oct 2
chap. 5, ground state properties and the shell model app. C, topic of
term
paper due
6
Oct 7
collective models of nuclear structure
(no class meeting today)
7
Oct 9
chap. 6, alpha decay and fission
(no class meeting today)
8
Oct 14
chap. 7, excited states, app. D
9
Oct 16
chap. 8, low energy nuclear reactions
10
Oct 21
high energy electromagnetic interactions, take home exam handed out
11
Oct 23
relativistic heavy ion collisions
12
Oct 28
chap. 9, nuclear fission power, take home exam collected
13
Oct 30
chap. 10 nuclear fusion
14
Nov 4
chap. 11, nucleosynthesis
15
Nov 6
chap 12., beta decay
16
Nov 11
chap 12. gamma decay
17
Nov 13
chap. 13, neutrinos
18
Nov 18
chap. 14, passage of penetrating
particles through matter
19
Nov 20
chap. 15 , take home final handed out
20
Nov 25
review
Additional References: These are either in the library or can be purchased online. Some of these books have more than one copy available.
"Introductory
Nuclear Physics", Carlos A. Bertulani and Helio Schecter
"Introductory
Nuclear Physics", Samuel S. M. Wong
"The Physics of Nuclei and Particles", Richard A. Dunlap
"Introductory
Nuclear Physics", P.E. Hodgson, E. Gadioli, E. Gadioli-Erba
"Introduction
to nuclear and particle physics", Asok Das and Thomas Ferbel
"Introductory
nuclear physics " Kenneth Krane
"Nuclear
and particle physics", W. S. C. Williams
A term paper is due by Nov. 25. If you hand it in by Nov. 18 I can return it to you with my comments without a grade. It will be graded after the second submission. The term paper should be a minimum of 10 pages typed, including figures. There must be a list of references which you cite in the paper. The paper can be of a theoretical or experimental nature. Explain a particular experimental technique or explain a theoretical issue. If you write about nuclear power please include only the facts, no polemics. You pick the topic. Possible topics, but not exhaustive, are below: If you chose something outside this list please discuss it with me before you start. I want to know what topic you have chosen by Sept. 30.
the shell model
the nucleon-nucleon interaction
nuclear shapes or spins, what are they and how do we determine them
collective rotational and vibrational models
interaction boson models (IBA)
nuclear reactions
neutrino mass searches
giant resonances
the role of symmetries in nuclear/particle physics
quark models of the hadrons
the electroweak interaction
quantum chromodynamics and the strong interaction
grand unified models
quark gluon plasma
heavy ion reactions
nuclear astrophysics
neutron stars
strange quark stars
nuclear decays, alpha, beta and gamma decay
double beta decay searches
nuclear power, fission or fusion
biomedical applications of nuclear physics
accelerator design
the physics and design of experimental equipment
Grading: The grade will be based on the midterm exam(~20%), problems
I will hand out in class(~20%), the
final
exam(~30%), and the term paper(~30%). The answers to the text book
problems are
in
the back of the text book, so these can't be used for grading.
Nevertheless,
I strongly encourage you to solve these problems on your own before
looking
up the answers.