Introduction to Nuclear Reactions

C.A. Bertulani, P. Danielewicz

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781351991018
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Physical Sciences
• Subtopic: Nuclear Physics

Until the publication of Introduction to Nuclear Reactions, an introductory reference on nonrelativistic nuclear reactions had been unavailable. Providing a concise overview of nuclear reactions, this reference discusses the main formalisms, ranging from basic laws to the final formulae used to calculate measurable quantities.Well known in their fields, the authors begin with a discussion of scattering theory followed by a study of its applications to specific nuclear reactions. Early chapters give a framework of scattering theory that can be easily understood by the novice. These chapters also serve as an introduction to the underlying physical ideas. The largest section of the book comprises the physical models that have been developed to account for the various aspects of nuclear reaction phenomena. The final chapters survey applications of the eikonal wavefunction to nuclear reactions as well as examine the important branch of nuclear transport equations.By combining a thorough theoretical approach with applications to recent experimental data, Introduction to Nuclear Reactions helps you understand the results of experimental measurements rather than describe how they are made. A clear treatment of the topics and coherent organization make this information understandable to students and professionals with a solid foundation in physics as well as to those with a more general science and technology background.

Chapter 1

Classical and quantum scattering

1.1 Experiments with nuclear particles

Figure 1.1 represents schematically a typical scattering experiment, in fact this is the sketch of E. Rutherford experiment in 1910 [1]. Projectiles (here, α-particles) from a source go through a collimator and collide with a target (gold foil in Rutherford’s experiment). Some projectiles are scattered by the target and reach the detector (here, a fluorescent screen). Rutherford expected them to go straight through with perhaps a minor deflection. Most did go straight through, but to his surprise some particles bounced directly off the gold sheet! What did this mean? Rutherford hypothesized that the positive alpha particles had hit a concentrated mass of positive particles, which he termed the nucleus. We shall describe the Rutherford scattering theoretically later in this chapter.

Instead of a radioactive nuclear source, as in Rutherford’s experiment, one could use particles accelerated in a beam of particles, which could be protons, electrons, positrons, pions, ions, ionized molecules, etc. According to the nature of the projectile, to the required collision energy, resolution, beam intensity, etc., a variety of accelerators may be used. Ideally, the beam should be sharp in momentum space, i.e., should have good energy resolution and be well collimated. Usually, good experiments require high count rates. This is attained with an intense beam and/or a thick target. However, if the beam it so intense that the projectiles are close enough to interact, considerable complications appear in the theoretical description. Theoretical difficulties also arise when the target is so thick that multiple scattering becomes relevant.

In figure 1.2 we show the concept of the most popular of the pa...