SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND HUMANITIES

DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS

UNIT – I - PROPERTIES OF NUCLEI – SPH1315

1
An Overview
Central to these studies is the concept of nuclear shell structure, in which protons and
neutrons occupy quantized energy levels within a potential generated by their interactions
with all of the other nucleons.

Nuclear magnetic moment

The nuclear magnetic moment is the magnetic moment of an atomic nucleus and arises from the
spin of the protons and neutrons. It is mainly a magnetic dipole moment; the quadrupole moment
does cause some small shifts in the hyperfine structure as well. All nuclei that have nonzero spin
also possess a nonzero magnetic moment and vice versa, although the connection between the two
quantities is not straightforward or easy to calculate. The nuclear magnetic moment varies from
isotope to isotope of an element. For a nucleus of which the numbers of protons and of neutrons are
both even in its ground state (i.e. lowest energy state), the nuclear spin and magnetic moment are
both always zero. In cases with odd numbers of either or both protons and neutrons, the nucleus
often has nonzero spin and magnetic moment. The nuclear magnetic moment is not sum of nucleon
magnetic moments, this property being assigned to the tensorial character of the nuclear force, such
as in the case of the most simple nucleus where both proton and neutron appear, namely deuterium
nucleus, deuteron.

Nuclear Radius
The nucleus of an atom has no sharply defined boundaries and, although it can be considered
spherical in form, care must be taken when speaking of its 'radius'. ... The nuclear radius, R, can
be defined as the distance from the centre to the point where the density has decreased to half its
original value.

Binding Energy
Nuclear binding energy is the energy required to split a nucleus of an atom into its components.
The mass defect of a nucleus represents the mass of the energy binding the nucleus, and is the
difference between the mass of a nucleus and the sum of the masses of the nucleons of which it is
composed. Einstein's famous equation relates energy and mass: E = mc2 You can use that to prove
that a mass of 1 u is equivalent to an energy of 931.5 MeV. Something should strike you as strange
about the table above. The carbon-12 atom has a mass of 12.000 u, and yet it contains 12 objects (6
protons and 6 neutrons) that each have a mass greater than 1.000 u, not to mention a small
contribution from the 6 electrons.

2
This is true for all nuclei, that the mass of the nucleus is a little less than the mass of the individual
neutrons, protons, and electrons. This missing mass is known as the mass defect, and represents the
binding energy of the nucleus. The binding energy is the energy you would need to put in to split
the nucleus into individual protons and neutrons. To find the binding energy, add the masses of the
individual protons, neutrons, and electrons, subtract the mass of the atom, and convert that mass
difference to energy. For carbon-12 this gives:

Mass defect = Dm = 6 * 1.008664 u + 6 * 1.007276 u + 6 * 0.00054858 u - 12.000 u = 0.098931 u

The binding energy in the carbon-12 atom is therefore 0.098931 u * 931.5 MeV/u = 92.15 MeV.

School of Science and Humanities

Models of Nucleus

Liquid Drop Model

Scattering experiments suggest that nuclei have approximately constant density, so that the nuclear
radius can be calculated by using that density as if the nucleus were a drop of a uniform liquid. A
liquid drop model of the nucleus would take into account the fact that the forces on the nucleons on
the surface are different from those on nucleons on the interior where they are completely
surrounded by other attracting nucleons. This is something similar to taking account of surface
tension as a contributor to the energy of a tiny liquid drop. The volume of the liquid drop is

3
proportional to the mass number A, and the surface would then be proportional to the two-thirds
power of A.

The first step toward a liquid drop model of the nucleus would then be to postulate a volume term
and a surface term in the form:

This simple model in fact gives a reasonable approximation of the variation of nuclear binding
energy with mass number when the constants have the values

Another contribution to the binding energy would be the coulomb repulsion of the protons, so there
should be a negative term proportional to the square of the atomic number Z :

The Pauli principle favors nuclei in which A=2Z, so the empirical model of binding energy contains
a term of the form

Discussion of Pauli contribution

The Pauli principle also favors nuclear configurations with even numbers of neutrons and protons. In
the liquid drop model, this is included by using the even-odd nucleus as a reference and adding a
correction term which is positive for even-even nuclei and negative for odd-odd nuclei. This strategy
for modeling the nuclear binding energy is attributed to Weizsaecker and called the Weizsaecker
formula.

The Weizacker Formula

The Weizsaecker formula is an empirically refined form of the liquid drop model for the binding
energy of nuclei. It is also referred to as the "semi-empirical mass formula" and the "Bethe-
Weizsaecker formula". Expressed in terms of the mass number A and the atomic number Z for an
even-odd nucleus, the Weizsaecker formula is

4
Using the even-odd as a reference, there are then correction terms for even-even and odd-odd
nuclei, the even-even groupings of protons and neutrons bing favored in stability

Nuclear Shell Model

Visualizing the densely packed nucleus in terms of orbits and shells seems much less plausible than
the corresponding shell model for atomic electrons. You can easily believe that an atomic electron
can complete many orbits without running into anything, but you expect protons and neutrons in a
nucleus to be in a continuous process of collision with each other. But dense-gas type models of
nuclei with multiple collisions between particles didn't fit the data, and remarkable patterns like the
"magic numbers" in the stability of nuclei suggested the seemingly improbable shell structure.

With the enormous strong force between them and with so many nucleons to collide with, how can
nucleons possibly complete whole orbits without interacting? This has the marks of a Pauli
exclusion principles, where two fermions cannot occupy the same quantum state. If there are no
nearby, unfilled quantum states that are in reach of the available energy for an interaction, then the
interaction will not occur. This is essentially a quantum idea - if there is not an available "hole" for
a collision to knock a nucleon into, then the collision will not occur. There is no classical analog to
this situation.

