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 SERIES IN FUNDAMENTAL AND APPLIED NUCLEAR PHYSICS

Series Editors
R R Betts and W Greiner

BASIC IDEAS AND CONCEPTS IN

NUCLEAR PHYSICS
AN INTRODUCTORY APPROACH
THIRD EDITION

K Heyde
Department of Subatomic and Radiation Physics,
Universiteit Gent, Belgium

I NSTITUTE OF P HYSICS P UBLISHING

B RISTOL AND P HILADELPHIA

© IOP Publishing Ltd 2004

 ­c IOP Publishing Ltd 2004
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission
of the publisher. Multiple copying is permitted in accordance with the terms
of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency under the terms of its
agreement with Universities UK (UUK).

K Heyde has asserted his moral rights under the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act 1998 to be identified as the author of this work.

IOP Publishing Ltd and the author have attempted to trace the copyright holders of
all the material reproduced in this publication and apologize to copyright owners
if permission to publish in this form has not been obtained.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 0 7503 0980 6

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data are available

First edition 1994

Second edition 1999
Third edition 2004

Front cover image: ISOLDE collaboration/CERN, CERN Courier May 2004

­
p 26, c CERN Courier.
Commissioning Editor: John Navas
Production Editor: Simon Laurenson
Production Control: Leah Fielding
Cover Design: Victoria Le Billon
Marketing: Nicola Newey
Published by Institute of Physics Publishing, wholly owned by The Institute of
Physics, London
Institute of Physics Publishing, Dirac House, Temple Back, Bristol BS1 6BE, UK
US Office: Institute of Physics Publishing, The Public Ledger Building, Suite
929, 150 South Independence Mall West, Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA

Typeset in LATEX 2 by Text 2 Text Limited, Torquay, Devon

Printed in the UK by MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin, Cornwall

© IOP Publishing Ltd 2004

 For Daisy, Jan and Mieke

© IOP Publishing Ltd 2004

 Contents

Preface to the third edition xv

Preface to the second edition xix
Acknowledgments to the first edition
Introduction xxv

PART A
KNOWING THE NUCLEUS:
THE NUCLEAR CONSTITUENTS AND CHARACTERISTICS 1
1 Nuclear global properties 3
1.1 Introduction and outline 3
1.2 Nuclear mass table 3
1.3 Nuclear binding, nuclear masses 5
1.4 Nuclear extension: densities and radii 12
1.5 Angular momentum in the nucleus 15
1.6 Nuclear moments 17
1.6.1 Dipole magnetic moment 17
1.6.2 Electric moments—electric quadrupole moment 21
1.7 Hyperfine interactions 24
1.8 Nuclear reactions 30
1.8.1 Elementary kinematics and conservation laws 30
1.8.2 A tutorial in nuclear reaction theory 36
1.8.3 Types of nuclear reactions 40
Box 1a The heaviest artificial elements in nature: up to Z = 112 and beyond 48
Box 1b Electron scattering: nuclear form factors 51
Box 1c Proton and neutron charge distributions: status in 2004 55
Box 1d Observing the structure in the nucleon 57
Box 1e One-particle quadrupole moment 59
Box 1f An astrophysical application: alpha-capture reactions 64

© IOP Publishing Ltd 2004

 viii Contents

2 General nuclear radioactive decay properties and transmutations 67

2.1 General radioactive decay properties 67
2.2 Production and decay of radioactive elements 71
2.3 General decay chains 71
2.3.1 Mathematical formulation 72
2.3.2 Specific examples—radioactive equilibrium 75
2.4 Radioactive dating methods 78
2.5 Exotic nuclear decay modes 81
Box 2a Dating the Shroud of Turin 84
Box 2b Chernobyl: a test-case in radioactive decay chains 87
Problem set—Part A 91

