Introductory Nuclear and Particle Physics

  • Dates and timings: Friday and Saturday 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM (IST)
  • Starting date: Revision of prerequisites from 20 July 2018; new course material from 27 July 2018

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

(Each lecture includes 2 hours time)

  • Revision Lectures: Introduction to course: 20 and 21 July 2018
  • Lecture 1: Meaning of fundamental particles: 27 July 2018
  • Lecture 2: Introduction to fundamental interactions: 28 July 2018
  • Lecture 3: Examples and understanding of fundamental particles: 3 August 2018
  • Lecture 4: Conservation laws, charge, mass-energy, momentum, : 4 August 2018
  • Lecture 5: Propagators for different interactions: 10 August 2018
  • Lecture 6: Some examples to understanding conservation laws: 11 August 2018
  • Holiday in honor of former prime minister ABV: 17 August 2018
  • Lecture 7: Lepton number and details of leptons: 18 August 2018
  • Lecture 8: Lepton family number and conservation laws, with examples: 24 August 2018
  • No student turned up: 25 August 2018 (Since I was also busy with student elections)
  • Revision of Lecture 1: 1 September 2018 (Only two students came in class, for them, ti was 2nd class)

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Paper - X: Introductory Nuclear and Particle Physics

Note: Five questions are to be set taking one from each unit (each question will have an internal choice). Student will attempt all the five questions. 40% weightage will be given to problems and numericals.

Unit I: Basic Nuclear Characteristics

(i) Nuclear mass, nuclear size and nuclear matter — The mass table, binding energy of nucleons, nuclear size, semiempirical mass formula, Nuclear matter-characteristics, theory of binding energy and the pairing energy, Nuclear stability and abundance of nuclides. Spin and parity of nuclear states, magnetic dipole and electric quadrupole moments of nucleus (Qualitative discussion only).

(ii) General nature of force between nucleons, scattering of neutrons by protons at low energy, two nucleon system-the deutron magnetic dipole and electric quadrupole moments, non-central forces, p-p and n-n scattering at low energy, charge independence of nuclear forces and concept of iso-spin invariance.

Unit II: Nuclear Models and Fission

(i) Empirical evidence for the regularity of nuclear properties- nuclear mass and binding energy, magic numbers. The single particle shell-the average shell model potential. Multipole fields, the electromagnetic matrix elements, life time-energy relations, the Weisskopf formula of transition rate, nuclear isomerism, internal conversion, Zero-zero transitions.

(ii) Fission - Discovery of fission, theory of fission, energy release, criticality of a reactor and four factor formula, types of fuels and types of reactors, breeder reactor or neutron cycle in a thermal nuclear reactor.

Unit III: Nuclear Interaction

(i) Weak interactions: nuclear beta decay, the neutrino, electron capture experimental information, Fermi and Gammow Teller transitions, Fermi Theory, selection rules (non-relativistic case only). Mass of neutrino, parity violation.

(ii) The strong interaction: strength of strong interaction, nuclear and particle resonances i.e. introduction of resonance states in high energy particle interactions. Alpha decay and barrier penetration and related experimental information. Selection rules of strong interaction. Introduction of SU(3) symmetry.

Unit IV: Introduction of Particles and Conservation Laws

Introduction of Electron, alpha particles, photon, positron, neutron neutrino and the muons. Baryons and leptopns, Discovery of pion and its characteristics, deltas, strangeness and kaons etc, lambda and other hyperons. Introduction of charge conjugation, space parity and Gellman Nishijima scheme. Patron, quark: model-quark and gluons, quark composition of baryons and mesons J/ψ particle W and Z-particles and Higgs. Emphasis should be given on experimental discoveries and conservation laws while introducing the particles and resonances.

Unit V: Passage of radiation in matter

(i) The introduction of neutron and gamma radiation with matter: related effects and Laws, passage of charged particles through matter, energy loss by collision, energy loss by radiative processes, absorption of electromagnetic radiation. Experimental studies-multipole coulomb scattering, range-energy curve straggling, capture and loss, stopping power for heavy ions, concept of radiation safety.

(ii) Nuclear techniques-Tandem, electrostatic generator Linear accelerator-drift tube accelarators, orbital accelerators-cyclotrons, the synchro cyclotron, bending and focussing magnets- the magnetic spectrometer. Production of high energy neutrons.

Detectors-Inoization Chamber technique, G.M. Counter, scintillation detector, Emulsions, neutron detectors.

Reference Books:

  1. Elements of Nuclear Physics by W.E. Burcham, published by Longman 1979
  2. Nuclear Physics by Erving Kaplan
  3. Introductory Nuclear Physics by Kenneth S. Krane
  4. Concepts of Nuclear Physics by B.L. Cohen
  5. Introduction to Nuclear Physics by CMH Smith
  6. Nuclear Physics by S.N. Ghoshal
  7. Introduction to High Energy Physics by Perkins