Nuclear Physics Checklist

Georges Chahni
*with reference to Peter Jones’ and Dominik Stajkowski’s Notes

May 2022

Contents
1 Overview 3
1.1 Useful Constants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

2 Nuclear radius 4

3 Mass 4
3.1 AMU and the Mass of Neutral 12 C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.2 Reduced Mass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3.3 Equations for Calculating Atomic weights and Abundances . . 4

4 Parity Orbital Momentum Relationship 4

4.1 Spin-Parity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

5 Nuclear shell model and Spectroscopic Notation 5

6 Binding Energy 6
6.1 Q-Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
6.2 Mass Excess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
6.3 Nuclear force range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
6.4 Deuteron Binding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
6.5 Coulomb Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
6.6 The Semi-Empirical Mass Formula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
6.6.1 Coulomb term . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
6.6.2 Symmetry term . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

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7 Decay Modes 9
7.1 Alpha Decay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
7.2 Internal Decay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
7.2.1 Internal Conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
7.2.2 Gamma Ray(γ) Emission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
7.2.3 Pair Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
7.3 Weak Decay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
7.3.1 Beta Minus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
7.3.2 Beta Plus and Electron Capture . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

8 Decay Calculations 12
8.1 Universal Decay Law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
8.2 Half Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
8.3 Decay with a Constant production Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

9 Nuclear Fission 13
9.1 Fissile vs Fissionable Nuclides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
9.2 Reaction Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
9.3 Energy Dependence of n-induced Cross Section . . . . . . . . 13
9.4 Neutron Moderation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
9.5 Reactor Kinetics Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
9.5.1 Delayed Neutrons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

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1 Overview
Table 1

Quantum num- Description Relations

ber
n Principle quantum number indi- None
cating the ”shell” number.
l Orbital angular momentum |ml | ≤ l
which can have the values of not restricted by n
l=0,1,2,3..., corresponding to s,
p, d, f... orbital accordingly.
s Spin of a particle, s = 21 for pro- ms = ±s
tons and neutrons.
j Total angular momentum of the j =l±s
particle. holds 2j+1 nucleons
ms The projection of the spin, S, of a ms = ±s
particle on the measurement axis.
ml The projection of l on the quanti- |ml | ≤ l
zation axis, ie.: the component of
l on the axis of measurement.
mj The projection of the total angu- mj = ms + ml
lar momentum on the measure-
ment axis.

1.1 Useful Constants

The following constants come up alot in Nuclear Physics and it is useful to
keep them handy: The fine structure constant is:
e2 1
= (1)
4πϵ0 h̄c 137

h̄c = 197 M eV f m (2)

The unit of cross sections is barns where 1b = 10−28 m2 .

3
2 Nuclear radius
The Nuclear radius scales to a good extent via the following relationship:
1
R ≈ 1.2A 3 (3)

3 Mass
12
3.1 AMU and the Mass of Neutral C
The atomic mass unit (u) is defined as 1/12th of the mass of a 12
C atom. In
this respect, the mass of 12 C in the ground state is 12u.

3.2 Reduced Mass

It is sometimes useful and simpler in Nuclear Physics to use a quantity called
the Reduced Mass for calculations. It is represented by the following:

Mm
µ= (4)
M +m
These are helpful in two body collisions where using the reduced mass
decreases the number of unknowns.

3.3 Equations for Calculating Atomic weights and Abun-

dances
Use a weighted average smh.

4 Parity Orbital Momentum Relationship

Parity is related to the symmetry of the wavefunctions of the nucleons. Posi-
tive/even parity implies symmetry upon reflection and negative the opposite.
This
Y
π= (−1)l = (−1)lp (−1)ln (5)

4
4.1 Spin-Parity
In all ground state even-even nuclei the spin-parity is 0+ .
For odd-even or even-odd nuclei, the spin-parity is determined by the
unpaired nucleon.
For odd and odd nuclei, use J-J coupling |jp − jn | ≤ J ≤ |jp + jn |.