PART B
NUCLEAR INTERACTIONS: STRONG, WEAK AND
ELECTROMAGNETIC FORCES 99
3 General methods 101
3.1 Time-dependent perturbation theory: a general method to study
interaction properties 101
3.2 Time-dependent perturbation theory: facing the dynamics of the
three basic interactions and phase space 103
4 Alpha-decay: the strong interaction at work 107
4.1 Kinematics of alpha-decay: alpha particle energy 107
4.2 Approximating the dynamics of the alpha-decay process 109
4.3 Virtual levels: a stationary approach to α-decay 111
4.4 Penetration through the Coulomb barrier 115
4.5 Alpha-spectroscopy 120
4.5.1 Branching ratios 120
4.5.2 Centrifugal barrier effects 121
4.5.3 Nuclear structure effects 123
4.6 Conclusion 124
Box 4a α-emission in 238
92 U146 125
Box 4b Alpha-particle formation in the nucleus: shell-model effects 127
5 Beta-decay: the weak interaction at work 131
5.1 The old beta-decay theory and the neutrino hypothesis 131
5.1.1 An historic introduction 131
5.1.2 Energy relations and Q-values in beta-decay 133
5.2 Dynamics in beta-decay 137
5.2.1 The weak interaction: a closer look 137
5.2.2 Time-dependent perturbation theory: the beta-decay
spectrum shape and lifetime 139
5.3 Classification in beta-decay 148

© IOP Publishing Ltd 2004

 Contents ix

5.3.1 The weak interaction: a spinless non-relativistic model 148

5.3.2 Introducing intrinsic spin 152
5.3.3 Fermi and Gamow–Teller beta transitions 153
5.3.4 Forbidden transitions 154
5.3.5 Electron-capture processes 155
5.4 The neutrino in beta-decay 157
5.4.1 Inverse beta processes 157
5.4.2 Double beta-decay 161
5.4.3 The neutrino mass 165
5.4.4 Different types of neutrinos: the two neutrino experiment 169
5.4.5 Neutrino oscillations: the final verdict 172
5.5 Symmetry breaking in beta-decay 180
5.5.1 Symmetries and conservation laws 180
5.5.2 The parity operation: relevance of pseudoscalar quantities 180
5.5.3 The Wu–Ambler experiment and the fall of parity
conservation 183
5.5.4 The neutrino intrinsic properties: helicity 187
Box 5a Discovering the W and Z bosons: detective work at CERN
and the construction of a theory 190
Box 5b First laboratory observation of double beta-decay 195
Box 5c The width of the Z 0 particle: measuring the number of neutrino
families 198
Box 5d The neutrino vanishing act: disappearance of electron
anti-neutrinos from Japanese reactors 203
Box 5e Experimental test of parity conservation in beta-decay: the
original paper 205
6 Gamma decay: the electromagnetic interaction at work 207
6.1 The classical theory of radiation: a summary 207
6.2 Kinematics of photon emission 211
6.3 The electromagnetic interaction Hamiltonian: minimum coupling 213
6.3.1 Constructing the electromagnetic interaction Hamiltonian 213
6.3.2 One-photon emission and absorption: the dipole
approximation 215
6.3.3 Multipole radiation 219
6.3.4 Internal electron conversion coefficients 223
6.3.5 E0—monopole transitions 225
6.3.6 Conclusion 227
Box 6a Alternative derivation of the electric dipole radiation fields 228
Box 6b How to calculate conversion coefficients and their use in
determining nuclear strucure information 229
Problem set—Part B 235