The evidence for a kind of shell structure and a limited number of allowed energy states suggests
that a nucleon moves in some kind of effective potential well created by the forces of all the other
nucleons. This leads to energy quantization in a manner similar to the square well and harmonic
harmonic oscillator potentials. Since the details of the well determine the energies, much effort has
gone into construction of potential wells for the modeling of the observed nuclear energy levels.
Solving for the energies from such potentials gives a series of energy levels like that at left below.
The labels on the levels are somewhat different from the corresponding symbols for atomic energy
levels. The energy levels increase with orbital angular momentum quantum number l, and the
s,p,d,f... symbols are used for l=0,1,2,3... just like the atomic case. But there is really no physical
analog to the principal quantum number n, so the numbers associated with the level just start at n=1

5
for the lowest level associated with a given orbital quantum number, giving such symbols as 1g
which could not occur in the atomic labeling scheme. The quantum number for orbital angular
momentum is not limited to n as in the atomic case.

In addition to the dependence on the details of the potential well and the orbital quantum number,
there is a sizable spin-orbit interaction which splits the levels by an amount which increases with
orbital quantum number. This leads to the overlapping levels as shown in the illustration. The
subscript indicates the value of the total angular momentum j, and the multiplicity of the state is 2j
+ 1. The contribution of a proton to the energy is somewhat different from that of a neutron because
of the coulomb repulsion, but it makes little difference in the appearance of the set of energy levels.

Magic Numbers in Nuclear Structure

With this set of identified nuclear states and the magic numbers, we can predict the net nuclear spin
of a nucleus and represent it's nuclear state based on the identification of the level of the odd
nucleon in the order of states shown above. The parity of the state can also be predicted, so the
single particle shell model has shown itself to be of significant benefit in characterizing nuclei.

6
It is found that nuclei with even numbers of protons and neutrons are more stable than those with
odd numbers. In particular, there are "magic numbers" of neutrons and protons which seem to be
particularly favored in terms of nuclear stability:

2, 8, 20, 28, 50, 82, 126

Magic Numbers

Nuclei which have both neutron number and proton number equal to one of the magic numbers can
be called "doubly magic", and are found to be particularly stable.

Calcium provides a good example of the exceptional stability of "doubly magic" nuclei since it
has two of them. The existence of several stable isotopes of calcium may have to do with the fact
that Z=20, a magic number. The two highlighted isotopes have neutron numbers 20 and 28, also
magic numbers. Compared to the binding energy calculated from the Weizsaecker formula, they
both have more than the expected binding energy.

The existence of these magic numbers suggests closed shell configurations, like the shells in atomic
structure. They represent one line of reasoning which led to the development of a shell model of the
nucleus. Other forms of evidence suggesting shell structure include the following.

Enhanced abundance of those elements for which Z or N is a magic number.

The stable elements at the end of the naturally occuring radioactive series all have a "magic
number" of neutrons or protons.

The neutron absorption cross-sections for isotopes where N = magic number are much lower
than surrounding isotopes.

The binding energy for the last neutron is a maximum for a magic neutron number and drops
sharply for the next neutron added.

Electric quadrupole moments are near zero for magic number nuclei.

The excitation energy from the ground nuclear state to the first excited state is greater for closed
shells.

Yukawa Meson Theory

Hideki Yukawa received the Nobel Prize in physics for 1949 for predicting the existence of what
became to be known as the pi mesons and later as pions. In his 1934 article Yukawa argued that the
nuclear strong force is carried by a particle with a mass approximately 200 times that of an electron.
This theory gives an idea about how the nuclear acts force between two neighbouring nucleons.
The nuclear force between two nucleons due to exchange of subatomic particle called as mesons
continuously. Mesons are that parts of atomic particle which may be charged or uncharged.

7
Shortly after Yukawa's prediction a particle with almost precisely this mass was discovered in
cosmic ray phenomena. It looked at first that Yukawa had been uncannily accurate, but there were
problems with the particle found in the cosmic ray records. Although its mass was 207 times that of
an electron, it was a fermion with half-integral spin rather than a boson of integral spin as Yukawa
predicted for the carrier of the strong nuclear force. It turned out that the cosmic ray particle was not
the particle Yukawa was talking about. Instead the cosmic ray particle was essentially a heavy
electron, which is now called the muon. Later three particles with masses approximately 270 times
that of an electron were found. These did have the properties that Yukawa had predicted. One was
of positive charge, one of negative charge and one was neutral. They were called pi-mesons but
now they are known as pions

8
 SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND HUMANITIES

DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS

UNIT – II - DETECTORS OF NUCLEAR RADIATIONS – SPH1315

9
 An Overview
Radioactive decay is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by
radiation. A material containing unstable nuclei is considered radioactive. Three of the most
common types of decay are alpha decay, beta decay, and gamma decay, all of which involve
emitting one or more particles or photons.

Alpha Particle
Alpha particles were first described in the investigations of radioactivity by Ernest Rutherford in
1899, and by 1907 they were identified as He2+ ions. By 1928, George Gamow had solved the
theory of alpha decay via tunneling. The alpha particle is trapped in a potential well by the nucleus.
Alpha decay or α-decay is a type of radioactive decay in which the atomic nucleus emits an alpha
particle thereby transforming or decaying into a new atomic nucleus. Here the atomic mass number
of the newly formed atom will be reduced by four and the atomic number will be reduced by two.
The emitted alpha particle is also known as a helium nucleus. The mass of the alpha particles is
relatively large and has a positive charge.

Ernest Rutherford distinguished alpha decay from other forms of radiation by studying the
deflection of the radiation through a magnetic field. The deflection of alpha decay would be a
positive charge as the particles have +2e charge. Following is the general equation of the alpha
decay:

AZX→A−4Z−4Y+42He

Alpha decay occurs in very heavy elements like uranium, thorium, and radium. They are called
parent nucleus and they are basically unstable. Because the nuclei of these atoms have a lot more
neutrons in their nuclei than protons, that is, they have too large a proton to neutron ratio, which
makes these elements neutron-rich. This richness makes alpha decay possible. Thus, emitting its
two protons and two neutrons in the form of an alpha particle and a forming of new daughter
nucleus and attains a very stable configuration. Alpha decay can be described like this:

The nucleus of these nuclei (parent nucleus) rich atoms splits into two parts.

The alpha particle goes zooming off into space.

The nucleus left behind (daughter nucleus) has its atomic number reduced by 2 and its mass
number reduced by 4.

