Massachusetts Institute of Technology

22.02
INTRODUCTION
to
APPLIEDNUCLEARPHYSICS
Spring 2012
Prof.PaolaCappellaro
Nuclear Science and Engineering Department
[This page intentionally blank.]
2

Contents
1 Introduction to Nuclear Physics 5
1.1 Basic Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 5
1.1.1 Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 5
1.1.2 Units, dimensions and physicalconstants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 6
1.1.3 Nuclear Radius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 6
1.2 Bindingenergyand Semi-empiricalmass formula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 6
1.2.1 Bindingenergy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 6
1.2.2 Semi-empiricalmass formula . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 7
1.2.3 Line of Stabilityin the Chart ofnuclides. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 9
1.3 Radioactive decay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 11
1.3.1 Alpha decay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 11
1.3.2 Beta decay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 13
1.3.3 Gammadecay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 15
1.3.4 Spontaneous ssion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 15
1.3.5 Branching Ratios. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 15
2 Introduction to Quantum Mechanics 17
2.1 Laws of Quantum Mechanics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 17
2.2 States, observables andeigenvalues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 18
2.2.1 Propertiesofeigenfunctions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 21
2.2.2 Reviewof linear Algebra. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 22
2.3 Measurement and probability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 24
2.3.1 Wavefunction collapse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 25
2.3.2 Positionmeasurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 25
2.3.3 Momentummeasurement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 26
2.3.4 Expectation values. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 26
2.4 Energyeigenvalue problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 28
2.4.1 Freeparticle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 29
2.5 Operators, Commutators and UncertaintyPrinciple . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 30
2.5.1 Commutator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 30
2.5.2 Commutingobservables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 32
2.5.3 Uncertainty principle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 33
3 Scattering, Tunneling and Alpha Decay 35
3.1 Review: Energyeigenvalue problem........................................... 35
3.2 Unbound Problems in Quantum Mechanics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 36
3.2.1 Innite barrier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 36
3.2.2 Finite barrier. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 38
3.3 Alpha decay........................................................ 41
3.3.1 Energetics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 41
3.3.2 Quantummechanics description ofalpha decay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 42
4 Energy Levels 47
4.1 Bound problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 47
4.1.1 Energyin Square innite well (particle in a box) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 47
4.1.2 Finite square well. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 50
4.2 Quantum Mechanics in 3D: Angular momentum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 53
4.2.1 Schrodinger equation in sphericalcoordinates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 53
4.2.2 Angular momentum operator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 54
4.2.3 Spin angular momentum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 56
4.2.4 Addition ofangular momentum. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 57
4.3 Solutions to the Schrodinger equation in 3D...................................... 60
4.3.1 The Hydrogen atom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 61
4.3.2 Atomic periodicstructure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 62
4.3.3 The Harmonic Oscillator Potential . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 63
4.4 Identical particles..................................................... 67
4.4.1 Bosons,fermions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 67
4.4.2 Exchange operator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 67
4.4.3 Pauliexclusion principle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 67
3




5 Nuclear Structure 69
5.1 Characteristics of the nuclear force. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 69
5.2 The Deuteron....................................................... 70
5.2.1 Reduced Hamiltonian in the center-of-mass frame. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 70
5.2.2 Groundstate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 70
5.2.3 Deuteronexcitedstate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 72
5.2.4 Spin dependence ofnuclear force . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 73
5.3 Nuclear models. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 74
5.3.1 Shellstructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 74
5.3.2 Nucleons Hamiltonian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 75
5.3.3 Spin orbit interaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 78
5.3.4 Spin pairingandvalence nucleons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 80
6 Time Evolution in Quantum Mechanics 83
6.1 Time-dependent Schrodinger equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 83
6.1.1 Solutions to the Schrodinger equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 83
6.1.2 Unitary Evolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 85
6.2 Evolution ofwave-packets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 85
6.3 Evolution ofoperators andexpectation values..................................... 87
6.3.1 Heisenberg Equation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 88
6.3.2 Ehrenfests theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 88
6.4 Fermis Golden Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 90
7 Radioactive decay 93
7.1 Gammadecay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 93
7.1.1 Classical theoryofradiation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 94
7.1.2 Quantummechanical theory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 95
7.1.3 Extension to Multipoles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 97
7.1.4 Selection Rules. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 98
7.2 Beta decay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..100
7.2.1 Reactions and phenomenology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..100
7.2.2 Conservation laws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..101
7.2.3 Fermis Theoryof Beta Decay. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..101
8 Applications of Nuclear Science 105
8.1 Interaction ofradiation withmatter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..105
8.1.1 Cross Section. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..105
8.1.2 Neutron Scatteringand Absorption. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..106
8.1.3 Charged particle interaction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..110
8.1.4 Electromagnetic radiation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..117
4












