Contemporary Research Topics in Nuclear Physics


Book Description

This volume contains the proceedings of a workshop held at Drexel University from September 1 to September 3, 1980, under the joint auspices of Drexel University, The University of Tennessee and Vanderbilt University. The workshop dealt with subjects of topical importance to the nuclear physics community: high spin phenomena, heavy ion reactions, transfer reactions, microscopic theories of nuclear structure and the interacting boson model, and miscellaneous topics. This pro ceedings contains all of the invited papers plus short manuscripts expanding on the materials of the invited papers. A total of about 85 participants came to the workshop. The format of the conference was kept informal on purpose, so as to facilitate the discussions. Unfortunately, these discussions, at times intense, could not be included in this volume due to the lack of secretarial help during the meeting. A great deal of current information was exchanged during the conference. However, the full impact of a conference can only be realized when the proceedings have been published and read by par ticipants as well as other colleagues in this field of physics who were not in attendance. We sincerely hope that these proceedings will be useful in this regard.




Nuclear Physics


Book Description

The principal goals of the study were to articulate the scientific rationale and objectives of the field and then to take a long-term strategic view of U.S. nuclear science in the global context for setting future directions for the field. Nuclear Physics: Exploring the Heart of Matter provides a long-term assessment of an outlook for nuclear physics. The first phase of the report articulates the scientific rationale and objectives of the field, while the second phase provides a global context for the field and its long-term priorities and proposes a framework for progress through 2020 and beyond. In the second phase of the study, also developing a framework for progress through 2020 and beyond, the committee carefully considered the balance between universities and government facilities in terms of research and workforce development and the role of international collaborations in leveraging future investments. Nuclear physics today is a diverse field, encompassing research that spans dimensions from a tiny fraction of the volume of the individual particles (neutrons and protons) in the atomic nucleus to the enormous scales of astrophysical objects in the cosmos. Nuclear Physics: Exploring the Heart of Matter explains the research objectives, which include the desire not only to better understand the nature of matter interacting at the nuclear level, but also to describe the state of the universe that existed at the big bang. This report explains how the universe can now be studied in the most advanced colliding-beam accelerators, where strong forces are the dominant interactions, as well as the nature of neutrinos.




Modern Nuclear Physics


Book Description

This textbook is a unique and ambitious primer of nuclear physics, which introduces recent theoretical and experimental progresses starting from basics in fundamental quantum mechanics. The highlight is to offer an overview of nuclear structure phenomena relevant to recent key findings such as unstable halo nuclei, superheavy elements, neutron stars, nucleosynthesis, the standard model, lattice quantum chromodynamics (LQCD), and chiral effective theory. An additional attraction is that general properties of nuclei are comprehensively explained from both the theoretical and experimental viewpoints. The book begins with the conceptual and mathematical basics of quantum mechanics, and goes into the main point of nuclear physics – nuclear structure, radioactive ion beam physics, and nuclear reactions. The last chapters devote interdisciplinary topics in association with astrophysics and particle physics. A number of illustrations and exercises with complete solutions are given. Each chapter is comprehensively written starting from fundamentals to gradually reach modern aspects of nuclear physics with the objective to provide an effective description of the cutting edge in the field.




Nuclear Physics


Book Description

Dramatic progress has been made in all branches of physics since the National Research Council's 1986 decadal survey of the field. The Physics in a New Era series explores these advances and looks ahead to future goals. The series includes assessments of the major subfields and reports on several smaller subfields, and preparation has begun on an overview volume on the unity of physics, its relationships to other fields, and its contributions to national needs. Nuclear Physics is the latest volume of the series. The book describes current activity in understanding nuclear structure and symmetries, the behavior of matter at extreme densities, the role of nuclear physics in astrophysics and cosmology, and the instrumentation and facilities used by the field. It makes recommendations on the resources needed for experimental and theoretical advances in the coming decade.




