Credit Hours:3-0-3
Prerequisites:Graduate Standing in engineering or related discipline
Catalog Description:Characteristics of atomic and nuclear radiations, transition probabilities, radioactivity and isotopes, cross sections, electromagnetic radiation, neutrons, and charged particles with matter.
Textbooks:John S. Lilly, Nuclear Physics; First Edition, John Wiley, 2001.
Instructors:C-K Chris Wang
References:James E. Turner, Atoms, Radiation, and Radiation Protection, Wiley Interscience, 1995.
Kenneth S. Krane, Introductory Nuclear Physics, John Wiley and Sons, 1988.
Irving Kaplan, Nuclear Physics, Addison-Wesley, 1972.
Arthur Beiser, Concepts of Modern Physics, 5th Edition, McGraw Hill, 1994.
J. R. Lamarsh, Nuclear Reactory Theory, Addison-Wesley Publishing, 1966.
A. Foderaro, The Elements of Neutron Interaction Theory, the MIT Press, 1971
Goals:To acquaint students in NE/HP with the theories of nuclear reactions and decays, and interactions of photons, neutrons, and charged particles with matter.
Topics:
  1. Review of atomic physics
  2. Review of nuclear physics
  3. Transition probabilities
  4. Radioactive decays and radiations
    • alpha, beta, and gamma decays
    • electron capture, conversion electron
    • decay constant, characteristic and bremsstrahlung
    • x-rays
    • Auger electrons
    • fission and fusion reactions
    • kinematics of nuclear reactions and decays
  5. Classical and quantum-mechanical derivations of cross sections
  6. Interactions of photons with matter
    • photoelectric absorption
    • Compton Scattering, pair production
    • Rayleigh, Thomson, and Raman scatterings
    • photonuclear interactions
  7. Interactions of neutrons with matter
    • elastic scattering, inelastic scattering and cascade reactions
    • radiative capture
    • charged-particle emission
    • fission and fusion reactions
    • Effect of target structure and atomic motion
  8. Interactions of charged particles with matter
    • Elastic, inelastic: excitation, ionization, and bremsstrahlung.
    • Semi-classical derivation of Bethe's formula of stopping power.
  9. Radiation effects on matter