1. IntroductiontoNuclearPhysics
1.1 Basic Concepts
1.1.1 Terminology
1.1.2 Units,dimensionsandphysicalconstants
1.1.3 NuclearRadius
1.2 Binding energy and Semi-empirical mass formula
1.2.1 Bindingenergy
1.2.2 Semi-empiricalmassformula
1.2.3 LineofStabilityintheChartofnuclides
1.3 Radioactive decay
1.3.1 Alphadecay
1.3.2 Betadecay
1.3.3 Gammadecay
1.3.4 Spontaneousssion
1.3.5 BranchingRatios
1.1BasicConcepts
InthischapterwereviewsomenotationsandbasicconceptsinNuclearPhysics.Thechapterismeanttosetupa
commonlanguagefortherestofthematerialwewillcoveraswellasrisingquestionsthatwewillanswerlateron.
1.1.1Terminology
Agivenatomisspeciedbythenumberof
- neutrons:N
- protons:Z
- electrons:thereareZelectroninneutralatoms
Atomsofthesameelement havesameatomicnumberZ.Theyarenotallequal,however.Isotopes ofthesame
elementhavedierent#ofneutronsN.
A
Isotopesaredenotedby X
N
ormoreoftenby
Z
A
Z
X
235
whereX isthechemicalsymbolandA =Z +N isthemassnumber.E.g.:
92
U,
238
U [theZnumberisredundant,
thusitisoftenomitted].
Whentalkingofdierentnucleiwecanrefertothemas
Nuclide:atom/nucleuswithaspecicNandZ.
Isobar:nuclideswithsamemass#A (=Z, N).
Isotone:nuclideswithsameN, =Z.
Isomer:samenuclide(butdierentenergystate).
5

1.1.2Units,dimensionsandphysicalconstants
1.6 10
19
Nuclearenergiesaremeasuredin powersoftheunitElectronvolt:1eV= J.Theelectronvoltcorresponds
tothekineticenergygainedbyanelectronacceleratedthroughapotentialdierenceof1volt.Nuclearenergiesare
usuallyintherangeofMeV(mega-electronvolt,or10
6
eV).
Nuclearmassesaremeasuredintermsoftheatomic mass unit :1amu or1u= 1.66 10
27
kg.Oneamuisequivalent
to 1/12ofthemassofaneutralground-stateatomof
12
C. Sinceelectronsaremuch lighterthan protonsandneutrons
(andprotonsandneutronshavesimilarmass),onenucleonhasmassofabout1amu.
Becauseofthemass-energyequivalence,wewilloftenexpressmassesintermsofenergyunits.Toconvertbetween
energy(inMeV)andmass(inamu)theconversionfactorisofcoursethespeedoflightsquare(sinceE =mc
2
).In
2
theseunitswehave:c = 931.502MeV/u.
- Protonmass:938.280MeV/c
2
.
- Neutronmass:938.573MeV/c
2
.
- Electronmass:0.511MeV/c
2
.
Note:youcanndmostofthesevaluesinKrane(andonline!)
Scalesofmagnitudefortypicallengthsarefemtometer(1fm=10
15
m)alsocalledFermi(F)andAngstrom1

= A
10
10
m(foratomicproperties)whiletypicaltimescalesspanaverybroadrange.
Physicalconstantsthatwewillencounterincludethespeedoflight,c =299, 792, 458ms
1
,theelectroncharge,
e = 1.602176487 10
19
C,thePlanckconstanth = 6.62606896 10
34
Jsand,AvogadrosnumberN
a
=
6.02214179 10
23
mol
1
,thepermittivityofvacuum
0
= 8.854187817 10
12
F m
1
(F=Faraday)andmany
others.Agoodreference(online)isNIST:http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/index.html
Thereyoucanalsondatooltoconvertenergyindierentunits:
http://physics.nist.gov/cuu/Constants/energy.html
1.1.3NuclearRadius
Theradiusofanucleusisnotwelldened,sincewecannotdescribeanucleusasarigidspherewithagivenradius.
However,wecanstillhaveapracticaldenitionfortherangeatwhichthedensityofthenucleonsinsideanucleus
approximateoursimplemodelofasphereformanyexperimentalsituations(e.g.inscatteringexperiments).
Asimpleformulathatlinksthenucleusradiustothenumberofnucleonsistheempirical radius formula:
R
0
A
1/3
R =
1.2BindingenergyandSemi-empiricalmassformula
1.2.1Bindingenergy
Twoimportantnuclearpropertthatwewanttostudyarethenuclearbindingenergyandthemassofnuclides.
Youcouldthinkthat since we know themasses ofthe protonandthe neutron, we couldsimplyndthemasses ofall
?
nuclideswiththesimpleformula:m
N
=Zm
p
+Nm
n
.However,itisseenexperimentallythatthisisnotthecase.
Fromspecialrelativitytheory,weknowthattoeachmasscorrespondssomeenergy,E =mc
2
.Thenifwejustsum
upthemassesofalltheconstituentsofanucleuswewouldhavehowmuchenergytheyrepresent.Themassofa
nucleusisalsorelatedtoitsintrinsicenergy.Itthusmakessensethatthisisnotonlythesumofitsconstituent
energies,sinceweexpectthatsomeotherenergyisspenttokeepthenucleustogether.Iftheenergywereequal,then
itwouldntbefavorabletohaveboundnuclei,andallthenucleiwouldbeunstable,constantlychangingfromtheir
boundstatetoasumofprotonsandneutrons.
The binding energyofanucleus is then given by the dierence inmassenergy between thenucleusand itsconstituents.
A
Foranucleus thebindingenergyB isgivenby
Z
X
N