© IOP Publishing Ltd 2004

 x Contents

PART C
NUCLEAR STRUCTURE: AN INTRODUCTION 239
7 The liquid drop model approach: a semi-empirical method 241
7.1 Introduction 241
7.2 The semi-empirical mass formula: coupling the shell model and
the collective model 243
7.2.1 Volume, surface and Coulomb contributions 245
7.2.2 Shell model corrections: symmetry energy, pairing and
shell corrections 250
7.3 Nuclear stability: the mass surface and the line of stability 254
7.4 Two-neutron separation energies 259
Box 7a Neutron star stability: a bold extrapolation 264
Box 7b Beyond the neutron drip line 265
8 The simplest independent particle model: the Fermi-gas model 266
8.1 The degenerate fermion gas 266
8.2 The nuclear symmetry potential in the Fermi gas 269
8.3 Temperature T = 0 pressure: degenerate Fermi-gas stability 270
9 The nuclear shell model 275
9.1 Evidence for nuclear shell structure 275
9.2 The three-dimensional central Schrödinger equation 278
9.3 The square-well potential: the energy eigenvalue problem for
bound states 281
9.4 The harmonic oscillator potential 284
9.5 The spin–orbit coupling: describing real nuclei 287
9.6 Nuclear mean field: a short introduction to many-body physics in
the nucleus 291
9.6.1 Hartree–Fock: a tutorial 294
9.6.2 Measuring the nuclear density distributions: a test of
single-particle motion 297
9.7 Outlook: the computer versus the atomic nucleus 301
Box 9a Explaining the bound deuteron 305
Box 9b Origin of the nuclear shell model 309
Problem set—Part C 312

PART D
NUCLEAR STRUCTURE: RECENT DEVELOPMENTS 319
10 The nuclear mean-field: single-particle excitations and global nuclear
properties 321
10.1 Hartree–Fock theory: a variational approach 321
10.2 Hartree–Fock ground-state properties 325
10.3 Test of single-particle motion in a mean field 329

© IOP Publishing Ltd 2004

 Contents xi

10.3.1 Electromagnetic interactions with nucleons 329

10.3.2 Hartree–Fock description of one-nucleon emission 331
10.3.3 Deep-lying single-hole states—fragmentation of
single-hole strength 333
10.4 Conclusion 336
Box 10a Extended Skyrme forces in Hartree–Fock theory 339
Box 10b Probing how nucleons move inside the nucleus using (e, e
p)
reactions 340
11 The nuclear shell model: including the residual interactions 343
11.1 Introduction 343
11.2 Effective interaction and operators 343
11.3 Two particle systems: wavefunctions and interactions 351
11.3.1 Two-particle wavefunctions 351
11.3.2 Configuration mixing: model space and model interaction 357
11.4 Energy spectra near and at closed shells 364
11.4.1 Two-particle spectra 364
11.4.2 Closed-shell nuclei: 1p–1h excitations 366
11.5 Large-scale shell-model calculations 371
11.6 A new approach to the nuclear many-body problem: shell-model
Monte Carlo methods 380
11.7 Spectral properties of the nuclear shell-model many-body system 389
Box 11a Large-scale shell-model calculations: making contact with
deformed bands 396
12 Nuclear physics of very light nuclei 398
12.1 Introduction: Physics of nuclear binding and stability 398
12.2 The theoretical study of very light systems 405
Nuclear structure—transition section 408
13 Collective modes of motion 411
13.1 Nuclear vibrations 412
13.1.1 Isoscalar vibrations 413
13.1.2 Sum rules in the vibrational model 418
13.1.3 Giant resonances 420
13.2 Rotational motion of deformed shapes 424
13.2.1 The Bohr Hamiltonian 424
13.2.2 Realistic situations 431
13.2.3 Electromagnetic quadrupole properties 433
13.3 Algebraic description of nuclear, collective motion 437
13.3.1 Symmetry concepts in nuclear physics 437
13.3.2 Symmetries of the IBM 439
13.3.3 The proton–neutron interacting boson model: IBM-2 444
13.3.4 Extension of the interacting boson model 451
13.4 Shape coexistence and phase transitions 453

