Physics Of Atomic Nuclei

This advanced textbook presents an extensive and diverse study of low-energy nuclear physics considering the nucleus as a quantum system of strongly interacting constituents. The contents guide students from the basic facts and ideas to more modern topics including important developments over the last 20 years, resulting in a comprehensive collection of major modern-day nuclear models otherwise unavailable in the current literature. The book emphasizes the common features of the nucleus and other many-body mesoscopic systems currently in the center of interest in physics. The authors have also included full problem sets that can be selected by lecturers and adjusted to specific interests for more advanced students, with many chapters containing links to freely available computer code. As a result, readers are equipped for scientific work in mesoscopic physics.

Unravelling the Mystery of the Atomic Nucleus is a history of atomic and nuclear physics. It begins in 1896 with the discovery of radioactivity, which leads to the discovery of the nucleus at the center of the atom. It follows the experimental discoveries and the theoretical developments up to the end of the Fifties. Unlike previous books regarding on history of nuclear physics, this book methodically describes how advances in technology enabled physicists to probe the physical properties of nuclei as well as how the physical laws which govern these microscopic systems were progressively discovered. The reader will gain a clear understanding of how theory is inextricably intertwined with the progress of technology. Unravelling the Mystery of the Atomic Nucleus will be of interest to physicists and to historians of physics, as well as those interested development of science.

This is a study of atomic nuclei, the properties of which find applications in diverse fields such as medicine and the generation of nuclear power.; The explanations of nuclear structure and nuclear reactions in terms of constituent particles led to the discovery of new unstable particles culminating in the unified theory of electromagnetic and weak-nuclear interactions.; In this new edition the author has updated the information and included a section on the relevance of recent discoveries to cosmology. Advances in accelerator and detector technology are noted and there is an account of nuclear reactions. Mathematical material is mostly to be found in the appendices.; This book may be used as a first student text for courses in nuclear physics.

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.

The present text grew out of a number of lecture courses for advanced under graduate and new graduate students in nuclear physics. They were given at summer schools in Leuven, Melbourne, and at study weeks for Dutch grad uate students which aimed to emphasize fundamental and topical aspects of nuclear physics. On occasion, part of the present text was presented to stu dents from a much wider field than just nuclear physics and also within a number of general physics colloquia, where, in addition to nuclear physicists, physicists from many other fields were present. In this respect, the intention is to present, in an amply illustrated form, the key quest ions that arise in nuclear physics. At the same time we try to show why a better understanding of the atomic nucleus is not only important in itself, but also yields essential insights into the many connections to other fields of physics. We thus concen trate on the unifying themes rather than addressing in great detail particular subfields of nuclear physics. The present project does not aim to be another comprehensive textbook on nuclear physics: Many of the detailed technical arguments that enter into the picture are not developed here as they would be in a more standard textbook. Instead they are presented using analogies, quite often with simple pictures and arguments that try to convey the general line of thinking and working in nuclear physics.

Relativity plays an important role in atomic nuclei, and, since the early 1970s, there has been increasing interest in, and literature on, the nucleus as a relativistic system. In fact, the relativistic treatment provides a powerful method to describe nuclear structure and reactions. It is thus an ideal time to collect and review the important landmarks in this book. Directed to advanced students and researchers, it explains both the underlying relativistic theory and compares predictions with actual experiments.