Nuclear Physics

In General > s.a. constants; symmetry.
* History: 1939, Lise Meitner and her nephew Otto Frisch, during a Christmas-Eve walk, come up with the idea of nuclear fission (the term was taken from cell biology) while discussing results by Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann in Berlin; 1949, Nuclear shell model proposed; 1950s, First clear idea of neutrons and protons in nuclei; 2002, Traditional nuclear physics is "dying" (work is now around engineering applications), and the excitement in the field has moved toward its marriage with astrophysics and understanding of nucleosynthesis in the early universe and in stars, the motivation behind the push for building the RIA (rare-isotope accelerator); 2010, We are entering an era of "nuclear renaissance" motivated by the diminishing supply and increasing cost of fossil fuels and their negative impact on the environment; Nuclear power is seen as an affordable energy source that does not emit CO₂, and a new theoretical focus is needed on studies of the materials involved in nuclear energy generation and on fission processes.
* Models / calculations: The oldest model, still fundamentally fine but in practice difficult to calculate with, is the shell model; It can be used, starting with a mean-field approximation with corrections, up to A = 60; Beyond that, use a deformed basis, and apply "angular momentum projection" numerically.
* Current view: The nuclear forces acting between protons and neutrons that are responsible for the nuclear binding are residual color forces, much like the van der Waals forces between neutral molecules.
* Magic numbers: The nuclear shell model explains that nuclei with certain magic numbers (2, 8, 20, 28, 50, 82 and 126) of neutrons and/or protons are especially stable because the neutrons and/or protons form closed shells; Nuclei that contain magic numbers of both protons and neutrons (e.g., nickel-78 and tin-132) are even more stable and are said to be "doubly magic".
* Half-lives: ¹⁴C, 5.730 yr; ²¹⁴Po, ~ 10⁻⁴ s; ²³⁹Pt, 24,000 yr.

In Astrophysics and Cosmology > s.a. astrophysics [nucleosynthesis]; early-universe nucleosynthesis; neutron stars [equation of state].
@ Books: Basdevant et al 05 [intro]; Thompson & Nunes 09; Schmitt LNP(10)-a1001 [dense nuclear/quark matter].
@ Multimessenger astronomy: Carson et al PRD(19)-a1812 [nuclear matter properties from GW170817]; Dietrich et al a2002 [constraints on equation of state].
@ Related topics: Viola & Kwiatkowski AS(98)sep [boiling nuclei]; Metcalfe ASP-ap/00 [white dwarves]; Mayer & Truran PRP(00) [nucleocosmochronology]; Sheldon CP(08); Wiescher Phy(09) [experimental techniques]; Watanabe et al PRL(09) ["nuclear pasta" in supernovae]; Rueda et al NPA(11)-a1104 [nuclear matter in equilibrium in general relativity]; Fischbach et al a1106-conf, Jenkins et al a1106-conf [time-varying nuclear decay rates, possibilities and implications].

Other Effects and Special Topics > s.a. diffraction; nuclear technology [nuclear power, fusion, NMR/MRI, weapons]; radiation [Mössbauer effect].
* Isotopes: Deuterium was discovered in 1932 using the isotope effect in atomic spectroscopy; > s.a. atomic physics.
@ Radioactivity: Gelletly PW(96)mar [history, applications]; Halliday CP(97) [Earth history]; Tuniz 12; Brown TPT(14) [dating]; > s.a. elements; quantum effects [exponential decay].
@ Radiation, other: Jaworowski PT(99)sep [civilian protection]; Coursey & Nath PT(00)apr [radionuclide therapy].
@ Fission: Rykaczewski Phy(10) [solving a long-standing discrepancy]; news usn(10)dec [asymmetric fission of Hg].
@ Particle physics: Klapdor-Kleingrothaus IJMPD(04) [double-beta decay].

References
@ Books: Fermi 50; Lim 00 [problems, and atomic]; Cottingham & Greenwood 01 [II]; Mackintosh et al 01; Walecka 04 [III]; Heyde 04 [II/III]; Yang & Hamilton 10 + problems 10 [and atomic physics]; Henley & Ellis ed-13 [and particle physics]; Kamal 14; Donnelly et al 17 [and particle physics].
@ Books, II / III, with particle physics: Das & Ferbel 03; Henley & García 07; Martin 09; D'Auria 19.
@ General references: Bertsch AJP(04)aug [RL].
@ History: Mladjenović 92 [1896–1931], 98 [1932–1960; r PT(99)may]; Kragh a1202-talk [Rutherford, radioactivity, and the atomic nucleus]; Reader & Clark PT(13)mar [1932, a watershed year]; Pearson PT(15)jun [discovery of fission]; Broglia a1603 [40 years since 1975 Nobel prize]; Shifman a2009; > s.a. history of physics.
@ Equation of state: Baldo & Shaban NPB(08) [dependence on two-body and three-body forces]; Maruyama et al PTPS(10)-a1009 [at phase transitions].
@ Nuclear models: Caurier et al RMP(05) [shell model]; news pn(07)oct ["liquid drop" model and "nuclear syrup"]; Rowe & Wood 10 [foundational nuclear models, r CP(12)]; Rowe 10 [collective structure models]; Dean & Hamilton AJP(11)jan [shell model].
@ Other theory: Zhao et al PRP(04) [as many-body system with random 2-body interactions]; Dean PT(07)nov [comprehensive description]; Epelbaum et al RMP(09), Otsuka et al PRL(10) + Schiffer Phy(10) [forces]; van Kolck a2003-EPJA [Nuclear Effective Field Theories, naturalness].
@ Experiments: Austin & Bertsch SA(95)jun [halos from excess n or p]; news pt(10)aug [doubly-magic nuclei and tests of shell models and astrophysical processes]; news nat(10)aug [experimental results challenge theory]; news Sci(12)mar [thickness of "neutron skin"]; Krieger et al PRL(12) + news PhysOrg(12)apr [shell model for beryllium isotopes invalidated]; Tarbert et al PRL(14) [the outer, neutron-dominated layer of a nucleus is soft and wispy]; Ahn et al PRL(19) [neutron dripline extended to F and Ne]; news cosmos(20)jun [nuclear reactions happen in zeptoseconds].
@ Related topics: Herndon phy/05 [natural reactors, teaching]; Bertulani a0908-en [nuclear reactions].
> Online resources: Internet Encyclopedia of Science pages.

main page – abbreviations – journals – comments – other sites – acknowledgements
send feedback and suggestions to bombelli at olemiss.edu – modified 10 sep 2020