© IOP Publishing Ltd 2004

 xii Contents

13.4.1 Shape coexistence: introduction and experimental facts 453

13.4.2 Shape phase transitions in atomic nuclei 455
Box 13a Double giant resonances in nuclei 458
Box 13b Magnetic electron scattering at Darmstadt: probing the nuclear
currents in deformed nuclei 461
Box 13c A triplet of different states in 186 Pb 465
14 Deformation in nuclei: shapes and rapid rotation 467
14.1 The harmonic anisotropic oscillator: the Nilsson model 467
14.2 Rotational motion: the cranking model 476
14.3 Rotational motion at very high spin 480
14.3.1 Backbending phenomenon 480
14.3.2 Deformation energy surfaces at very high spin: super- and
hyperdeformation 488
Box 14a Evidence for a ‘singularity’ in the nuclear rotational band structure 495
Box 14b The superdeformed band in 152Dy 497
15 Nuclear physics at the extremes of stability: weakly bound quantum
systems and exotic nuclei 501
15.1 Introduction 501
15.2 Nuclear structure at the extremes of stability 502
15.2.1 Theoretical concepts and extrapolations: changing mean
fields? 502
15.2.2 Drip-line physics: nuclear halos, neutron skins,
proton-rich nuclei and beyond 509
15.3 Radioactive ion beams (RIBs) as a new experimental technique 526
15.3.1 Physics interests 526
15.3.2 Isotope separation on-line (ISOL) and in-flight fragment
separation (IFS) experimental methods 528
15.3.3 Nuclear astrophysics applications 534
15.4 Outlook 536
Box 15a The heaviest N = Z nucleus 100 Sn and its discovery 540
Box 15b Radioactive ion beam (RIB) facilities and projects 544
16 Deep inside the nucleus: subnuclear degrees of freedom and beyond 554
16.1 Introduction 554
16.2 Mesons in nuclei 555
16.3 CEBAF: Probing quark effects inside the nucleus 558
16.4 The structure of the nucleon 561
16.5 The quark–gluon phase of matter 566
Box 16a How electrons and photons ‘see’ the atomic nucleus 573
Box 16b Exotic baryons with five quarks discovered: pentaquark systems 574
Box 16c What is the nucleon spin made of? 576
Box 16d The quark–gluon plasma: first hints seen? 578

© IOP Publishing Ltd 2004

 Contents xiii

17 Outlook: the atomic nucleus as part of a larger structure 584

A Units and conversion between various unit systems 590
B Spherical tensor properties 599
B.1 Spherical harmonics 599
B.2 Angular momentum coupling: Clebsch–Gordan coefficients 601
B.3 Racah recoupling coefficients—Wigner 6 j -symbols 602
B.4 Spherical tensor and rotation matrix 604
B.5 Wigner–Eckart theorem 606
C Second quantization—an introduction 607
References 611

© IOP Publishing Ltd 2004

 Preface to the third edition

Since the preface to the second edition was written, back in September 1998,
nuclear physics has been confronted with a large number of new and often ground-
breaking results all through the field of nuclear physics as discussed in the present
book. Therefore, but also because copies of the former edition were running out,
working on a new and fully updated edition became mandatory. Even though
the overall structure has not been changed, a number of the boxes have become
obsolete and have thus either been removed or modified in a serious way. The
number of highlights in the period 1999–2003 has been so large that a good
number of new boxes have been inserted, indicating the rapidly changing structure
of a lively field of physics. Of course, this has the drawback that a number of
topics do not always ‘age’ very well. In this sense, the new edition tries to convey
part of the dynamics in the field of nuclear structure, in particular over the period
between the appearance of the second edition and the time of writing this new
preface.
First of all, some new problems have been added to the existing list and I
am particularly grateful to E Jacobs, who has taught the course on Subatomic
Physics at the University of Gent in recent years, for supplying hints on these
extra exercises. They have served as examination questions over a number of
years and, are thus, well tested, feasible and form an essential part of the book in
order to acquire a good knowledge of the basic ideas and concepts.
In part A, most changes in the general text are not very extensive, except in
the chapter on β-decay and new results introduced by modifying boxes, deleting
some and introducing new ones. In chapter 1, a new box has been introduced with
the most recent results on electric charge and magnetic density distributions of
the proton and neutron and the box on super-heavy elements has, of course, been
updated. Box 1f has been deleted and the figures, related to the largest detectors
and accelerators, have likewise been updated. In chapter 2, on radioactivity, the
section on exotic decay modes has been updated and recent examples of proton
radioactivity have been included. It is in part B, in chapter 3 on β-decay that there
has been a substantial addition when discussing the role of the neutrino. Sections
on inverse β-decay and double β-decay have been updated. In the section on