5 Nuclear shell model and Spectroscopic No-

tation
The nuclear shell model varies slightly from atomic spectroscopic notation
in that it also includes notations for the spin at a given level. The first six
levels are:

1s21 1p43 1p21 1d65 2s21 1d43 (6)

2 2 2 2 2 2

The number of Nucleons in a give level are then 2j + 1 where j = s + l

with the magic numbers being 2, 8, 20, 28, 50, 82 and 126.

Figure 1: Well with Labelled Energy levels

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6 Binding Energy
Nuclear binding energy is the energy required to separate an atomic nucleus
completely into its constituent protons and neutrons.

BE = (Z.M (1 H) + N.mn − M (Z, N )) × c2 (7)

6.1 Q-Values
Qvalue = (initial mass–f inal mass) ∗ c2 (8)
The reaction is endo/exothermic depending on the Q-value, very similar to
∆H in chemical reactions except Q-values are Reactants - Products.

6.2 Mass Excess

The mass excess is then the associated mass difference between the actual
mass of the nucleus and the number of nucleons it contains.

∆M = M (Z, N ) − A.u (9)

Remember that u is based on the mass of Carbon-12 and so it has no mass

excess (3.1).

6.3 Nuclear force range

The range of the nuclear force is bound by Heisenbergs Uncertainty Principle:
h̄
∆E∆t ≥ (10)
2
We can estimate the distance as c∆t and use energy mass equivalence to
get:

∆E = mπ c2 = 140M eV (11)
h̄c 197M eV.f m
d ≈ c∆t ≈ = ≈ 1f m (12)
2∆E 2 × 140M eV

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6.4 Deuteron Binding
The Strong Force is spin dependent and having a di-proton or di-nucleon in
such a state would violate Pauli’s exlcusion principle.

6.5 Coulomb Energy

The energy required for a nucleon to overcome the Coulomb barrier with
reference to reduced mass (4) is:

1 Z1 Z2 e2
Eα = µv 2 = (13)
2 4πϵ0 r

6.6 The Semi-Empirical Mass Formula

2/3Z(Z − 1) (A − 2Z)2
BE(M eV ) = 15.56A − 17.23A − 0.6 − 23.28 −δ
A1/3 A
Equation 6.6 is the semi-empirical mass formula; the following sections will
describe some of its terms and roughly where they came from.

6.6.1 Coulomb term

To derive the Coulomb term, one must model bringing in a shell of charge
Ze
dq towards a nucleus of charge q with charge density ρ = 4 3 . We know
3
πr
that q is then ρ ∗ V = ρ ∗ 43 πr3 . It follows that dq = ρ4πr2 dr. Plugging this
into the equation 13 for electric/coulomb potential, we get:

qdq ρ ∗ 43 πr3 ∗ ρ4πr2 dr

dU = = (14)
4πϵ0 r 4πϵ0 r
Integrating then gives:
r=R
4πρ2 R5
Z
⇒ drU (r) = (15)
0 15ϵ0
and subsituting for ρ gives:

3Z 2 e2
U= (16)
20πϵ0 R

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 Z2
This tells us that the coulomb term, U, is proportional to and from
R
Z2
equation 3 we can deduce that U ≈ 1 . Charge is quantized within a
1.2A 3
nucleus though, and so Z 2 can be represented as Z(Z − 1) leaving us with
the following approximation for the coulomb term:

Z(Z − 1)
U≈ 1 (17)
A3

6.6.2 Symmetry term

For nuclei with constant A, there appears to be an energy penalty for asym-
metry in the numbers of protons and neutrons stemming from a shift in the
nucleus’ PE.
This can be deduced by modelling the nucleus as a potential well starting
with an equal amount of Neutrons and Protons that looks like figure .

(a) Well with symmetrically aligned Pro-

(b) Well with Neutrons occupying two
tons and Neutrons.
levels above the Protons.

