Department of Physics and Astronomy

PHYS 717: Nuclear Theory I

The purpose of the course is to introduce students to modern theory of nuclear many-body systems and to develop the understanding of the strong interactions in the nuclear domain.

 

 Upon completion of the course, the student should be able to understand basic ideas of:

· quark-gluon origin of the nuclear forces;

· general properties of nucleon-nucleon interactions;

· symmetries of the nuclear Hamiltonian;

· global properties of atomic nuclei and nuclear matter;

· basic models for the nuclear structure description;

· elements of nuclear reaction theory;

· nuclear decay modes.

 

Successful students should be able to:

· calculate properties of deuteron;

· calculate/estimate of nuclear properties based on empirical data and nuclear 

      models;

· calculate/estimate of the lifetimes of nuclear states that are unstable to alpha-, 

      beta-, gamma-decay, and fission using simple nuclear models;

· use nuclear models to predict low-energy level structure;

· use nuclear models to predict spins and parities of low-lying levels;

· use theory of reactions to describe simple nuclear reactions (e.g. the Breit-

      Wigner single level formula for cross section calculations).

 

Recommended textbook:

“Theoretical Nuclear And Subnuclear Physics”  by  J. D. Walecka. 

 

List of Topics:

 

· Nuclear Forces

· Theory of Deuteron

· Effective Field Theory

· Nuclear Matter

· The Shell Model

· Random Phase Approximation

· Nuclear Reactions

· Electromagnetic and Weak Interactions

· Alpha Decay, Beta-Decay, Fission