© IOP Publishing Ltd 2004

 the neutrino mass, however, we discuss in some detail (new section 5.4.5) the
issue of neutrino oscillations. Here we have tried, albeit in a very concise way, to
summarize the ground-breaking results on (a) the solar neutrino problem and its
solution, (b) the consequences derived from the study of atmospheric neutrinos
and (c) the results on earth-based neutrino experiments. Extensive references to
the recent literature are given, a number of keynote figures are included and a new
box on the vanishing of neutrinos is included. In part C, no major changes have
been made, except for an extended discussion on two-neutron separation energies
within the liquid-drop model, discussed in chapter 7.
Since part D is the part in which the relation between ‘basic ideas and
concepts’ in nuclear physics, presented in parts A B and C that lends itself to
a general course and the more advanced topics in nuclear structure research is
made, it is obvious that a large number of changes have been included.
In chapter 11, we have updated the present text in the discussion of state-
of-the-art large-scale shell-model calculations (text and new figures) and have
also replaced box 11a with more recent results. We have added a part on level
densities in the nuclear shell model and brought in a new section, describing how
a detailed study of the spectral properties of the shell-model many-body system
can teach us about symmetries or randomness that may be present in the nuclear
interactions.
We have brought in a new chapter 12, describing our present highly increased
knowledge on very light systems (nuclei up to mass A ≈ 10). Here, both a
number of the general properties of bound systems in nuclear stability on a more
phenomenological level as well as exciting results derived from ab initio methods
have been included. This chapter is well illustrated with typical figures.
Before entering, with the discussion in chapters 13 and 14, the domain of
nuclear collective motion, we present a transition section indicating the present
stage in describing atomic nuclei as obtained through the discussion presented in
chapters 7–12.
In chapter 13, we have updated the section on the Interacting Boson Model
description of collective low-lying excitations by incorporating the most recent
results. In this chapter, we have also included a discussion on shape coexistence
and phase transitions, a theme that forms an intensive topic of research, both
experimentally and theoretically and we highlight this with a box on triple shape
coexistence in 186 Pb. In chapter 14, at the end, we have updated and extended the
discussion on gamma-arrays and presented the strong activity in building detector
systems with a highly increased sensitivity.
Chapter 15, in which we discuss nuclei far from stability, has been extended
at a number of places. We have inserted a more detailed discussion on possible
modifications of the nuclear mean field as well as on the experimental evidence
for such changes in particular for light nuclei. In particular, section 16.3 which
discusses radioactive beams (RIB) has been reworked in the light of the world-
wide efforts for exploring exotic nuclei. It is, in particular, the box on RIB
facilities and projects that has been totally rewritten in the light of the huge efforts

