Introduction to Modern Physics
Textbook: K. Krane, "Modern Physics", 3rd ed.

Physics 307 Spring 2013
Course Topics

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Email: myhrer@sc.edu

Relativity   |  Quantum Theory   |  Statistical Physics   |  Nuclear Physics   |  Elementary Particles

Topics expected to be covered in this course are expected to be RELATIVITY, QUANTUM THEORY, STATISTICAL PHYSICS, NUCLEAR PHYSICS, and ELEMENTARY PARTICLES.

Relativity

• Units and constants. Electron volts.
• Galilean invariance. Principle of Relativity. Inertial frames.
• Michelson-Morley experiment: electrodynamics satisfies the Principle of Relativity.
• Postulates of special relativity.
• Consequences of the postulates:
  • Time dilation.
  • Length contraction.
  • Relativity of simultaneity.
• Lorentz transformation.
• Addition of velocities.
• Relativistic invariants: charge, proper time.
• Experimental verification of special relativity
• Relativistic energy and momentum. Rest energy.
• The invariant E² - p²c² = m²c⁴.
• Energy-momentum conservation in decays and collisions.

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Quantum Theory

• Electromagnetic waves in cavities.
• Statistical mechanics: Boltzmann factor.
• Average energy of a quantized mode. Number of modes in a frequency range.
• Planck radiation formula.
• Wien's law and the Stefan-Boltzmann law.
• Photoelectric effect.
• Compton effect.
• Bremsstrahlung, X-ray diffraction, Bragg condition, pair production and annihilation.
• de Broglie waves.
• Wave-particle duality.
• Uncertainty principle.
• The Schroedinger equation.
• Solutions with definite energy and momentum.
• Standing wave solutions, definite energy but uncertain momentum.
• Particle in a box, energy spectrum.
• Schroedinger equation with a potential.
• The harmonic oscillator in classical and quantum mechanics.
• Atomic structure.
• Rutherford's experiment. The nucleus. Coulomb force.
• Bohr's model of the atom. Atomic stability and spectral lines.
• Schroedinger equation for the hydrogen atom.
• Quantum numbers n, l, and m:
  • Physical significance.
  • Rules.
• States of hydrogen: degeneracy of each level, spectroscopic notation.
• Electron spin and magnetic moment.
• Zeeman effect.

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Statistical Physics

• Maxwell distribution of speeds for the molecules of a gas.
• The Boltzmann factor.
• Fermions and Bosons. Exclusion principle.
• Fermi-Dirac and Bose-Einstein distributions.

Nuclear Physics

• Nuclear size and nucleon density as a function of r.
• Significance of the relation R = R₀ A^1/3.
• The nucleus as a Fermi gas. Typical kinetic energy of a nucleon.
• Definition of binding energy. Calculation of binding energy from mass tables.
• Significance of the curve of binding energy per particle vs. A.
• Stable nuclei as a function of Z and N=A-Z. Conclusions from its general shape.
• Unstable nuclei, fission, radioactivity.
• Alpha decay, tunneling, isotopic lifetimes.
• Beta decay, K-capture, the neutrino, weak interactions.
• Nuclear reactions, fusion, nuclear energy in stars.

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Elementary Particles

• Classification, terminology.
  • Forces: Gravitational, weak, electromagnetic, and strong.
  • Particles:
    • Old: Baryons, leptons, mesons, photons.
    • New: Weak bosons, quarks, gluons, the Higgs.
  • Conservation laws:
    • Always:
      • Energy, momentum, angular momentum, electric charge.
      • Baryon number B, lepton number L .
    • Sometimes:
      • Parity P, charge conjugation C, time reversal T.
      • Isospin I, strangeness S, charm C, bottom, top.
• Events. Historic firsts.
  • Neutrinos, pions, muons, antiparticles.
  • Internal quantum numbers: isospin conserved in strong interactions.
  • Weak interactions don't conserve parity: ⁶⁰Co decay. Helicity of neutrino and anti-neutrino.
  • Associated production, strangeness, new baryons and mesons.
  • The quark model.
  • K-meson 'flavors' produced in states that don't have definite energy. Time-reversal not OK in weak interactions.
  • ν_e not the same as ν_μ.
  • Electroweak unification, weak vector bosons, the Higgs particle(s) and LHC at CERN.
  • Color, gluons, Quantum chromodynamics.
  • Neutrino flavor oscillations, solar neutrinos.
• The Standard Model.
• The Big Bang Hypothesis --- Cosmology.

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