An Introduction to Nuclear Physics

This clear and concise introduction to nuclear physics provides an excellent basis for a core undergraduate course in this area. The book opens by setting nuclear physics in the context of elementary particle physics and then shows how simple models can provide an understanding of the properties of nuclei, both in their ground states and excited states, and also of the nature of nuclear reactions. The book also includes chapters on nuclear fission, its application in nuclear power reactors, the role of nuclear physics in energy production and nucleosynthesis in stars. This second edition contains several additional topics: muon-catalysed fusion, the nuclear and neutrino physics of supernovae, neutrino mass and neutrino oscillations, and the biological effects of radiation. A knowledge of basic quantum mechanics and special relativity is assumed. Appendices deal with other more specialized topics. Each chapter ends with a set of problems for which outline solutions are provided.

ISBN 0521657334   Pages 288 ISBN13 9780521657334 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher Cambridge University Press   Weight (grammes) 430 Imprint Cambridge University Press   Published in Cambridge Format Paperback   Previous ISBN 9780521319607 Publication date 22 Feb 2001   Height (mm) 228 Library of Congress QC776 .C63 2001   Width (mm) 152 DEWEY 539.7   Spine width (mm) 16 DEWEY edition DC21   Academic level Tertiary education

		Preface to the second edition
		Preface to the first edition
		Constants of nature, conversion factors and notation
		Glossary of some important symbols
1		Prologue		1
1.1		Fermions and bosons		2
1.2		The particle physicist's picture of nature		2
1.3		Conservation laws and symmetries: parity		3
1.4		Units		4
2		Leptons and the electromagnetic and weak interactions		7
2.1		The electromagnetic interaction		7
2.2		The weak interaction		9
2.3		Mean life and half life		12
2.4		Leptons		13
2.5		The instability of the heavy leptons: muon decay		15
2.6		Parity violation in muon decay		16
3		Nucleons and the strong interaction		19
3.1		Properties of the proton and the neutron		19
3.2		The quark model of nucleons		21
3.3		The nucleon-nucleon interaction: the phenomenological description		22
3.4		Mesons and the nucleon-nucleon interaction		26
3.5		The weak interaction: [beta]-decay		28
3.6		More quarks		29
3.7		The Standard Model of particle physics		31
4		Nuclear sizes and nuclear masses		33
4.1		Electron scattering by the nuclear charge distribution		33
		More...

'This clear and concise introduction to nuclear physics provide an excellent basis for a 'core' undergraduate course in this area.' Physics Courier

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