© IOP Publishing Ltd 2004

 in this domain since the appearance of the second edition. For most facilities and
projects, reference to the appropriate web page is given, precisely because in this
discipline, during the time between finishing this editorial and the appearance
of this new edition, new decisions may have been taken on RIB facilities. It
is suggested that the reader consults these web pages for updates in the field of
RIB.
Chapter 16, in which an excursion is made into the field beyond nucleon
degrees of freedom, important modifications, updating and additions have been
implemented. The old boxes 15b and 15c have been left out and a new box
discussing the very recent observation of pentaquark configurations introduced.
The boxes on the spin structure of the nucleon and the first hints for quark–gluon
plasma formation, as derived from the very recent Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider
(RHIC) experiments, have been greatly modified (highlighted with new figures).
The text on the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) (now
renamed as JLab) and on the quark–gluon phase of matter has been brought up-
to-date so as to enable this chapter to be a starting point for further reading and
study.
Finally, chapter 17 has been modified in a number of places but the main
philosophy remains in that new developments in accelerator methods, detectors
and analysing methods as well as increased computer capabilities for modelling
the nuclear many-body system form the essential ingredients for progression in
the field. The past five years in nuclear physics research since the appearance of
the second edition is a vivid illustration of this point.
I hope that the many changes with respect to the former two editions indicate
the very dynamic nature of the nuclear physics community. There will be
omissions and my selection of new boxes definitely contains bias. In this respect,
I am open to any comments that readers and students may have. I am also very
grateful to all my students and colleagues who have used the book and pointed
out ways for improvement. I have benefitted a lot from the valuable remarks I
received from people who have used the book in their teaching of nuclear physics.
I would like to thank in particular, N Jachowicz for a critical reading of the new
sections on neutrino physics and I am grateful to P Van Duppen for checking
my ‘update’ on RIB facilities and projects. He helped me towards completeness
but for all remaining errors and omissions, I am to blame. I am, moreover,
particularly grateful to the new group of young PhD students for creating an
exciting atmosphere that has influenced the chapters on the nuclear shell model
and on collective models. I would also like to thank the CERN-ISOLDE group for
its hospitality during the phase of the ‘final touch’, CERN, the FWO-Vlaanderen
for financial support in various phases during this reworking of the book and
definitely my own university, the University of Gent (UGent) for strong overall
support in my research projects.
Finally, I should thank R Verspille for the great care he took in modifying
figures, preparing new figures up to the highest standards of lay-out and precision.
His artistic touch can be seen on almost every page of the book. I am also

© IOP Publishing Ltd 2004

 particularly grateful to J Navas for initiating this third edition of the book and
to the whole group at the IOP for taking my many pieces of text, figures, new
references and perfectly constructing this new edition. Last but not least, I have
to thank my wife, Daisy, for support during the whole process which is more than
just a simple writing task. Without her presence, this new edition would never
have been finished in time and I dedicate this new version to her and the kids Jan
and Mieke.

Kris Heyde
CERN—February 2004
Gent—April 2004

© IOP Publishing Ltd 2004

 Preface to the second edition

The first edition of this textbook was used by a number of colleagues in their
introductory courses on nuclear physics and I received very valuable comments,
suggesting topics to be added and others to be deleted, pointing out errors to be
corrected and making various suggestions for improvement. I therefore decided
the time had come to work on a revised and updated edition.
In this new edition, the basic structure remains the same. Extensive
discussions of the various basic elements, essential to an intensive introductory
course on nuclear physics, are interspersed with the highlights of recent
developments in the very lively field of basic research in subatomic physics.
I have taken more care to accentuate the unity of this field: nuclear physics
is not an isolated subject but brings in a large number of elements from
different scientific domains, ranging from particle physics to astrophysics, from
fundamental quantum mechanics to technological developments.
The addition of a set of problems had been promised in the first edition and
a number of colleagues and students have asked for this over the past few years.
I apologize for the fact these have still been in Dutch until now. The problems
(collected after parts A, B and C) allow students to test themselves by solving
them as an integral part of mastering the text. Most of the problems have served
as examination questions during the time I have been teaching the course. The
problems have not proved to be intractable, as the students in Gent usually got
good scores.
In part A, most of the modifications in this edition are to the material
presented in the boxes. The heaviest element, artificially made in laboratory
conditions, is now Z = 112 and this has been modified accordingly. In part B,
in addition to a number of minor changes, the box on the 17 keV neutrino and its
possible existence has been removed now it has been discovered that this was an
experimental artefact. No major modifications have been made to part C.
Part D is the most extensively revised section. A number of recent
developments in nuclear physics have been incorporated, often in detail, enabling
me to retain the title ‘Recent Developments’.
In chapter 11, in the discussion on the nuclear shell model, a full section has
been added about the new approach to treating the nuclear many-body problem
using shell-model Monte Carlo methods.