Basic Ideas and Concepts in Nuclear Physics, An Introductory Approach


Book Description

This book proposal was originally forwarded from Andrew Durnell in 1991. It is different to the competition in style, progressing logically from general nuclear properties to nuclear structure, and in content, choosing to treat the major topics in sufficient depth for the student to obtain further understanding. The logical approach, linking general nuclear properties and nuclear structure is a benefit. The careful selection of topics, well-chosen illustrations, box features containing recent research examples and results, and tested problems, together provide a complete introduction to the major concepts and ideas required to understand nuclear physics. The author is careful throughout to keep nuclear physics in context with other disciplines, and to present the subject area as dynamic and interesting, through the use of box features. Series Editor Comment "advanced text suitable for final year courses and for introductory postgraduate studies" (Hamilton) "the range and depth of cover appear ideal and Heyde's approach is excellent ... a good teacher and text follows very much his style ... he also looks forward to the frontiers ... important in a (post) graduate text ... a student can see where his own particular topic may fit in ... many texts are far removed from research ... wealth and choice of figures ... good diagrams can do a lot for a text ... level of mathematics will ensure that it can be widely used"




New Trends in Nuclear Science


Book Description

This book will hopefully shed light on some of the advances taking place within nuclear science research in recent times. It describes the interesting results of some modern nuclear science research carried out by bright scientists and researchers in different parts of the world. The book is divided into five chapters. The first one is an introductory chapter to explain the nature and purpose of the book and the logic and significance of its contents. The second chapter is a concise introduction to the core subject of nuclear science, which is the nuclear reactions. This chapter also touches on the fundamental and basic physics underlining major nuclear reactions. Chapter three addresses some recent advances related to the famous nuclear detector material namely CdTe. The authors suggest that the modern detector based on CdTe materials can be developed as a multi-element detection platform that allows for the direct conversion of information generated by passing X/y-radiations through an examined object into an array of digital electrical signals without using an intermediate visible image on a fluorescent screen. In chapter four, a new study on the effect of unintended and accidental nuclear impact on the environment is discussed. In the last chapter, Thomas W. Grimshaw; from The University of Texas at Austin, USA; has composed an interesting study on the so-called cold nuclear fusion or the more widely known low energy nuclear reaction (LENR). He, among others, argues that nuclear cold fusion, if realized and understood, could be a significant source of cheap and clean energy. This book will hopefully encourage readers, researchers, and scientists to look further into the frontier topics of modern nuclear science and make the needed efforts to develop its cause and uses.




Fundamentals of Nuclear Physics


Book Description

This book introduces the current understanding of the fundamentals of nuclear physics by referring to key experimental data and by providing a theoretical understanding of principal nuclear properties. It primarily covers the structure of nuclei at low excitation in detail. It also examines nuclear forces and decay properties. In addition to fundamentals, the book treats several new research areas such as non-relativistic as well as relativistic Hartree–Fock calculations, the synthesis of super-heavy elements, the quantum chromodynamics phase diagram, and nucleosynthesis in stars, to convey to readers the flavor of current research frontiers in nuclear physics. The authors explain semi-classical arguments and derivation of its formulae. In these ways an intuitive understanding of complex nuclear phenomena is provided. The book is aimed at graduate school students as well as junior and senior undergraduate students and postdoctoral fellows. It is also useful for researchers to update their knowledge of diverse fields of nuclear structure. The book explains how basic physics such as quantum mechanics and statistical physics, as well as basic physical mathematics, is used to describe nuclear phenomena. A number of questions are given from place to place as supplements to the text.




Particles and Nuclei


Book Description

The fourth edition includes new developments, in particular a new section on the double beta decay including a discussion of the possibility of a neutrinoless decay and its implications for the standard model.




Nuclear Physics of Stars


Book Description

Most elements are synthesized, or "cooked", by thermonuclear reactions in stars. The newly formed elements are released into the interstellar medium during a star's lifetime, and are subsequently incorporated into a new generation of stars, into the planets that form around the stars, and into the life forms that originate on the planets. Moreover, the energy we depend on for life originates from nuclear reactions that occur at the center of the Sun. Synthesis of the elements and nuclear energy production in stars are the topics of nuclear astrophysics, which is the subject of this book. It presents nuclear structure and reactions, thermonuclear reaction rates, experimental nuclear methods, and nucleosynthesis in detail. These topics are discussed in a coherent way, enabling the reader to grasp their interconnections intuitively. The book serves both as a textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, with worked examples and end-of-chapter excercises, but also as a reference book for use by researchers working in the field of nuclear astrophysics.




Modern Atomic and Nuclear Physics


Book Description

"The textbook itself is the culmination of the authors' many years of teaching and research in atomic physics, nuclear and particle physics, and modern physics. It is also a crystallization of their intense passion and strong interest in the history of physics and the philosophy of science. Together with the solution manual which presents solutions to many end-of-chapter problems in the textbook, they are a valuable resource to the instructors and students working in the modern atomic field."--Publisher's website.