B = Zm
p
+Nm
n
m
N
(
A
X)
However,wewanttoexpressthis quantity intermsofexperimentallyaccessible quantities. Thuswewritethenuclear
2 2
massintermsoftheatomicmass,thatwecanmeasure,m
N
(
A
X)c = [m
A
(
A
X) Zm
e
]c +B
e
,wherem
A
(
A
X)
istheatomic massofthenucleus.WefurtherneglecttheelectronicbindingenergyB
e
bysettingm
N
(
A
X)c =
2
[m
A
(
A
X) Zm
e
]c .
6
2

c
2




















Wenallyobtaintheexpressionforthenuclearbindingenergy:
2
4
6
8
50 100 150 200 250
Fig. 1:Bindingenergy pernucleon (B/A inMeVvs.A)ofstablesnuclides(Red)andunstablenuclides(Gray).
Quantitiesofinterestarealsotheneutronandprotonseparationenergies:
Z
X
N
) B(
A1
S
n
=B(
A
X
N1
)
Z
S
p
=B(
Z
A
X
N
) B(
A1
X
N
)
Z1
whicharetheanalogousoftheionizationenergiesinatomicphysics,reectingtheenergiesofthevalence nucleons.
Wewillseethattheseenergiesshowsignaturesoftheshellstructureofnuclei.
1.2.2Semi-empiricalmassformula
The bindingenergyisusually plottedasB/A orbindingenergy pernucleon.Thisillustrates that the bindingenergy
isoverallsimplyproportionaltoA,sinceB/A ismostlyconstant.
Therearehowevercorrectionstothistrend.ThedependenceofB/A onA (andZ) iscapturedbythesemi-empirical
mass formula.Thisformulaisbasedonrstprincipleconsiderations(amodelforthenuclearforce)andonexperi-
mentalevidencetondtheexact parameters deningit. In thismodel, the so-calledliquid-drop model,allnucleons
areuniformly distributed insideanucleusandare boundtogether bythenuclearforcewhiletheCoulombinteraction
causesrepulsionamong protons.Characteristicsofthenuclearforce(itsshortrange)andoftheCoulombinteraction
explain partofthesemi-empiricalmass formula. However,other (smaller)corrections have beenintroduced totake
intoaccountvariationsinthebindingenergythatemergebecauseofitsquantum-mechanicalnature(andthatgive
risetothenuclear shell model).
Thesemi-empiricalmassformula(SEMF)is
M(Z, A) =Zm(
1
H) +Nm
n
B(Z, A)/c
2
wherethebindingenergyB(Z, A) isgivenbythefollowingformula:
(A 2Z)
2
A
3/4
B(A, Z) =a
v
A a
s
A
2/3
a
c
Z(Z 1)A
1/3
a
sym
+a
p
A

volume surface
WewillnowstudyeachtermintheSEMF.

