Chapters 9, 11, 12
Concepts covered that will also be
candidates for exam questions
• Ionic bonds and different components of
energy: ionization E, repulsion E, coulomb
attraction E, disassociation E
• Excited states of molecules, different
components of spectra (electron transitions,
vibrational, rotational)
• Selection rules for molecular transitions
• Spontaneous emission and zero-point vacuum
fluctuation field
• Radius of nucleus, how to find (R = R0 A1/3)
• Binding E of nucleons in a nucleus (2
approximate eqns, not semi-empirical eqn)
• Radiation types: alpha, beta, gamma
• Exponential decay law, differences between
TAU (τ, mean life) and T1/2 (t½, half life)
• Equations for the Q value or E of decay of beta
decay, for e+ and e- emission
• Full description of alpha decay as a QM
tunneling
• 2 conservation laws in nuclear reactions
• Cross section – how to calculate and what it
implies (probability for interaction to occur)
• Fission: how it happens, why you need E input
to make it happen
• Nuclear reactor components (k factor,
moderator, critical mass, control rods)
• Fusion: how it happens, why you need E input
to make it happen
• Why the field is called high energy physics
• How to use the uncertainty principle to determine the mass
of a hypothetical particle that is the carrier of the strong
force
• Leptons, hadrons, fermions, bosons: what these are
• Standard model: types of elementary particles, families,
antiparticles
• 3 forces (EM, strong, weak), what particles they act on
• Force carriers (how particles really interact via the
exchange of particles that “carry” the force) and virtual
particles
• Weak force, only force to allow generational mixing, only
interaction type that allows S violation
• Conserved quantities in particle interactions, including
color (ONLY focused on energy, mass, momentum, charge,
lepton number, baryon number, strangeness, color)
• Sources of neutrinos, ordered by E of the source
• 4 categories of Weak interactions (NC, CC: CCQE,
CC pion, CC DIS)
• What is Cerenkov and Scintillation light, how to
calculate if a particle will produce Cerenkov light
in your detector
• How do we understand the phenomenon of
neutrino oscillation proceeds?
– flavor neutrinos of standard model: electron neutrino,
muon neutrino, tau neutrino, are all actually
representations of a superposition of 3 other neutrino
waves that carry different values of mass. Viewing the
superposition of the 3 mass waves at any point in
space determines if you see or don’t see oscillations,
or neutrinos changing flavor
Chapters 9, 11, 12
Examples done in class
• Attraction of ions in molecules, dissociation energy,
energy of repulsion
• Electronic, vibrational, and rotational state transitions,
moment of inertia, frequencies
• E needed to remove a n from various atoms, using 2
different BE approximations
• C dating and half life
• Calculate rates of particle production from the
interaction of a beam of particles with a target
• Decay equations for 3 types of beta decay
• List of interactions, what force allows the interaction
• List of interactions, based on conservation laws can
they happen
• *** NOTE: many examples covering this material have already
been done in chapters 1,2 (for example), using relativistic motion
of particles, particle decays, half life, and mean life
Chapters 9, 11, 12
Suggested problems from book
• Binding energy, dissociation energy, repulsion
energy of molecules
• Rotational energy and separation of nuclei in
molecules, transitions between rotational E
levels
• Separation between E levels in molecules
• Vibrational energy, moment of inertia,
equilibrium separation of atoms in molecules
• Uncertainty principle in beta decays
• Radii of nuclei
• Radioactivity: half-life, decay constant, counting
rates, activity, atoms in samples
• E of particles participating in alpha, beta decays
• Compare strength of forces, mass of force
carrying particles
• Reactions using cross section, beam and target
information
• Q and total E produced in fusion reactions
• Range of alpha particles, decay constant/half life
in alpha decays
• Threshold for photodisintegration
• E of decay products in beta decay without a
neutrino being produced
• Conservation of quantities in annihilation
reactions
• Identifying forces that allow interactions to
proceed, allowed & forbidden interactions
under these forces
• Conserved quantities in particle reactions
• Given a quark combination, calculate the
various quantum numbers of the particle
• Given an interaction, determine the quantum
numbers and quark content of the final
product
• Pi0 decay in flight, angle of emission of
photons
• Total E of decay products in particle
interactions
• Time of travel for neutrinos