The energy cost associated with moving one nucleon up and energy level
would be ∆E. Moving two up by one energy level would entail 2∗∆E, and to
move the further pair up by what is now three energy levels in order to acquire
the configuration seen in figure 2b would involve a total of (2 + 6) ∗ ∆E. The
pattern here is:
1 N −Z 2
( )
2 2
8
.
We know that N = A − Z and so we get:

(A − 2Z)2
(18)
A
I dont want to explain more tbh, find out some other way, the above term
looks enough like the symmetry term. Idk where the denominator A came
from.

7 Decay Modes
Q-Values from 6.1 come in handy here.

7.1 Alpha Decay

Alpha Decay occurs when a Nucleus splits to form a nuclide and an alpha
particle. The Q-value for this is then split between the daughter nuclide and
alpha particle. To calculate the energy of the alpha particle, we can use a
mix of energy conservation and momentum conservation as seen below:

Q = Ed + Eα (KE)

and

Palpha = Pd
Using the momentum and KE relationship, we then get:

Ed P 2 2mα
= d ∗ 2
Eα 2md Pα

We know that the two momenta are equal and are thus left with:
Ed mα
=
Eα md
Subsituting into the Energy Conservation equation gives:
mα
Q = Eα + Eα
md

9
 ⇒

Some algebra then gives us an equation for the energy of an alpha particle:
 
md
Eα = Q (19)
md + mα

7.2 Internal Decay

There are several modes of internal decay that occur and the energetics of
the system determines which of them is preferential/dominates.

7.2.1 Internal Conversion

Internal conversion involves an excited nucleus interacting with electrons in
the k-shell resulting in the electron being emmitted from the atom. The
energy of the electron is Ee = ∆E − BEe where the binding energy is that
of the electron in the atom.Typically happens at low energies on the order of
magnitude of ∆E < 100KeV for nuclei with large proton numbers as these
exert a higher coulomb attraction on the lower shell electrons, and a high
∆J.

7.2.2 Gamma Ray(γ) Emission

The name is pretty self-explanatory. This occurs at relatively intermediate
energies where 100KeV < ∆E < 2M eV and when ∆J = 1 or 2.

7.2.3 Pair Production

This mode of internal decay involves the production of an electron-positron
pair but only occurs at high energies when ∆E >> 2me− = 1.022M eV .

7.3 Weak Decay

There are three main forms of Weak Decay and figure 3 helps visualize the
different forms of it.

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Figure 3: Graph of BE vs Z showing occurence of different forms of Weak
Decays

7.3.1 Beta Minus

β − decay occurs when
n → p + e− + ν¯e (20)
The Q-Value can be calculated using: Qβ − = [M (N, Z)−M (N −1, Z +1)]c2 .

7.3.2 Beta Plus and Electron Capture

These two decay modes both decrease the proton number and thus tend to
compete. They are related via:

Qβ + = QEC − 2me c2

If QEC < 2me c2 then Qβ + would be negative and only Electron capture would
occur.

Beta Plus tends to dominate for lighter nuclei and involves the following
reaction:
p → n + e + + νe (21)
The Q-Value can be calculated using: Qβ + = [M (N, Z) − M (N + 1, Z − 1) −
2me ]c2 The rest mass of two electrons is subtracted due to the annihilation
that occurs between the emitted positron and some random electron.

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 Electron Capture is more prevalent in relatively heavier nuclei, i.e.
those with A > 150. This occurs because the k-shell is pulled closer to the
nucleus via a stronger Coulomb force.

p + e− → n + νe (22)
The Q-Value can be calculated using: QEC = [M (N, Z) − M (N + 1, Z −
1)]c2 .

8 Decay Calculations
8.1 Universal Decay Law
The universal decay law models strict decay:

N (t) = N (0)exp(−λt) (23)

Figure out what the variables are or leave the course.