Coulomb

symmetry

pairing
7
B =
_
Zm
p
+Nm
n
[m
A
(
A
X) Zm
e
]
_
c
2

A. Volume term
Thersttermisthevolumeterma
v
A thatdescribeshowthebindingenergyismostlyproportionaltoA.Whyis
thatso?
Rememberthatthebindingenergyis ameasureoftheinteractionamongnucleons.Since nucleonsareclosely packed
inthenucleusandthenuclearforcehasaveryshortrange,eachnucleonendsupinteractingonlywithafew
neighbors.Thismeansthatindependentlyofthetotalnumberofnucleons,eachoneofthemcontributeinthesame
way.ThustheforceisnotproportionaltoA(A 1)/2 A
2
(thetotal#ofnucleonsonenucleoncaninteractwith)
butitssimply proportionaltoA.Theconstantof proportionalityisattingparameterthatisfoundexperimentally
tobea
v
=15.5MeV.
Thisvalueissmallerthanthebindingenergyofthenucleonstotheirneighborsasdeterminedbythestrengthofthe
nuclear(strong)interaction.Itisfound(andwewillstudymorelater)thattheenergybindingonenucleontothe
othernucleonsisontheorderof50MeV.Thetotalbindingenergyisinsteadthedierencebetweentheinteraction
ofanucleontoitsneighborandthekineticenergyofthenucleonitself.Asforelectronsinanatom,thenucleonsare
fermions, thus theycannotall be in the same statewithzero kinetic energy, but theywillllupallthe kinetic energy
levelsaccordingtoPaulisexclusionprinciple.Thismodel,whichtakesintoaccountthenuclearbindingenergyand
thekineticenergyduetothellingofshells,indeedgivesanaccurateestimatefora
v
.
B. Surface term
Thesurfaceterm,a
s
A
2/3
,alsobasedonthestrongforce,isacorrectiontothevolumeterm.Weexplainedthe
volumetermasarisingfromthefactthateachnucleoninteractswithaconstantnumberofnucleons,independentof
A.Whilethisisvalidfornucleonsdeepwithinthenucleus,thosenucleonsonthesurfaceofthenucleushavefewer
nearestneighbors.Thistermissimilartosurfaceforcesthatariseforexampleindropletsofliquids,amechanism
thatcreatessurfacetensioninliquids.
SincethevolumeforceisproportionaltoB
V
A,weexpectasurfaceforcetobe (B
V
)
2/3
(sincethesurface
S V
2/3
).Alsothetermmustbesubtractedfromthevolumetermandweexpectthecoecienta
s
tohavea
similarorderofmagnitudeasa
v
.Infacta
s
= 13 18MeV.
C. Coulomb term
Thethirdterma
c
Z(Z 1)A
1/3
derivesfromtheCoulombinteractionamong protons,andofcourseis proportional
toZ.ThistermissubtractedfromthevolumetermsincetheCoulombrepulsionmakesanucleuscontainingmany
protonslessfavorable(moreenergetic).
Tomotivatetheformofthetermandestimatethecoecienta
c
,thenucleusismodeledasauniformlycharged
sphere.Thepotentialenergyofsuchachargedistributionis
3 Q
2
1
E =
4
0
5R
4
(
r
d
3
sincefromtheuniformdistributioninsidethespherewehavethechargeq(r) = r
3
=Q andthepotential
3 R
energyisthen:
R
1 q r) 1 q(r) 1 q(r)
E = dq(r) = d
3
r = dr r
2

4
0
|r| 4
0
|r| 4 r
0
R R 4
3 Q
2
1 3Q r

3
1 1 Q
2
r 1
= 4 dr r
2
Q = dr =
R
6
4
0
4R
3
R r 4
0 0
4
0
5R
0
UsingtheempiricalradiusformulaR =R
0
A
1/3
andthetotalchargeQ
2
=e
2
Z(Z 1)(reectingthefactthatthis
termwillappearonlyifZ > 1,i.e.ifthereareatleasttwoprotons)wehave:
Q
2
e
2
Z(Z 1)
=
R
0
A
1/3
R
2
whichgivestheshapeoftheCoulombterm.Thentheconstanta
c
canbeestimatedfroma
c

3 e
,with
5 40 R0
R
0
= 1.25fm,tobea
c
0.691MeV,notfarfromtheexperimentalvalue.
8

_
(

_
3

0
_
4
(

_
_
0
_
_
0
3
_
=

50 100 150 200
5
10
15
Volume
Volume + Surface
Volume + Surface+Coulomb
Volume + Surface+Coulomb+Asymmetry
Fig.2:SEMFforstablenuclides.WeplotB(Z, A)/A vs.A.Thevarioustermcontributionsareaddedonebyonetoarriveat
thenalformula.
D. Symmetry term
The Coulombtermseemsto indicatedthat itwould be favorableto have less protons inanucleusandmoreneutrons.
However,thisisnotthecaseandwehavetoinvokesomethingbeyondtheliquid-dropmodelinordertoexplain
thefactthatwehaveroughlythesamenumberofneutronsandprotonsinstablenuclei.Thereisthusacorrection
termintheSEMFwhichtriestotakeintoaccountthesymmetryinprotonsandneutrons.Thiscorrection(andthe
followingone)canonlybeexplainedbyamorecomplexmodelofthenucleus,theshell model,togetherwiththe
quantum-mechanicalexclusion principle,thatwewillstudylaterintheclass.Ifweweretoaddmoreneutrons,they
willhavetobemoreenergetic,thusincreasingthetotalenergyofthenucleus.Thisincreasemorethano-setthe
Coulombrepulsion,sothatitismorefavorabletohaveanapproximatelyequalnumberofprotonsandneutrons.
(A2Z)
2
Theshapeofthesymmetrytermis .Itcanbemoreeasilyunderstoodbyconsideringthefactthatthisterm
A
goestozeroforA = 2Z anditseectissmallerforlargerA (whileforsmallernucleithesymmetryeectismore
important).Thecoecientisa
sym
= 23MeV
E. Pairing term
Thenaltermislinkedtothephysicalevidencethatlike-nucleonstendtopairo.Thenitmeansthatthebinding
energyisgreater ( > 0)ifwehaveaneven-evennucleus,wherealltheneutronsandalltheprotonsarepaired-o.
Ifwehaveanucleuswithbothanoddnumberofneutronsandofprotons,itisthusfavorabletoconvertoneof
theprotonsintoaneutronsorvice-versa(ofcourse,takingintoaccounttheotherconstraintsabove).Thus,with
allotherfactorconstant, we haveto subtract ( < 0)atermfromthebindingenergyforodd-oddcongurations.
Finally,foreven-oddcongurationswedonotexpectanyinuencefromthis pairingenergy ( =0).Thepairing
termisthen
A
3/4
+a
p
even-even
A
3/4
+a
p
= 0even-odd
a
p
A
3/4
odd-odd
witha
p
34MeV.[Sometimestheform A
1/2
isalsofound].
1.2.3LineofStabilityintheChartofnuclides
BytakingtherstderivativewrtZ wecancalculatetheoptimalZ suchthatthemassisminimum.Weobtain:

1
A
1/3 ac

1+
A 4 asym
Z
min
=
1
A
2/3
ac
2 1 +
4 asym
)
1
)
A 1
A
2/3
a
c
A 1 a
c
A
2/3
1 + 1
2 4 a
sym
2 4 a
sym
whichgivesZ
A
atsmallA,buthasacorrectionforlargerA suchthatZ 0.41A forheavynuclei.[Notethe
2
approximationandseriesexpansionistakenbecausea
c
a
sym
]
IfweplotZ/A vs.A thenuclidesliebetween1/2and0.41.Thereisalineofstability,followingthestableisotopes
(redingure4andblackingure3).Theisotopesarethenvariouslylabeled,forexampleherebytheirlifetime.
Interactiveinformationisavailableathttp://www.nndc.bnl.gov/chart/.
9
_
_
_
_
+
_
Brookhaven National Laboratory. All rights reserved. This content is excluded from our Creative
Commons license. For more information, see http://ocw.mit.edu/fairuse.
Fig.3:Chartofnuclidesfromhttp://www.nndc.bnl.gov/chart/.Eachnuclideiscolor-labeledbyitshalf-life(blackforstable
nuclides)
120
0.55
100
0.50
80
0.45
60
0.40
40
0.35
20
50 100 150 200 250
50 100 150 200 250
Fig.4:Nuclidechart(obtainedwiththesoftwareMathematica).Left:Z vs.A,Right:Z/A vs.A.Inred,stablenuclides.The
blacklinerepresentsZ =A/2.
10

1.3 Radioactivedecay
Radioactive decay is the process inwhichanunstablenucleusspontaneously losesenergy byemitting ionizing particles
andradiation.Thisdecay,orlossofenergy,resultsinanatomofonetype,calledtheparent nuclide,transforming
toanatomofadierenttype,namedthedaughter nuclide.
The three principalmodesof decayare calledthe alpha, betaand gamma decays. Wewillstudytheir dierences and
exactmechanismslaterintheclass.Howeverthesedecaymodessharesomecommonfeaturethatwedescribenow.
Whattheseradioactivedecaysdescribearefundamentallyquantumprocesses,i.e.transitionsamongtwoquantum
states.Thus,theradioactivedecayisstatisticalinnature,andwecanonlydescribetheevolutionoftheexpectation
valuesofquantitiesofinterest,forexamplethenumberofatomsthatdecayperunittime.Ifweobserveasingle
unstablenucleus,wecannotknowaprioriwhenitwilldecaytoitsdaughternuclide.Thetimeatwhichthedecay
happensisrandom,thusateachinstantwecanhavetheparentnuclidewithsomeprobabilityp andthedaughter
withprobability1 p.Thisstochasticprocesscanonlybedescribedintermsofthequantummechanicalevolution
ofthenucleus.However,ifwelookatanensembleofnuclei,wecanpredictateachinstanttheaveragenumberof
parentandaughternuclides.
IfwecallthenumberofradioactivenucleiN, thenumberof decayingatoms perunittimeisdN/dt.Itisfoundthat
thisrateisconstantintimeanditisproportionaltothenumberofnucleithemselves:
d N
=N(t)
d t
Theconstantofproportionality iscalledthedecay constant.Wecanalsorewritetheaboveequationas
dN/dt
=
N
where the RHS is the probability perunittime foroneatom to decay. The fact that this probabilityisaconstant is
acharacteristicofallradioactivedecay.Italsoleadstotheexponential law of radioactive decay :
t
N(t) =N(0)e
Wecanalsodenethemean lifetime
= 1/
andthehalf-life
t
1/2
=ln(2)/
whichisthetimeittakesforhalfoftheatomstodecay,andtheactivity
A(t) =N(t)

