Basic Ideas and Concepts in Nuclear Physics, An Introductory Approach

Part A: Knowing the nucleus: the nuclear constituents and characteristics. Nuclear global properties: Introduction and outline; Nuclear mass table; Nuclear binding; Nuclear extension; Angular momentum; Nuclear moments; Hyperfine interactions; Nuclear reactions; Boxes 1a-f. General nuclear radioactive decay properties and transmutations: General radioactive decay properties; Production, decay of radioactive elements; General decay chains; Radioactive dating methods; Exotic nuclear decay modes; Boxes 2a-b. Part B: Nuclear Interactions: Strong, weak and electromagnetic forces. General methods: Time-dependent perturbation theory - a general method to study interaction properties; Time-dependent perturbation theory - facing the dynamics of the three basic interactions and phase space. Alpha-decay: the strong interaction at work: Kinematics of alpha-decay: alpha particle energy; Dynamics of alpha-decay process; Virtual levels; Penetration through the Coulomb barrier; Alpha-spectroscopy; Conclusion; Boxes 4a-b. Beta-decay: the weak interaction at work:. The old beta-decay theory; Dynamics in beta decay; Classification in beta decay; The neutrino in beta-decay; Symmetry breaking in beta-decay; Boxes 5a-e. Gamma decay: the electromagnetic interaction at work: The classical theory of radiation - a summary; Kinematics of photon emission; the electromagnetic interaction Hamiltonian - minimal coupling; Boxes 6a-b. Part C: Nuclear structure: an introduction. The liquid drop model approach: a semi-empirical method: Introduction; The semi-empirical mass formula; Nuclear stability - the mass surface and the line of stability; Boxes 7a-b. The simplest independent particle model: the Fermi-gas model: The degenerate fermion gas; The nuclear symmetry potential in the Fermi gas; Temperature ^IT=0 pressure: degenerate Fermi-gas stability. The nuclear shell model: Evidence for nuclear shell structure; The three-dimensional central Schr^D"odinger equation; The square-well potential - the energy eigenvalue problem for bound states; The harmonic oscillator potential; The spin-orbit coupling - describing real nuclei; Nuclear mean field; a short introduction to many-body physics in the nucleus; Outlook: the computer versus the atomic nucleus; Boxes 9a-b. Part D: Nuclear structure: recent developments. The nuclear mean-field - single-particle excitations and global nuclear properties: Hartree-Fock theory - a variational approach; Hartree-Fock ground-state properties; Test of single-particle motion in a mean field; Conclusion; Boxes 10a-b. The nuclear shell model - including residual interactions: Introduction; Effective interaction and operators; Two particle systems - wavefunctions and interactions; Energy spectra near and at closed shells; Large-scale shell-model calculations; Box 11a. Collective modes of motion: Nuclear vibrations; Rotational motion of deformed shapes; Algebraic description of nuclear, collective motion; Boxes 12a-b. Deformation in nuclei: shapes and rapid rotation: The harmonic anisotropic oscillator - The Nilsson model; Rotational motion - the cranking model; Rotational motion at very high spin; Boxes 13a-c. Deep inside the nucleus: subnuclear degrees of freedom and beyond: Introduction: Mesons in the nucleus; CEBAF - probing quark effects inside the nucleus; The structure of the nucleon; The quark-gluon phase of matter; Boxes 14a-c. Outlook: the atomic nucleus as part of a larger structure. Appendices.