© IOP Publishing Ltd 2004

 When discussing nuclear collective motion in chapter 12, recent extensions
to the interacting boson model have been incorporated.
The most recent results on reaching out towards very high-spin states
and exploring nuclear shapes of extreme deformation (superdeformation and
hyperdeformation) are given in chapter 13.
A new chapter 14 has been added which concentrates on the intensive efforts
to reach out from the valley of stability towards the edges of stability. With the
title ‘Nuclear physics at the extremes of stability: weakly bound quantum systems
and exotic nuclei’, we enter a field that has progressed in major leaps during the
last few years. Besides the physics underlying atomic nuclei far from stability,
the many technical efforts to reach into this still unknown region of ‘exotica’
are addressed. Chapter 14 contains two boxes: the first on the discovery of the
heaviest N = Z doubly-closed shell nucleus, 100 Sn, and the second on the present
status of radioactive ion beam facilities (currently active, in the building stage or
planned worldwide).
Chapter 15 (the old chapter 14) has been substantially revised. Two new
boxes have been added: ‘What is the nucleon spin made of?’ and ‘The quark–
gluon plasma: first hints seen?’. The box on the biggest Van de Graaff accelerator
at that time has been deleted.
The final chapter (now chapter 16) has also been considerably modified, with
the aim of showing how the many facets of nuclear physics can be united in a very
neat framework. I point out the importance of technical developments in particle
accelerators, detector systems and computer facilities as an essential means for
discovering new phenomena and in trying to reveal the basic structures that govern
the nuclear many-body system.
I hope that the second edition is a serious improvement on the first in many
respects: errors have been corrected, the most recent results have been added, the
reference list has been enlarged and updated and the problem sections, needed for
teaching, have been added.
The index to the book has been fully revised and I thank Phil Elliott for his
useful suggestions.
I would like to thank all my students and colleagues who used the book
in their nuclear physics courses: I benefited a lot from their valuable remarks
and suggestions. In particular, I would like to thank E Jacobs (who is currently
teaching the course at Gent) and R Bijker (University of Mexico) for their very
conscientious checking and for pointing out a number of errors that I had not
noticed. I would particularly like to thank R F Casten, W Nazarewicz and
P Van Duppen for critically reading chapter 14, for many suggestions and for
helping to make the chapter readable, precise and up-to-date.
I am grateful to the CERN-ISOLDE group for its hospitality during the
final phase in the production of this book, to CERN and the FWO (Fund for
Scientific Research-Flanders) for their financial support and to the University of
Gent (RUG) for having made the ‘on-leave’ to CERN possible.

© IOP Publishing Ltd 2004

 Finally, I must thank R Verspille for the great care he took in modifying
figures and preparing new figures and artwork, and D dutré-Lootens and
L Schepens for their diligent typing of several versions of the manuscript and
for solving a number of TEX problems.