SinceA canalsobeobtainedas ,theactivitycanbeestimatedfromthenumberofdecaysN duringasmall

timet suchthatt t
1/2
.
Acommonsituationoccurswhenthe daughternuclideisalsoradioactive. Thenwe haveachainofradioactive decays,
eachgovernedbytheirdecaylaws.Forexample,inachainN
1
N
2
N
3
,thedecayofN
1
andN
2
isgivenby:
dN
1
=
1
N
1
dt, dN
2
= +
1
N
1
dt
2
N
2
dt
Anothercommoncharacteristicofradioactivedecaysisthattheyareawayforunstablenucleitoreachamore
energeticallyfavorable(hencestable)conguration.In and decays,anucleusemitsa or particle,trying
toapproachthemoststablenuclide,whileinthe decayanexcitedstatedecaystowardthegroundstatewithout
changingnuclearspecies.
1.3.1Alphadecay
Ifwego backtothe bindingenergy permassnumberplot (B/A vs.A)weseethatthereisabump(apeak)for
A 60 100.Thismeansthatthereisacorrespondingminimum(orenergyoptimum)aroundthesenumbers.Then
theheaviernucleiwillwanttodecaytowardthislighternuclides,bysheddingsomeprotonsandneutrons.More
specically,thedecreaseinbindingenergyathighA isduetoCoulombrepulsion.Coulombrepulsiongrowsinfact
asZ
2
,muchfasterthanthenuclearforcewhichis A.
11

d N

d t
Particle
2
4
He
Fig.5:Alphadecayschematics
























Thiscould be thoughtas a similar process towhat happens in thession process: from a parentnuclide, two daughter
nuclidesarecreated.Inthe decaywehavespecically:
A A4
Z
X
N
X
N 2
+
Z2
4
where isthenucleusofHe-4:
2
He
2
.
The decayshould becompetingwithother processes, suchas thession into equal daughter nuclides, or into pairs
12
C including or
16
OthathavelargerB/A then.However decayisusuallyfavored.Inordertounderstandthis,
westart bylookingat theenergeticofthe decay, butwewillneedto studythe quantumoriginofthe decaytoarrive
atafullexplanation.
Image by MIT OpenCourseWare.
A. Energetics
Inanalyzingaradioactivedecay(oranynuclearreaction)animportant quantityisQ,thenetenergyreleasedinthe
2
decay:Q = (m
X
m
X
m

)c .Thisisalsoequaltothetotalkineticenergyofthefragments,hereQ =T
X
+T

(hereassumingthattheparentnuclideisatrest).
WhenQ > 0energyisreleasedinthenuclearreaction,whileforQ < 0weneedtoprovideenergytomakethe
reactionhappen.Asinchemistry,weexpecttherstreactiontobeaspontaneousreaction,whilethesecondone
doesnothappeninnaturewithoutintervention.(Therstreactionisexo-energeticthesecondendo-energetic).
NoticethatitsnocoincidencethatitscalledQ.In practicegivensomereagentsand products,Q givethequality of

1
thereaction,i.e. howenergeticallyfavorable, henceprobable, it is. Forexample in thealpha-decaylog (t
1/2
) ,
Q
whichistheGeiger-Nuttallrule(1928).
Thealphaparticlecarriesawaymostofthekineticenergy(sinceitismuchlighter)andbymeasuringthiskinetic
energyexperimentallyitispossibletoknowthemassesofunstablenuclides.
WecancalculateQ usingtheSEMF.Then:
B(
A4
Q

= X
N2
) +B(
4
He) B(
A
=B(A 4, Z 2) B(A, Z) +B(
4
He)
Z
X
N
)
Z2
Wecanapproximatethenitedierencewiththerelevantgradient:
Sincewearelookingatheavynuclei,weknowthatZ 0.41A (insteadofZ A/2)andweobtain
Q

36.68 +44.9A
1/3
+1.02A
2/3
,
wherethesecondtermcomesfromthesurfacecontributionandthelasttermistheCoulombterm(weneglectthe
pairingterm,sinceaprioriwedonotknowifa
p
iszeroornot).
12
Q