Gamow Theory of Alpha Decay

The Geiger–Nuttall law or Geiger–Nuttall rule relates the decay constant of a radioactive isotope
with the energy of the alpha particles emitted. This relation also states that half-lives are

10
exponentially dependent on decay energy, so that very large changes in half-life make
comparatively small differences in decay energy, and thus alpha particle energy.

As per this rule, short-lived isotopes emit more energetic alpha particles than long-lived ones. This
law was stated by Hans Geiger and John Mitchell Nuttall in the year 1911, hence the name was
dedicated to these physicists.

Fermi’s Beta Decay

In particle physics, Fermi's interaction (also the Fermi theory of beta decay) is an explanation of the
beta decay, proposed by Enrico Fermi in 1933. ... This interaction explains beta decay of a neutron
by direct coupling of a neutron with an electron, a neutrino (later determined to be an antineutrino)
and a proton

When a nucleus turns into a different nucleus emitting an electron or a positron (positive charged
particle with the same mass as the electron), we say that nucleus has undergone a beta decay. Like
alpha decay, it is a spontaneous process, with a well-defined energy of disintegration and half-life.
Beta decay is a statistical process. There are three different types of beta decay: beta negative, beta
positive and electron capture.

In the negative beta: what decays is an electron that is the transformation of a neutron (n) into a
proton (p) along with an electron (β-) and an antineutrino (ve). "Negative beta decay can occur
when the atomic mass of the original neutral atom is greater than the corresponding mass of the
final atom."

11
n → p + β- + ve

12
Proportional Counter
The proportional counter is a type of gaseous ionization detector device used to measure particles of
ionizing radiation. The key feature is its ability to measure the energy of incident radiation, by
producing a detector output pulse that is proportional to the radiation energy absorbed by the
detector due to an ionizing event; hence the detector's name.

It is widely used where energy levels of incident radiation must be known, such as in the
discrimination between alpha and beta particles, or accurate measurement of X-ray radiation dose.

In a proportional counter the fill gas of the chamber is an inert gas which is ionized by incident
radiation, and a quench gas to ensure each pulse discharge terminates; a common mixture is 90%
argon, 10% methane, known as P-10. An ionizing particle entering the gas collides with an atom of
the inert gas and ionizes it to produce an electron and a positively charged ion, commonly known as
an "ion pair". As the ionizing particle travels through the chamber it leaves a trail of ion pairs along
its trajectory, the number of which is proportional to the energy of the particle if it is fully stopped
within the gas. Typically a 1 MeV stopped particle will create about 30,000 ion pairs.

13
The chamber geometry and the applied voltage is such that in most of the chamber the electric field
strength is low and the chamber acts as an ion chamber. However, the field is strong enough to
prevent re-combination of the ion pairs and causes positive ions to drift towards the cathode and
electrons towards the anode. This is the "ion drift" region. In the immediate vicinity of the anode
wire, the field strength becomes large enough to produce Townsend avalanches. This avalanche
region occurs only fractions of a millimeter from the anode wire, which itself is of a very small
diameter. The purpose of this is to use the multiplication effect of the avalanche produced by each
ion pair. This is the "avalanche" region.

In a proportional counter the fill gas of the chamber is an inert gas which is ionized by incident
radiation, and a quench gas to ensure each pulse discharge terminates; a common mixture is 90%
argon, 10% methane, known as P-10. An ionizing particle entering the gas collides with an atom of
the inert gas and ionizes it to produce an electron and a positively charged ion, commonly known as
an "ion pair". As the ionizing particle travels through the chamber it leaves a trail of ion pairs along
its trajectory, the number of which is proportional to the energy of the particle if it is fully stopped
within the gas. Typically a 1 MeV stopped particle will create about 30,000 ion pairs.

The chamber geometry and the applied voltage is such that in most of the chamber the electric field
strength is low and the chamber acts as an ion chamber. However, the field is strong enough to
prevent re-combination of the ion pairs and causes positive ions to drift towards the cathode and

14
electrons towards the anode. This is the "ion drift" region. In the immediate vicinity of the anode
wire, the field strength becomes large enough to produce Townsend avalanches. This avalanche
region occurs only fractions of a millimeter from the anode wire, which itself is of a very small
diameter. The purpose of this is to use the multiplication effect of the avalanche produced by each
ion pair. This is the "avalanche" region.

GM Counter
A Geiger counter is an instrument used for detecting and measuring ionizing radiation. Also known
as a Geiger–Muller counter (or Geiger–Müller counter), it is widely used in applications such as
radiation dosimetry, radiological protection, experimental physics, and the nuclear industry.It
detects ionizing radiation such as alpha particles, beta particles, and gamma rays using the
ionization effect produced in a Geiger–Müller tube, which gives its name to the instrument.

In wide and prominent use as a hand-held radiation survey instrument, it is perhaps one of the
world's best-known radiation detection instruments.

Principle of Operation
A Geiger counter consists of a Geiger–Müller tube (the sensing element which detects the radiation)
and the processing electronics, which displays the result.The Geiger–Müller tube is filled with an
inert gas such as helium, neon, or argon at low pressure, to which a high voltage is applied. The
tube briefly conducts electrical charge when a particle or photon of incident radiation makes the gas
conductive by ionization.

The ionization is considerably amplified within the tube by the Townsend discharge effect to
produce an easily measured detection pulse, which is fed to the processing and display electronics.
This large pulse from the tube makes the Geiger counter relatively cheap to manufacture, as the
subsequent electronics are greatly simplified. The electronics also generate the high voltage,
typically 400–900 volts, that has to be applied to the Geiger–Müller tube to enable its operation. To
stop the discharge in the Geiger–Müller tube a little halogen gas or organic material (alcohol) is
added to the gas mixture.

15
Scintillation Counter
A scintillation counter is an instrument for detecting and measuring ionizing radiation by using the
excitation effect of incident radiation on a scintillating material, and detecting the resultant light
pulses.It consists of a scintillator which generates photons in response to incident radiation, a
sensitive photodetector (usually a photomultiplier tube (PMT), a charge-coupled device (CCD)
camera, or a photodiode), which converts the light to an electrical signal and electronics to process
this signal.

