Description

Nuclear physics as a subject distinct from atomic physics could be said to date from 1896, the year that Becquerel observed that photographic plates were being fogged by an unknown radiation emanating from uranium ores. He had accidentally discovered radioactivity: the fact that some nuclei are unstable and spontaneously decay. The name was coined by Marie Curie two years later to distinguish this phenomenon from induced forms of radiation. In the years that followed, radioactivity was extensively investigated, notably by the husband and wife team of Pierre and Marie Curie, and by Rutherford and his collaborators, and it was established that there were two distinct types of radiation involved, named by Rutherford α and β rays. We know now that α rays are bound states of two protons and two neutrons (we will see later that they are the nuclei of helium atoms) and β rays are electrons. In 1900 a third type of decay was discovered by Villard that involved the emission of photons, the quanta of electromagnetic radiation, referred to in this context as γ rays. These historical names are still commonly used. Nuclear and Particle Physics: An Introduction offers a comprehensive and highly readable overview of both the theoretical and experimental areas of these fields. The text covers a very wide range of topics in particle and nuclear physics, with an emphasis on the phenomenological approach to understanding experimental data. The text covers basic concepts of nuclear and particle physics, before describing their respective phenomenologies and experimental methods. Later interprets data through models and theories, such as the standard model of particle physics, and the liquid drop and shell models of nuclear physics, and also discuss many applications of both fields. The subjects of nuclear and particle physics share a common heritage. The theoretical origins of the two fields and their reliance on quantum mechanics, as well as the evolution of their experimental techniques, provide much overlap in content. It is therefore sensible to present these two areas of physics, especially at the undergraduate level, in a unified manner. This book is intended primarily for use in a senior undergraduate course, and particularly for students who have had previous contact with quantum mechanics.