= [B(A4, Z 2) B(A, Z 2)] + [B(A, Z 2) B(A, Z)] +B(

4
He) = 4
B
A
2
B
Z
+B(
4
He)
= 28.3 4a
v
+
8
3
a
s
A
1/3
+ 4a
c
_
1
Z
3A
__
Z
A
1/3
_
4a
sym
_
1
2Z
A
+ 3a
p
A
7/4
_
2




















Then,theCoulombterm,althoughsmall,makesQ increaseatlargeA.WendthatQ 0forA 150,anditis
Q 6MeVforA =200.AlthoughQ > 0,wendexperimentallythat decayonlyariseforA 200.
Further,takeforexample Francium-200 (
200
Fr
113
).IfwecalculateQ

fromtheexperimentallyfoundmass dierences
87
weobtainQ

7.6MeV(theproductis
196
At).Wecandothesamecalculationforthehypotheticaldecayintoa
12
Candremainingfragment (
188
Tl
107
):
81
Z
X
N
) m(
A12
Q12
C
=c
2
[m(
A
X
N6
) m(
12
C)] 28MeV
Z6
Thusthissecondreactionseemstobemoreenergetic,hencemorefavorablethanthealpha-decay,yetitdoesnot
occur (some decays involvingC-12 have beenobserved, but their branchingratiosaremuchsmaller).
Thus, lookingonlyattheenergeticofthedecaydoesnotexplainsome questionsthatsurroundthealphadecay:
- Whytheresno
12
C-decay? (ortosomeof thistightlyboundnuclides,e.gO-16etc.)
- Whytheresnospontaneousssionintoequaldaughters?
- WhytheresalphadecayonlyforA 200?

1
- WhatistheexplanationofGeiger-Nuttallrule?logt
1/2

Q
1.3.2Betadecay
Thebetadecayisaradioactivedecayinwhichaprotoninanucleusisconvertedintoaneutron(orvice-versa).
ThusA isconstant,butZ andN changeby1.Intheprocessthenucleusemitsabetaparticle(eitheranelectron
orapositron)andquasi-masslessparticle,theneutrino.
Courtesy of Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility - Office
of Science Education. Used with permission.
Fig.6:Betadecayschematics
Thereare3typesofbetadecay:
A A
Z
X
N

Z+1
X
N1
+e +
Thisisthe

decay(ornegativebetadecay).Theunderlyingreactionis:

n p +e +
thatcorrespondstotheconversionofaprotonintoaneutronwiththeemissionofanelectronandananti-neutrino.
Therearetwoothertypesofreactions,the
+
reaction,
A A + +
e + p n +e +
Z
X
N Z1
X
N+1
+
whichseestheemissionofapositron(theelectronanti-particle)andaneutrino;andtheelectroncapture:
A A
Z
X
N
+e p +e n +
Z1
X
N+1
+
aprocessthatcompeteswith,orsubstitutes,thepositronemission.
13









































Recallthemassofnuclideasgivenbythesemi-empiricalmassformula.IfwekeepA xed,theSEMFgivesthe
bindingenergyasafunctionofZ.TheonlytermthatdependsexplicitlyonZ istheCoulombterm.Byinspection
weseethatB Z
2
. Then from the SEMFwe have that themassesof possiblenuclideswiththesamemassnumber
lieonaparabola.NuclideslowerintheparabolahavesmallerM andarethusmorestable.Inordertoreachthat
minimum,unstablenuclidesundergoadecayprocesstotransformexcessprotonsinneutrons(andvice-versa).
49
In
50
Sn
51
Sb
52
Te
53
I
55
Cs
54
Xe
56
Ba
A=125
49
In
50
Sn
51
Sb
52
Te
53
I
55
Cs
54
Xe
56
Ba
A=128
57
La
Fig.7:NuclearMassChainforA=125,(left)andA=128(right)
Thebetadecayistheradioactivedecayprocessthatcanconvertprotonsintoneutrons(andvice-versa).Wewill
studymoreindepththismechanism,butherewewantsimplytopointouthowthisprocesscanbeenergetically
favorable,andthuswecanpredictwhichtransitionsarelikelytooccur,basedonlyontheSEMF.
Forexample,forA =125ifZ < 52wehaveafavorablen p conversion(betadecay)whileforZ > 52wehave
p n (orpositronbetadecay),sothatthestablenuclideisZ =52(tellurium).
A. Conservation laws
Astheneutrinoishardtodetect,initiallythebetadecayseemedtoviolateenergyconservation.Introducingan
extraparticleintheprocessallowsonetorespectconservationofenergy.
TheQvalueofabetadecayisgivenbytheusualformula:

) m
e
2
Q

= [m
N
(
A
X) m
N
(
A
]c .
Z+1
X
Usingtheatomicmassesandneglectingtheelectronsbindingenergiesasusualwehave
2 2
Q

={[m
A
(
A
X) Zm
e
] [m
A
(
A
) (Z +1)m
e
] m
e
}c = [m
A
(
A
X) m
A
(
A
)]c .
Z+1
X
Z+1
X
The kineticenergy (equalto the Q)isshared bytheneutrino
andtheelectron(weneglectanyrecoilofthemassivenucleus).
Then,theemergingelectron (remember,theonly particlethat
wecanreallyobserve)doesnothaveaxedenergy,asit
wasforexampleforthegammaphoton.Butitwillexhibit
aspectrumofenergy(orthenumberofelectronatagiven
energy)aswellasadistributionofmomenta.Wewillseehow
wecanreproduce these plots byanalyzingthe QM theoryof
betadecay.
Examples
64
64 30
Zn +e +, Q

