Electron Emission in Heavy Ion-Atom Collisions


Book Description

This volume reviews the theoretical and experimental work about continuous electron emission in energetic ion-atom collisions over the last 30 years. General properties of the two-center electron emission are analyzed, and particular attention is given to screening effects. The book also offers an overview of multiple ionization processes.




Introduction to Relativistic Heavy Ion Physics


Book Description

This book attempts to cover the fascinating field of physics of relativistic heavy ions, mainly from the experimentalist's point of view. After the introductory chapter on quantum chromodynamics, basic properties of atomic nuclei, sources of relativistic nuclei, and typical detector set-ups are described in three subsequent chapters. Experimental facts on collisions of relativistic heavy ions are systematically presented in 15 consecutive chapters, starting from the simplest features like cross sections, multiplicities, and spectra of secondary particles and going to more involved characteristics like correlations, various relatively rare processes, and newly discovered features: collective flow, high pT suppression and jet quenching. Some entirely new topics are included, such as the difference between neutron and proton radii in nuclei, heavy hypernuclei, and electromagnetic effects on secondary particle spectra.Phenomenological approaches and related simple models are discussed in parallel with the presentation of experimental data. Near the end of the book, recent ideas about the new state of matter created in collisions of ultrarelativistic nuclei are discussed. In the final chapter, some predictions are given for nuclear collisions in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), now in construction at the site of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneva. Finally, the appendix gives us basic notions of relativistic kinematics, and lists the main international conferences related to this field. A concise reference book on physics of relativistic heavy ions, it shows the present status of this field.




Introduction to the Theory of Heavy-Ion Collisions


Book Description

With the advent of heavy-ion reactions, nuclear physics has acquired a new frontier. The new heavy-ion sources operating at electrostatic accelerators and the high-energy experiments performed at Berkeley, Dubna, Manchester and Orsay, have opened up the field, and have shown us impressive new prospects. The new accelerators now under construction at Berlin, Daresbury and Darmstadt, as well as those under consideration (GANIL, Oak Ridge, etc. ) are expected to add significantly to our knowledge and understanding of nuclear properties. This applies not only to such exotic topics as the existence and lifetimes of superheavy elements, or the possibil ity of shock waves in nuclei, but also to such more mundane issues as high-spin states, new regions of deformed nuclei and friction forces. The field promises not only to produce a rich variety of interesting phenomena, but also to have wide-spread theoretical implications. Heavy-ion reactions are characterized by the large masses of the fragments, as well as the high total energy and the large total angular momentum typically involved in the collision. A purely quantum-mechanical description of such a collision process may be too complicated to be either possible or inter esting. We expect and, in some cases,know that the classical limit, the limit of geometrical optics, a quantum-statistical or a hydrodynamical description correctly account for typical features.




Physics of Atoms and Ions


Book Description

Intended for advanced students of physics, chemistry and related disciplines, this text treats the quantum theory of atoms and ions within the framework of self-consistent fields. Data needed for the analysis of collisions and other atomic processes are also included.




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.




X-rays in Atomic and Nuclear Physics


Book Description

This book deals with the methods of X-ray production at a level which is accessible to advanced undergraduates and researchers who use X-rays. It also discusses the fundamentals of these physical properties from an experimental viewpoint which is not covered in more specialised texts.




An Assessment of U.S.-Based Electron-Ion Collider Science


Book Description

Understanding of protons and neutrons, or "nucleons"â€"the building blocks of atomic nucleiâ€"has advanced dramatically, both theoretically and experimentally, in the past half century. A central goal of modern nuclear physics is to understand the structure of the proton and neutron directly from the dynamics of their quarks and gluons governed by the theory of their interactions, quantum chromodynamics (QCD), and how nuclear interactions between protons and neutrons emerge from these dynamics. With deeper understanding of the quark-gluon structure of matter, scientists are poised to reach a deeper picture of these building blocks, and atomic nuclei themselves, as collective many-body systems with new emergent behavior. The development of a U.S. domestic electron-ion collider (EIC) facility has the potential to answer questions that are central to completing an understanding of atoms and integral to the agenda of nuclear physics today. This study assesses the merits and significance of the science that could be addressed by an EIC, and its importance to nuclear physics in particular and to the physical sciences in general. It evaluates the significance of the science that would be enabled by the construction of an EIC, its benefits to U.S. leadership in nuclear physics, and the benefits to other fields of science of a U.S.-based EIC.




Heavy Ion Reactions


Book Description

Combining elastic and inelastic processes with transfer reactions, this two-part volume explores how these events affect heavy ion collisions. Special attention is given to processes involving the transfer of two nucleons, which are specific for probing pairing correlations in nuclei. This novel treatment provides, together with the description of surface vibration and rotations, a unified picture of heavy ion reactions in terms of the elementary modes of nuclear excitation. Heavy Ion Reactions is essential reading for beginning graduate students as well as experienced researchers.




Atomic Physics with Heavy Ions


Book Description

This book is devoted to one of the most active domains of atomic physic- atomic physics of heavy positive ions. During the last 30 years, this terrain has attracted enormous attention from both experimentalists and theoreti cians. On the one hand, this interest is stimulated by rapid progress in the development of laboratory ion sources, storage rings, ion traps and methods for ion cooling. In many laboratories, a considerable number of complex and accurate experiments have been initiated, challenging new frontiers. Highly charged ions are used for investigations related to fundamental research and to more applied fields such as controlled nuclear fusion driven by heavy ions and its diagnostics, ion-surface interaction, physics of hollow atoms, x-ray lasers, x-ray spectroscopy, spectrometry of ions in storage rings and ion traps, biology, and medical therapy. On the other hand, the new technologies have stimulated elaborate theo retical investigations, especially in developing QED theory, relativistic many body techniques, plasma-kinetic modeling based on the Coulomb interactions of highly charged ions with photons and various atomic particles - electrons, atoms, molecules and ions. The idea of assembling this book matured while the editors were writ ing another book, X-Ray Radiation of Highly Charged Ions by H. F. Beyer, H. -J. Kluge and V. P. Shevelko (Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg 1997) covering a broad range of x-ray and other radiative phenomena central to atomic physics with heavy ions.




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.