Principle of Operation
When an ionizing particle passes into the scintillator material, atoms are excited along a track. For
charged particles the track is the path of the particle itself. For gamma rays (uncharged), their
energy is converted to an energetic electron via either the photoelectric effect, Compton scattering
or pair production. The chemistry of atomic de-excitation in the scintillator produces a multitude of
low-energy photons, typically near the blue end of the visible spectrum. The quantity is
proportional to the energy deposited by the ionizing particle. These can be directed to the
photocathode of a photomultiplier tube which emits at most one electron for each arriving photon
due to the photoelectric effect

16
 SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND HUMANITIES

DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS

UNIT – III - PARTICLE ACCELERATORS – SPH1315

17
PARTICLE ACCELERATORS

An Overview
In nuclear physics and nuclear chemistry, nuclear fission is a nuclear reaction or a radioactive
decay process in which the nucleus of an atom splits into two or more smaller, lighter nuclei.

Van de Graff Generator

• A Van de Graff generator is an electrostatic generator which uses a moving belt to
accumulate electric charge on a hollow metal globe on the top of an insulated column,
creating very high electric potentials.

• It produces very high voltage direct current (DC) electricity at low current levels. It was
invented by American physicist Robert J. Van de Graaff in 1929.

• The potential difference achieved by modern Van de Graaff generators can be as much as
5 megavolts. A tabletop version can produce on the order of 100,000 volts and can store
enough energy to produce a visible spark.

Small Van de Graaff machines are produced for entertainment, and for physics education to
teach electrostatics; larger ones are displayed in some science museums. Working:

• A simple Van de Graaff generator consists of a belt of rubber (or a similar flexible
dielectric material) moving over two rollers of differing material, one of which is
surrounded by a hollow metal sphere.

• Two electrodes, in the form of comb-shaped rows of sharp metal points, are positioned
near the bottom of the lower roller and inside the sphere, over the upper roller.

• Comb (2) is connected to the sphere, and comb (7) to ground. The method of charging is
based on the triboelectric effect, such that simple contact of dissimilar materials causes
the transfer of some electrons from one material to the other.

• The belt carries away negative charge on its inner surface while the upper roller
accumulates positive charge.

• Next, the strong electric field surrounding the positive upper roller (3) induces a very
high electric field near the points of the nearby comb (2).

• At the points, the field becomes strong enough to ionize air molecules, and the electrons
are attracted to the outside of the belt while positive ions go to the comb.

18
At the comb (2) they are neutralized by electrons that were on the comb, thus leaving the comb and
the attached outer shell (1) with fewer net electrons As the belt continues to move, a constant
"charging current" travels via the belt, and the sphere continues to accumulate positive charge until
the rate that charge is being lost (through leakage and corona discharges) equals the charging
current.

The larger the sphere and the farther it is from ground, the higher will be its peak potential. In the
example, the wand with metal sphere is connected to ground, as is the lower comb ;electrons are
drawn up from ground due to the attraction by the positive sphere, and when the electric field is
great enough (see below) the air breaks in the form of an electrical discharge spark .

Since the material of the belt and rollers can be selected, the accumulated charge on the hollow
metal sphere can either be made positive (electron deficient) or negative (excess electrons).

19
•

LINEAR ACCELERATORS

A linear particle accelerator (often shortened to linac) is a type of particle accelerator that
accelerates charged subatomic particles or ions to a high speed by subjecting them to a
series of oscillating electric potentials along a linear beamline.
• The principles for such machines were proposed by Gustav Ising in 1924,[1] while the
first machine that worked was constructed by Rolf Widerøe in 1928[2] at the RWTH
Aachen University.
Linacs have many applications: they generate X-rays and high energy electrons for
medicinal purposes in radiation therapy, serve as particle injectors for higher-energy
accelerators, and are used directly to achieve the highest kinetic energy for light particles
(electrons and positrons) for particle physics.

20
 Construction and Operation:
• A straight hollow pipe vacuum chamber which contains the other components.
• It is evacuated with a vacuum pump so that the accelerated particles will not collide with
air molecules. The length will vary with the application.
• If the device is used for the production of X-rays for inspection or therapy the pipe may
be only 0.5 to 1.5 meters long.
• If the device is to be an injector for a synchrotron it may be about ten meters long.
• If the device is used as the primary accelerator for nuclear particle investigations, it may
be several thousand meters long.

BETATRON
• A betatron is a type of cyclic particle accelerator. It is essentially a transformer with a
torus-shaped vacuum tube as its secondary coil. An alternating current in the primary
coils accelerates electrons in the vacuum around a circular path. In a betatron, the
changing magnetic field from the primary coil accelerates electrons injected into the
vacuum torus, causing them to circle around the torus in the same manner as current is
induced in the secondary coil of a transformer (Faraday's Law).

21
22
 WORKING
When the electron appears at K (cathode) in doughnut tube and the electromagnets are
energized the magnetic field increases, the increasing magnetic field has two effects
• (i) Induced e.m.f. is produced in electron orbit by changing magnetic flux that gives an
additional energy to electron. According to Faraday’s law
• induced [This is the rendered form of the equation. You can not edit this directly. Right
click will give you the option to save the image, and in most browsers you can drag the
image onto your desktop or another program.] ........(3.11)
• (ii) A radial force (magnetic force) is produced by action of magnetic field whose
direction is perpendicular to the electron velocity which keeps the electron moving in
circular path. The force is balanced by
• centripetal force, i.e.,
• [This is the rendered form of the equation. You can not edit this directly. Right click will
give you the option to save the image, and in most browsers you can drag the image onto
your desktop or another program.] ,............(3.12)
• The particle acceleration occurs only with increasing flux (the duration when the flux
increases from zero to a maximum value) i.e., the first quarter of the a.c. cycle (T/4 sec),
after this the flux starts decreasing which result in decreasing velocity therefore the
electron is kept in the tube only for T/4 sec. As the electrons get faster they need a larger
magnetic field to keep moving at a constant radius, which is provided
• by the increasing field.

23
 BEVATRON

• The synchrotron (as in Proton Synchrotron) is a type of cyclic particle accelerator,

descended from the cyclotron, in which the accelerating particle beam travels around a
fixed path.
• The magnetic field which bends the particle beam into its fixed path increases with time,
and is synchronized to the increasing energy of the particles.
• As the particles travels around the fixed circular path they will oscillate around their
equilibrium orbit, a phenomenon called betatron oscillations.

