Many Body Description Of Nuclear Structure And Reactions

An expert and illuminating review of the leading models of nuclear structure: effective field theories based on quantum chromodynamics; ab initio models based on Monte Carlo methods employing effective nucleon-nucleon interactions; diagonalization and the Monto Carlo shell model; non-relativistic and relativistic mean-field theory and its extensions; and symmetry-dictated approaches. Theoretical advances in major areas of nuclear structure are discussed: nuclei far from stability and radioactive ion beams; gamma ray spectroscopy; nuclear astrophysics and electroweak interactions in nuclei; electron scattering; nuclear superconductivity; superheavy elements. The interdisciplinary aspects of the many-body problem are also discussed. Recent experimental data are examined in light of state-of-the-art calculations. Recent advances in several broad areas of theoretical structure are covered, making the book ideal as a supplementary textbook.

In the present volume, Phillip J. Siemens, who has been a seminal contributor to our understanding of the nucleus as a many-body system, and his able collabourator, Aksel S. Jensen, introduce graduate students and colleagues in other fields to the basic concepts of nuclear physics in a way which connects clearly the methods of nuclear physics with those of condensed matter, atomic, and particle physics. Their book thus provides a lucid introduction to the key facts and concepts of nuclei, including many of the most recent developments, while emphasizing the similarities and the differences between the behaviour of nuclei, atoms, elementary particles, and condensed matter, It should thus prove useful, not only as a text for an introductory graduate course in nuclear physics, but as a reference book for all scientists interested in a unified picture of our understanding of physical phenomena associated with many-body systems.

This volume is an outcome or a SERC School on the nuclear physics on the theme ?Nuclear Structure?. The topics covered are nuclear many-body theory and effective interaction, collective model and microscopic aspects of nuclear structure with emphasis on details of technique and methodology by a group of working nuclear physicists who have adequate expertise through decades of experience and are generally well known in their respective fieldsThis book will be quite useful to the beginners as well as to the specialists in the field of nuclear structure physics.

Nuclei and nuclear reactions offer a unique setting for investigating three (and in some cases even all four) of the fundamental forces in nature. Nuclei have been shown – mainly by performing scattering experiments with electrons, muons and neutrinos – to be extended objects with complex internal structures: constituent quarks; gluons, whose exchange binds the quarks together; sea-quarks, the ubiquitous virtual quark-antiquark pairs and last but not least, clouds of virtual mesons, surrounding an inner nuclear region, their exchange being the source of the nucleon-nucleon interaction. The interplay between the (mostly attractive) hadronic nucleon-nucleon interaction and the repulsive Coulomb force is responsible for the existence of nuclei; their degree of stability, expressed in the details and limits of the chart of nuclides; their rich structure and the variety of their interactions. Despite the impressive successes of the classical nuclear models and of ab-initio approaches, there is clearly no end in sight for either theoretical or experimental developments as shown e.g. by the recent need to introduce more sophisticated three-body interactions to account for an improved picture of nuclear structure and reactions. Yet, it turns out that the internal structure of the nucleons has comparatively little influence on the behavior of the nucleons in nuclei and nuclear physics – especially nuclear structure and reactions – is thus a field of science in its own right, without much recourse to subnuclear degrees of freedom. This book collects essential material that was presented in the form of lectures notes in nuclear physics courses for graduate students at the University of Cologne. It follows the course's approach, conveying the subject matter by combining experimental facts and experimental methods and tools with basic theoretical knowledge. Emphasis is placed on the importance of spin and orbital angular momentum (leading e.g. to applications in energy research, such as fusion with polarized nuclei) and on the operational definition of observables in nuclear physics. The end-of-chapter problems serve above all to elucidate and detail physical ideas that could not be presented in full detail in the main text. Readers are assumed to have a working knowledge of quantum mechanics and a basic grasp of both non-relativistic and relativistic kinematics; the latter in particular is a prerequisite for interpreting nuclear reactions and the connections to particle and high-energy physics.

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.

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