8.2 Half Life

The half life can be calculated using the following relationship:

ln2
t1 = (24)
2 λ

8.3 Decay with a Constant production Rate

Say you are producing a given element F at a constant rate R, but element F
dNF
has a decay constant associated with it. For this process, = R − λNF .
dt
1 N (t)
Integrating this gives: t]t0 = − (ln[R − λNF ])0 F . Simplifying yields the
λ
decay equation for a constant production rate:

R
NF (t) = [1 − exp(−λt)] (25)
λ

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9 Nuclear Fission
Nuclear fission is not a main decay process for nuclei and often competes
with α Decay in which the latter commonly wins. Only a small number of
nuclei undergo fission.

9.1 Fissile vs Fissionable Nuclides

There is an Activation Energy for fission to occur. If the binding energy
is greater than the AE, fission can occur with the addition of a 0 energy
Neutron, and the nucleus is called fissile.
If BE < AE, then a neutron with an associated KE must be added to induce
fission and the nucleus is called Fissionable.

9.2 Reaction Rate

The fission cross section is defined as:
RF
σF = (26)
Nϕ
Where:

• σF is the fission cross section [L]2 ,

• RF is the reaction rate,

• N is the number of nuclei,

• ϕ is the neutron flux and is equivalent to the average neutron velocity

multiplied by the density of neutrons[L]−2 [T ]−1 .

This is commonly written out as:

R = N σϕ (27)

9.3 Energy Dependence of n-induced Cross Section

Equation 26 tells us that the cross section is inversely proportional to velocity.
1
We know that velocity is proportional to √ and so we can deduce that
KE

13
the cross section is inversely proportional to the reciprocal of the square root
of the neutron energy:

1
σF = √ (28)
E
This equation does not take into account the resonances that occur due
to unbound/ virtual energy levels seen in figure 4.

Figure 4: Graph of Fission Cross Sections vs Neutron Energy

9.4 Neutron Moderation

Figure 4 shows us that lower energy/ slower neutrons generally correspond
to a higher neutron cross section via the relationship in equation 28. This
tells us that if we are trying to promote fission, we should probably find
a method to slow down neutrons enough that they become ”thermal,” and
neutron moderation is how we do that. This involves slowing neutrons down
via elastic collisions with atoms of a material called the ”moderator.”
A simple model for the energy lost per collision can be deduced for 1800
backscattering and if the moderator is assumed to be stationary prior to
collision. This gives the momentum balance to be:

mi vi = −mf vf + mmi u

14
(A neutron has mass 1 AMU and the moderator mass can be termed A.)

⇒ vi = −vf + Au

Simplifying gives:
vi + vf
u=
A
.

We then use energy conservation to get:

1 1 1
m1 vi2 = Au2 + vf2
2 2 2
Substituting for vmf from above gives:

(vi + vf )2 (vi + vf )2
⇒ vi2 = vf2 + ⇒ (vi − vf ) (vi + vf ) =
A A

(A − 1)
⇒ vf = vi
A+1

(A − 1)2
⇒ Ef = Ei (29)
(A + 1)2

9.5 Reactor Kinetics Model

A simple model for reactor kinetics looks like:

Figure 5: Model for a self-sustaining fission chain-reaction

15
 The equation that details this can be derived in the following way:
dn P (t)
Starting with = P (t) − L (t), k(neutron multiplication factor)= and
dt L(t)
n (t)
L (t) = , we get the following:
l
dn n (t)
⇒ = (k − 1)
dt l
Integrating gives:
 
(k − 1) t
n (t) = n (0) exp (30)
l

9.5.1 Delayed Neutrons

l represents the average neutron lifetime and is equivalent to:

l = (1 − β)lprompt + β(tdelay + lprompt ) (31)

Where β is the fraction of delayed neutrons and lprompt is the average lifetime
of the prompt ones.
These neutrons are neutrons that are not emitted due to fission, rather
by the fission products which happen to be radioactive. Prompt neutrons
are the ones seen in figure 5.

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