• In a conventional synchrotron the focusing of the circulating particles is achieved by

weak focusing: the magnetic field that guides the particles around the fixed radius
decreases slightly with radius, causing the orbits of the particles with slightly different
positions to approximate each other.
• The amount of focusing in this way is not very great, and consequently the amplitudes of
the betatron oscillations are large. Weak focusing requires a large vacuum chamber, and
consequently big magnets. Most of the cost of a conventional synchrotron is the magnets.
• The PS was the first accelerator at CERN that made use of the alternating-gradient
principle, also called strong focusing: quadrupole magnets are used to alternately focus
horizontally and vertically many times around the circumference of the accelerator.
• The focusing of the particle can in theory become as strong as one wishes, and the
amplitude of the betatron oscillations as small as desired. The net result is that you can
reduce the cost of the magnets.

24
 SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND HUMANITIES

DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS

UNIT – IV - RADIOACTIVITY – SPH1315

25
 RADIOACTIVITY

An Overview
In nuclear physics and nuclear chemistry, nuclear fission is a nuclear reaction or a
radioactive decay process in which the nucleus of an atom splits into two or more smaller,
lighter nuclei.

ALPHA DECAY

Alpha particles were first described in the investigations of radioactivity by Ernest Rutherford in
1899, and by 1907 they were identified as He2+ ions. By 1928, George Gamow had solved the
theory of alpha decay via tunneling. The alpha particle is trapped in a potential well by the
nucleus.

• Alpha decay or α-decay is a type of radioactive decay in which the atomic nucleus emits an alpha
particle thereby transforming or decaying into a new atomic nucleus. Here the atomic mass
number of the newly formed atom will be reduced by four and the atomic number will be
reduced by two. The emitted alpha particle is also known as a helium nucleus. The mass of the
alpha particles is relatively large and has a positive charge.

• Ernest Rutherford distinguished alpha decay from other forms of radiation by studying the
deflection of the radiation through a magnetic field. The deflection of alpha decay would be a
positive charge as the particles have +2e charge. Following is the general equation of the alpha
decay:

• AZX→A−4Z−4Y+42He

• Alpha decay occurs in very heavy elements like uranium, thorium, and radium. They are called
parent nucleus and they are basically unstable. Because the nuclei of these atoms have a lot
more neutrons in their nuclei than protons, that is, they have too large a proton to neutron
ratio, which makes these elements neutron-rich. This richness makes alpha decay possible. Thus,
emitting its two protons and two neutrons in the form of an alpha particle and a forming of new
daughter nucleus and attains a very stable configuration. Alpha decay can be described like this:

• The nucleus of these nuclei (parent nucleus) rich atoms splits into two parts.

• The alpha particle goes zooming off into space.

• The nucleus left behind (daughter nucleus) has its atomic number reduced by 2 and its
mass number reduced by 4.

• Gamow Theory of Alpha Decay

26
• The Geiger–Nuttall law or Geiger–Nuttall rule relates the decay constant of a radioactive isotope
with the energy of the alpha particles emitted. This relation also states that half-lives are
exponentially dependent on decay energy, so that very large changes in half-life make
comparatively small differences in decay energy, and thus alpha particle energy.

• As per this rule, short-lived isotopes emit more energetic alpha particles than long-lived ones.
This law was stated by Hans Geiger and John Mitchell Nuttall in the year 1911, hence the name
was dedicated to these physicists.

• Alpha particles lose their energy due to the interaction with particles of the air. There is a
distance where none alpha particles are registered with the detector. This distance is the range
of alpha particles in the air. The value of the range of alpha particles in the air varies from 2 cm
to 10 cm

FEMI BETA DECAY

• In particle physics, Fermi's interaction (also the Fermi theory of beta decay) is an explanation of
the beta decay, proposed by Enrico Fermi in 1933. ... This interaction explains beta decay of a
neutron by direct coupling of a neutron with an electron, a neutrino (later determined to be an
antineutrino) and a proton

• When a nucleus turns into a different nucleus emitting an electron or a positron (positive
charged particle with the same mass as the electron), we say that nucleus has undergone a beta
decay. Like alpha decay, it is a spontaneous process, with a well-defined energy of disintegration
and half-life. Beta decay is a statistical process. There are three different types of beta decay:
beta negative, beta positive and electron capture.

• In the negative beta: what decays is an electron that is the transformation of a neutron (n) into a
proton (p) along with an electron (β-) and an antineutrino (ve). "Negative beta decay can occur

27
 when the atomic mass of the original neutral atom is greater than the corresponding mass of
the final atom."

• n → p + β- + ve

• Beta particles with an energy of 0.5 MeV have a range of about one metre in air; the distance is
dependent on the particle energy. Beta particles are a type of ionizing radiation and for
radiation protection purposes are regarded as being more ionising than gamma rays, but less
ionising than alpha particles.

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MOSSBAUER SPECTROSCOPY

• The Mössbauer effect, or recoilless nuclear resonance fluorescence, is a physical phenomenon

discovered by Rudolf Mössbauer in 1958. It involves the resonant and recoil-free emission and
absorption of gamma radiation by atomic nuclei bound in a solid. Its main application is in
Mössbauer spectroscopy.

• In the Mössbauer effect, a narrow resonance for nuclear gamma emission and absorption
results from the momentum of recoil being delivered to a surrounding crystal lattice rather than
to the emitting or absorbing nucleus alone. When this occurs, no gamma energy is lost to the
kinetic energy of recoiling nuclei at either the emitting or absorbing end of a gamma transition:
emission and absorption occur at the same energy, resulting in strong, resonant absorption.

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 SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND HUMANITIES

DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS

UNIT – V - ELEMENTARY PARTICLES – SPH1315

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 ELEMENTARY PARTICLES

An Overview
In particle physics, an elementary particle or fundamental particle is a subatomic particle with no
sub structure, thus not composed of other particles.

