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Outline:

This is a module which introduces nuclei and particles. It outlines their properties and explores the nature of the forces between them. Although self-contained the module provides the groundwork for fourth-year modules in nuclear and particle physics.

Aims:

The aim of the module is to provide an introduction to the physical concepts of nuclear and particle physics and the experimental techniques which they use.

Intended Learning Outcomes:

Students should be able to

• Understand the fundamental particles and forces of the Standard Model and their associated quantum numbers.
• Solve basic kinematic problems in particle interactions.
• Represent particle interactions as Feynman diagrams.
• Describe the various methods of measuring particle interactions and experimental techniques used to investigate particle physics.
• Understand and apply the models of nuclear phenomenology to observations of the structure and properties of nuclei.
• Describe and solve problems for the different types of decay.
• Describe the main aspects of fission and fusion as energy sources.

Teaching and Learning Methodology:

This module is delivered via weekly lectures supplemented by a series of workshops and additional discussion.

In addition to timetabled lecture hours, it is expected that students engage in self-study in order to master the material. This can take the form, for example, of practicing example questions and further reading in textbooks and online.

Indicative Topics:

1. Basic Ideas . History; the standard model; relativity and antiparticles; particle reactions; Feynman diagrams; particle exchange – range of forces; Yukawa potential; the scattering amplitude; cross-sections; unstable particles; units: length, mass and energy

2. Leptons, Quarks and Hadrons. Lepton multiplets; lepton numbers; neutrinos; neutrino mixing and oscillations; universal lepton interactions; numbers of neutrinos; evidence for quarks; properties of quarks; quark numbers; hadrons; flavour independence and hadron multiplets

3. Experimental Methods. Overview; accelerators; beams; particle interactions with matter (short-range interactions with nuclei, ionisation energy losses, radiation energy losses, interactions of photons in matter); particle detectors (time resolution: scintillation counters, measurement of position, measurement of momentum, particle identification, energy measurements: calorimeters, layered detectors); detection of cosmic rays; reconstruction and analysis

4. Quark Interactions: QCD and Colour. Colour; quantum chromodynamics (QCD); the strong coupling constant; asymptotic freedom; jets and gluons; colour counting; deep inelastic scattering: nucleon structure

5. Electroweak Interactions. Charged and neutral currents; symmetries of the weak interaction; spin structure of the weak interactions; neutral K- and B-mesons; mixing and CP violation; matter/anti -matter asymmetry in the universe; bosons; weak interactions of hadrons; neutral currents and the unified theory; The Higgs boson and its discovery

6. Nuclear Phenomenology. Notation; mass and binding energies; nuclear forces; shapes and sizes; liquid drop model: semi-empirical mass formula; nuclear stability; β–decay: phenomenology; α–decay; fission; γ-decay

7. Structure of Nuclei. Fermi gas model; the shell model: basic ideas; spins, parities and magnetic moments in the shell model; excited states in the shell model; collective model; β-decay; Fermi theory; electron momentum distribution; Kurie plots and the neutrino mass

8. Fission and Fusion. Induced fission – fissile materials; fission chain reactions; power from nuclear fission: nuclear reactors; nuclear fusion: Coulomb barrier; stellar fusion; fusion reactors