0.57MeV =
29
Cu
64 +
28
Ni +e +, Q

= 0.66MeV
Theneutrinoand beta particle (

)sharetheenergy.Since Neil Spooner. All rights reserved. This content is excluded

theneutrinosareverydiculttodetect(aswewillseethey
from our Creative Commons license. For more information,
arealmostmasslessand interactveryweakly withmatter),the
see http://ocw.mit.edu/fairuse.
electrons/positronsaretheparticlesdetectedinbeta-decay
Fig.8:Betadecayspectra:Distributionofmomentum
andtheypresentacharacteristicenergyspectrum(seeFig.
(top plots) andkineticenergy (bottom)for

(left)and .
8).

+
(right)decay.
Thedierencebetweenthespectrumofthe

particlesisduetotheCoulombrepulsionorattractionfromthe
nucleus.
14













Noticethattheneutrinosalsocarryawayangularmomentum.Theyarespin-1/2particles,withnocharge(hence
thename)andverysmallmass.Formanyyearsitwasactuallybelievedtohavezeromass.Howeverithasbeen
conrmedthatitdoeshaveamassin1998.
Otherconservedquantitiesare:
- Momentum:Themomentumisalsosharedbetweentheelectronandtheneutrino.Thustheobservedelectron
momentumrangesfromzerotoamaximumpossiblemomentumtransfer.
- Angular momentum (boththeelectronandtheneutrinohavespin1/2)
- Parity? Itturnsoutthat parity isnotconserved inthis decay. This hintstothefactthatthe interactionresponsible
violatesparityconservation(soitcannotbethesameinteractionswealreadystudies,e.m.andstronginteractions)
- Charge (thusthecreationofaprotonisforexamplealwaysaccompaniedbythecreationofanelectron)
- Lepton number:wedonotconservethetotalnumberofparticles(wecreatebetaandneutrinos).Howeverthe
numberofmassive,heavyparticles(orbaryons,composedof3quarks)isconserved.Alsotheleptonnumberis
conserved.Leptonsarefundamentalparticles(includingtheelectron,muonandtau,aswellasthethreetypesof
neutrinosassociatedwiththese3).Theleptonnumberis+1fortheseparticlesand-1fortheirantiparticles.Then
anelectronisalwaysaccompaniedbythecreationofanantineutrino,e.g.,toconservetheleptonnumber(initially
zero).
Although theenergy involved in the decaycanpredictwhethera betadecaywilloccur (Q > 0),andwhichtypeof
betadecaydoesoccur,thedecayratecanbequitedierentevenforsimilarQ-values.Considerforexample
22
Na
and
36
Cl.Theybothdecayby decay:
22
11
Na
11

22
10
Ne
12
+
+
+, Q = 0.22MeV, T1
2
= 2.6years
36
17
Cl
19

36
18
Ar
18
+

+ Q = 0.25MeV, T1
2
3 10
5
years =
Even iftheyhave veryclose Q-values,there is ave ordermagnitude in thelifetime. Thus weneedto lookcloserto
thenuclearstructureinordertounderstandthesedierences.
1.3.3Gammadecay
Inthegammadecaythenuclideisunchanged,butitgoesfromanexcitedtoalowerenergystate.Thesestatesare
calledisomericstates.Usuallythereactioniswrittenas:
A
Z
X

A
Z
X
N
+
N
wherethestarindicateanexcitedstate.Wewillstudythatthegammaenergydependsontheenergydierence
betweenthesetwostates,butwhichdecayscanhappendepend,onceagain,onthedetailsofthenuclearstructure
andonquantum-mechanicalselectionrulesassociatedwiththenuclearangularmomentum.
1.3.4Spontaneousssion
Somenucleicanspontaneouslyundergoassion,evenoutsidetheparticularconditionsfoundinanuclearreactor.
Intheprocessaheavynuclidesplitsintotwolighternuclei,ofroughlythesamemass.
1.3.5BranchingRatios
Somenucleionlydecayviaasingleprocess,butsometimestheycanundergomanydierentradioactiveprocesses,
thatcompeteonewiththeother.Therelativeintensitiesofthecompetingdecaysarecalledbranchingratios.
Branchingratiosareexpressedaspercentageorsometimesaspartialhalf-lives.Forexample,ifanucleuscandecay
bybetadecay(andothermodes)withabranchingrationb

,thepartialhalf-lifeforthebetadecayis

=b

.
15
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