Almost each elementary particle has an antiparticle, that has the same mass, but the electric charge
of an opposite sign (e and e+, electron and positron).When a particle and its antiparticle come
together, they destroy each other (annihilation). The lost mass reappears as energy in the form of
rays.

Fundamentals Forces in Nature

Strong Force
– Short range ~ 10-15 m (1 fermi)

– Responsible for binding of quarks into neutrons and protons

– Gluon

• Electromagnetic Force
– 10-2 as strong as strong force

– 1/r2 force law

– Binding of atoms and molecules

– Photon

• Weak force
– ~ 10-6 times as strong as the strong force

– Responsible for beta decay, very short range ~10-18 m

– W+, W- and Z0 bosons

• Gravitational Force

– 10-43 times as strong as the strong force

– Also 1/r2 force law

– Graviton

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 Particle Classification

Hadrons (strong force interaction, composed of quarks)

– We already met the mesons (middle weights)

• Decay into electrons, neutrinos and photons

– Baryons, i.e. the proton and neutron (the heavy particles)

– Still other more exotic baryons:

• L, S, X, all are heavier than the proton

• Decay into end products that include a proton

In Physics we have conservation of energy, momentum (linear and angular), charge, spin. Now
we add more to help balance particle reactions

• Baryon number:
– B = +1 for baryons, -1 for anti-baryons

– Eg. Proton, neutron have B = +1

– antiparticles have B = -1

– B = 0 for all other particles (non-baryons) Lepton number

– L = +1 for leptons, -1 for anti-leptons

– L = 0 for non-leptons

– Example for electrons:

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– Electron e, electron neutrino ne have Le = +1

– Anti electron and antineutrino have Le = -1

– Other leptons have Le = 0 BUT have their own lepton numbers, Lm, Lt

Baryon Conservation
In low-energy nuclear reactions, the number of nucleons is always conserved. Empirically this is
part of a more general conservation law for what is assigned a new quantum number called
baryon number that has the value B = +1 for baryons and −1 for antibaryons, and 0 for all other
particles.The conservation of baryon number requires the same total baryon number before and
after the reaction.

Although there are no known violations of baryon conservation, there are theoretical indications
that it was violated sometime in the beginning of the universe when temperatures were quite high.
This is thought to account for the preponderance of matter over antimatter in the universe today.

Lepton Conservation
The leptons are all fundamental particles, and there is a conservation of leptons for each of the
three kinds (families) of leptons. The number of leptons from each family is the same both before
and after a reaction. We let Le = +1 for the electron and the electron neutrino; Le = −1 for their
antiparticles; and Le = 0 for all other particles. We assign the quantum numbers Lμ for the muon and
its neutrino and Lτ for the tau and its neutrino similarly.

Strangeness
• Thus three additional conservation laws. In the early 1950s physicists had considerable difficulty
understanding the myriad of observed reactions and decays. For example, the behavior of the K
mesons seemed very odd.

• There is no conservation law for the production of mesons, but it appeared that K mesons, as well
as the Λ and Σ baryons, were always produced in pairs in the proton reaction studied most often,
namely the p + p reaction.

• In addition, the very fast decay of the π0 meson into two photons (10−16 s) is the preferred mode of
decay.

• One would expect the K0 meson to also decay into two photons very quickly, but it does not. The
long and short decay lifetimes of the K0 are 10−8 and 10−10 s, respectively.

• Strangeness, S, is conserved in the strong and electromagnetic interactions, but not in the weak
interaction.

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• The kaons have S = +1, lambda and sigmas have S = −1, the xi has S = −2, and the omega has S =
−3.

• When the strange particles are produced by the p + p strong interaction, they must be produced in
pairs to conserve strangeness. Several particles found to have unusual (strange) properties:

• Always produced in pairs

• p- + p+ K0 + L0 but not p- + p+ K0 + n

• Decay is slow (indicative of weak interaction rather than strong) Half-lives of order of 10-10 to 10-8
sec

• Members of the strange club: K, L, S

Isospin
It was discovered that particles with

approximately the same mass, and the same

(ordinary) spin existed in “charge multiplets”:

p and n I3 = ½, - ½ (a doublet)

∏+ ∏- ∏0 I3 = 1, -1, 0 (a triplet)

number of states = 2I +1

Hypercharge
• One more quantity, called hypercharge, has also become widely used as a quantum number.

• The hypercharge quantum number Y is defined by Y = S + B.

• Hypercharge, the sum of the strangeness and baryon quantum numbers, is conserved in strong
interactions.

• The hypercharge and strangeness conservation laws hold for the strong and electromagnetic
interactions, but are violated for the weak interaction.

Quark Model
• Gell-Mann (1961) proposed hadrons have structure, i.e. composed of a more fundamental type of
particle.

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• Quarks have fractional charge e/3 or 2e/3

• Three types u, d, s: up, down, strange

• Mesons were made of 2 quarks: q, q

• Baryons were made of 3 quarks

• Soon after, experimental discrepancies required the addition of three more quarks

Top, bottom and charm: t, b, c ,and three more conservation laws: C, B, T for charm, bottomness
and topness

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Symmetry Operation
Many of the profound ideas in nature manifest themselves as symmetries. A symmetry in a physical
experiment suggests that something is conserved, or remains constant, during the experiment. So
conservation laws and symmetries are strongly linked.
Three of the symmetries which usually, but not always, hold are those of charge conjugation (C),
parity (P), and time reversal (T):

Charge Conjugation: reversing the electric charge and all the internal quantum numbers.
Parity: space inversion; reversal of the space coordinates, but not the time.

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Time Reversal: replacing t by -t. This reverses time derivatives like momentum and angular
momentum.

Conservation laws for parity, isopin, and strangeness have been developed by detailed observation
of particle interactions. The combination of charge conjugation (C), parity (P) and time reversal (T)
is considered to be a fundamental symmetry operation - all physical particles and interactions
appear to be invariant under this combination. Called CPT invariance, this symmetry plumbs the
depths of our understanding of nature.

CPT Invariance

Associated with the conservation laws which govern the behavior of physical particles, charge
conjugation (C), parity (P) and time reversal (T) combine to constitute a fundamental
symmetry called CPT invariance.

The strong and electromagnetic interactions leave systems invariant under any of the three
operations applied alone, but the weak interaction does not.

The beta decay of cobalt-60 established the violation of parity in 1957, and led to our
understanding that the weak interaction violates both charge conjugation and parity invariance.

However, the weak interaction does appear to leave systems invariant under the combination CP.

Examination of the case of the neutrino is instructive at this point. The parity operation on a
neutrino would leave its spin in the same direction while reversing space coordinates.

Neither of these things is observed to happen in nature; neutrinos are always left-handed, anti-
neutrinos always right-handed.

But if you add the charge conjugation operation, the result of the combined operation gives you
back the original particle.

CP invariance was thought to be a general conservation principle until the details of the neutral
kaon decay process were examined by Cronin and Fitch. After intense study over many years, the
consensus is that CP is violated by a small amount. In 2001 CP violation was confirmed in B-meson
decay.

The small violation of CP symmetry suggests some departure from T symmetry in some weak
interaction processes since CPT invariance seems to be on very firm ground.

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 Charge Congugation
Associated with the conservation laws which govern the behavior of physical particles, charge
conjugation (C), parity (P) and time reversal (T) combine to constitute a fundamental symmetry
calledCPTINVARIANCE.
It also involves reversing all the internal quantum numbers like those for lepton number, baryon
number and strangeness.

Thinking of charge conjugation as an operator, C, then electromagnetic processes are invariant

under the C operation since Maxwell's equations are invariant under C.

This restricts some kinds of particle processes. Das and Ferbel proceed by defining a charge parity
of ηC(γ) = -1 for a photon since the C operation reverses the electric field.

This constrains the electromagnetic decay of a neutral particle like the π0. The decay of the π0 is:
π0 -> γ + γ

This implies that the charge parity or behavior under charge conjugation for a π0 is:
ηC(π0) = ηC(γ)ηC(γ) = (-1)2 = +1
Charge conjugation symmetry would imply that the π0 will not decay by
π0 -> γ which we already know because it can't conserve momentum, but the decay
π0 -> γ + γ + γ can conserve momentum. This decay cannot happen because it would violate charge
conjugationsymmetry.
While the strong and electromagnetic interactions obey charge conjugation symmetry, the weak
interaction does not. As an example, neutrinos are found to have intrinsic parities: neutrinos have
left-handed parity and antineutrinos right-handed. Since charge conjugation would leave the spatial
coordinates untouched, then if you operated on a neutrino with the C operator, you would produce a
left-handed antineutrino. But there is no experimental evidence for such a particle; all antineutrinos
appear to be right-handed. The combination of the parity operation P and the charge conjugation
operation C on a neutrino do produce a right-handed antineutrino, in accordance with observation.
So it appears that while beta decay does not obey parity or charge conjugation symmetry separately,
it is invariant under the combination CP

Conservation of Parity
• The conservation of parity P describes the inversion symmetry of space,

Inversion, if valid, does not change the laws of physics.

• The conservation of parity is valid for the strong and electromagnetic interactions, but not
in the weak interaction (experimentally).

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 Time Reversal
• Here time t is replaced with –t.

• When all three operations are performed (CPT), where T is the time reversal symmetry,
conservation holds.

• We speak of the invariance of the symmetry operators, such as T, CP, and CPT.

Quarks
Quarks and Leptons are the building blocks which build up matter, i.e., they are seen as the
"elementary particles".
In the present standard model, there are six "flavors" of quarks. They can successfully account for
all known mesons and baryons (over 200).
The most familiar baryons are the proton and neutron, which are each constructed from up and
down quarks. Quarks are observed to occur only in combinations
of two quarks (mesons), three quarks (baryons). There was a recent claim of observation of
particles with five quarks (pentaquark), but further experimentation has not borne it out.
*The masses should not be taken too seriously, because the confinement of quarks implies that we
cannot isolate them to measure their masses in a direct way.
The masses must be implied indirectly from scattering experiments.

Types of Quarks
The up and down quarks are the most common and least massive quarks, being the
constituents of protons and neutrons and thus of most ordinary matter

The Strange Quark

In 1947 during a study of cosmic ray interactions, a product of a proton collision with a nucleus was
found to live for a much longer time than expected: 10-10 seconds instead of the expected 10-23
seconds! This particle was named the lambda particle (Λ0) and the property which caused it to live
so long was dubbed "strangeness" and that name stuck to be the name of one of the quarks from
which the lambda particle is constructed. The lambda is a baryon which is made up of three quarks:
an up, a down and a strange quark.

The shorter lifetime of 10-23 seconds was expected because the lambda as a baryon participates in
the strong interaction, and that usually leads to such very short lifetimes. The long observed lifetime
helped develop a new conservation law for such decays called the "conservation of strangeness".
The presence of a strange quark in a particle is denoted by a quantum number S=-1. Particle decay
by the strong or electromagnetic interactions preserve the strangeness quantum number. The decay
process for the lambda particle must violate that rule, since there is no lighter particle which

39
contains a strange quark - so the strange quark must be transformed to another quark in the process.
That can only occur by the weak interaction, and that leads to a much longer lifetime. The decay
processes show that strangeness is not conserved:

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The Top Quark
Convincing evidence for the observation of the top quark was reported by Fermilab 's Tevatron
facility in April 1995. The evidence was found in the collision products of 0.9 TeV protons with
equally energetic antiprotons in the proton-antiproton collider. The evidence involved analysis of
trillions of 1.8 TeV proton-antiproton collisions. The Collider Detector Facility group had found 56
top candidates over a predicted background of 23 and the D0 group found 17 events over a
predicted background of 3.8. The value for the top quark mass from the combined data of the two
groups after the completion of the run was 174.3 +/- 5.1 GeV. This is over 180 times the mass of a
proton and about twice the mass of the next heaviest fundamental particle, the Z0 vector boson at
about 93

The Charm QuarkIn 1974 a meson called the J/Psi particle was discovered by experimenters at
Stanford (Richter) and Brookhaven National Laboratory (Ting). With a mass of 3100 MeV, over
three times that of the proton, this particle was the first example of another quark, called the charm
quark. The J/Psi is made up of a charm-anticharm quark pair. Richter and Ting shared the 1976
Nobel Prize for their discovery.

The lightest meson which contains a charm quark is the D meson. It provides interesting examples
of decay since the charm quark must be transformed into a strange quark by the weak interaction in
order for it to decay.

One baryon with a charm quark is a called a lambda with symbol Λ+c. It has a composition udc and
a mass of 2281 MeV/c2.

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 The Quark Triplet
• Gell-Mann and others proposed that one might build all the experimentally observed
particles from just three quarks: the up, the down and the strange.

• One way to “build” the particles is to think of the quarks as vectors in a two dimensional
“imagined” space with Y along the vertical axis and I3 along the horizontal axis.

• The quark triplet is shown on the next slide.

The Standard Model/ Gauge theory of weak and strong interactions

Fermions
Summary of interactions between particles described by the Standard Model

The Standard Model includes 12 elementary particles of spin 1⁄2, known as fermions. According to
the spin–statistics theorem, fermions respect the Pauli exclusion principle. Each fermion has a
corresponding antiparticle.

Extended breakdown of particle interactions in the Standard Model if the hypothetical graviton
were to be included.

Fermions are classified according to how they interact (or equivalently, by what charges they
carry). There are six quarks (up, down, charm, strange, top, bottom), and six leptons (electron,
electron neutrino, muon, muon neutrino, tau, tau neutrino). Each class is divided into pairs of
particles that exhibit a similar physical behavior called a generation (see the table).

The defining property of quarks is that they carry color charge, and hence interact via the strong
interaction. The phenomenon of color confinement results in quarks being very strongly bound to
one another, forming color-neutral composite particles called hadrons that contain either a quark
and an antiquark (mesons) or three quarks (baryons). The lightest baryons are the proton and the
neutron. Quarks also carry electric charge and weak isospin. Hence they interact with other
fermions via electromagnetism and the weak interaction. The remaining six fermions do not carry
color charge and are called leptons. The three neutrinos do not carry electric charge either, so their
motion is directly influenced only by the weak nuclear force, which makes them notoriously
difficult to detect. By contrast, by virtue of carrying an electric charge, the electron, muon, and tau
all interact electromagnetically.

Each member of a generation has greater mass than the corresponding particles of lower
generations. The first-generation charged particles do not decay, hence all ordinary (baryonic)
matter is made of such particles. Specifically, all atoms consist of electrons orbiting around atomic nuclei,

42
ultimately constituted of up and down quarks. On the other hand, second- and third-generation charged
particles decay with very short half-lives and are observed only in very high-energy environments.
Neutrinos of all generations also do not decay and pervade the universe, but rarely interact with baryonic
matter.

Gauge bosons
The above interactions form the basis of the standard model. Feynman diagrams in the standard
model are built from these vertices. Modifications involving Higgs boson interactions and neutrino
oscillations are omitted. The charge of the W bosons is dictated by the fermions they interact with;
the conjugate of each listed vertex (i.e. reversing the direction of arrows) is also allowed.

In the Standard Model, gauge bosons are defined as force carriers that mediate the strong, weak,
and electromagnetic fundamental interactions.

Interactions in physics are the ways that particles influence other particles. At a macroscopic level,
electromagnetism allows particles to interact with one another via electric and magnetic fields, and
gravitation allows particles with mass to attract one another in accordance with Einstein's theory of
general relativity. The Standard Model explains such forces as resulting from matter particles
exchanging other particles, generally referred to as force mediating particles. When a force-
mediating particle is exchanged, the effect at a macroscopic level is equivalent to a force
influencing both of them, and the particle is therefore said to have mediated (i.e., been the agent of)
that force. The Feynman diagram calculations, which are a graphical representation of the
perturbation theory approximation, invoke "force mediating particles", and when applied to analyze
high-energy scattering experiments are in reasonable agreement with the data. However,
perturbation theory (and with it the concept of a "force-mediating particle") fails in other situations.
These include low-energy quantum chromodynamics, bound states, and solitons.

The gauge bosons of the Standard Model all have spin (as do matter particles). The value of the
spin is 1, making them bosons. As a result, they do not follow the Pauli exclusion principle that
constrains fermions: thus bosons (e.g. photons) do not have a theoretical limit on their spatial
density (number per volume). The types of gauge bosons are described below.

Photons mediate the electromagnetic force between electrically charged particles. The photon
is massless and is well-described by the theory of quantum electrodynamics.

Boson interacts with both left-handed particles and antiparticles. These three gauge bosons along
with the photons are grouped together, as collectively mediating the electroweak interaction.

The eight gluons mediate the strong interactions between color charged particles (the quarks).
Gluons are massless. The eightfold multiplicity of gluons is labeled by a combination of color and
anticolor charge (e.g. red–antigreen).[note 1] Because gluons have an effective color charge, they

43
can also interact among themselves. Gluons and their interactions are described by the theory of
quantum chromodynamics.

The interactions between all the particles described by the Standard Model are summarized by the
diagrams on the right of this section.

Higgs boson
The Higgs particle is a massive scalar elementary particle theorized by Peter Higgs in 1964, when
he showed that Goldstone's 1962 theorem (generic continuous symmetry, which is spontaneously
broken) provides a third polarisation of a massive vector field. Hence, Goldstone's original scalar
doublet, the massive spin-zero particle, was proposed as the Higgs boson, and is a key building
block in the Standard Model. It has no intrinsic spin, and for that reason is classified as a boson
(like the gauge bosons, which have integer spin).

The Higgs boson plays a unique role in the Standard Model, by explaining why the other
elementary particles, except the photon and gluon, are massive. In particular, the Higgs boson
explains why the photon has no mass, while the W and Z bosons are very heavy. Elementary-
particle masses, and the differences between electromagnetism (mediated by the photon) and the
weak force (mediated by the W and Z bosons), are critical to many aspects of the structure of
microscopic (and hence macroscopic) matter. In electroweak theory, the Higgs boson generates the
masses of the leptons (electron, muon, and tau) and quarks. As the Higgs boson is massive, it must
interact with itself.

Because the Higgs boson is a very massive particle and also decays almost immediately when
created, only a very high-energy particle accelerator can observe and record it.

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