Kris Heyde
September 1998

© IOP Publishing Ltd 2004

 Acknowledgments to the first edition

The present book project grew out of a course taught over the past 10 years at the
University of Gent aiming at introducing various concepts that appear in nuclear
physics. Over the years, the original text has evolved through many contacts with
the students who, by encouraging more and clearer discussions, have modified
the form and content in almost every chapter. I have been trying to bridge the
gap, by the addition of the various boxed items, between the main text of the
course and present-day work and research in nuclear physics. One of the aims
was also of emphasizing the various existing connections with other domains of
physics, in particular with the higher energy particle physics and astrophysics
fields. An actual problem set has not been incorporated as yet: the exams set over
many years form a good test and those for parts A, B and C can be obtained by
contacting the author directly.
I am most grateful to the series editors R Betts, W Greiner and W D Hamilton
for their time in reading through the manuscript and for their various suggestions
to improve the text. Also, the suggestion to extend the original scope of the
nuclear physics course by the addition of part D and thus to bring the major
concepts and basic ideas of nuclear physics in contact with present-day views
on how the nucleus can be described as an interacting many-nucleon system is
partly due to the series editors.
I am much indebted to my colleagues at the Institute of Nuclear Physics
and the Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of Gent who have
contributed, maybe unintentionally, to the present text in an important way.
More specifically, I am indebted to the past and present nuclear theory group
members, in alphabetical order: C De Coster, J Jolie, L Machenil, J Moreau,
S Rombouts, J Ryckebusch, M Vanderhaeghen, V Van Der Sluys, P Van Isacker,
J Van Maldeghem, D Van Neck, H Vincx, M Waroquier and G Wenes in particular
relating to the various subjects of part D. I would also like to thank the many
experimentalist, both in Gent and elsewhere, who through informal discussions
have made many suggestions to relate the various concepts and ideas of nuclear
physics to the many observables that allow a detailed probing of the atomic
nucleus.
The author and Institute of Physics Publishing have attempted to trace
the copyright holders of all the figures, tables and articles reproduced in this

© IOP Publishing Ltd 2004

 publication and would like to thank the many authors, editors and publishers for
their much appreciated cooperation. We would like to apologize to those few
copyright holders whose permission to publish in the present form could not be
obtained.

© IOP Publishing Ltd 2004

 Introduction

On first coming into contact with the basics of nuclear physics, it is a good idea
to obtain a feeling for the range of energies, densities, temperatures and forces
that are acting on the level of the atomic nucleus. In figure I.1, we introduce
an energy scale placing the nucleus relative to solid state chemistry scales, the
atomic energy scale and, higher in energy, the scale of masses for the elementary
particles. In the nucleus, the lower energy processes can come down to 1 keV,
the energy distance between certain excited states in odd-mass nuclei and x-ray or
electron conversion processes, and go up to 100 MeV, the energy needed to induce
collisions between heavy nuclei. In figure I.2 the density scale is shown. This
points towards the extreme density of atomic nuclei compared to more ordinary
objects such as most solid materials. Even densities in most celestial objects
(regular stars) are much lower. Only in certain types of stars—neutron stars that
can be compared to huge atomic nuclei (see chapter 7)—do analogous densities
show up. The forces at work and the different strength scales, as well as ranges
on which they act and the specific aspects in physics where they dominate, are
presented in figure I.3. It is clear that it is mainly the strong force between
nucleons or, at a deeper level, the strong force between the nucleon constituents

Figure I.1. Typical range of excitation energies spanning from the solid state phase
towards elementary particles. In addition, a few related temperatures are indicated.

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 Figure I.2. Typical range of densities spanning the interval from the solid state phase into
more exotic situations like a black hole.

Figure I.3. Schematic illustration of the very different distance scales over which the four
basic interactions act. A typical illustration for those four interactions is given at the same
time. Relative interaction strengths are also shown.

(quarks) that determines the binding of atomic nuclei. Electromagnetic effects

cannot be ignored in determining the nuclear stability since a number of protons
occur in a small region of space. The weak force, responsible for beta-decay
processes, also cannot be neglected.

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 Figure I.4. Illustration of how the typical form of the nucleon–nucleon two-body
interaction Vi j (|
ri − r j |) (a) connects to the nuclear average one-body field (b) making
use of (Brueckner)–Hartree–Fock theory. The region of strongly bound (E < 0) levels
near the Fermi energy (E  0) as well as the region of unbound (E > 0) particle motion
is indicated on the one-body field Ui (| r |).

In attempting a description of bound nuclei (a collection of A strongly

interacting nucleons) in terms of the nucleon–nucleon interaction and of processes
where nuclear states decay via the emission of particles or electromagnetic
radiation, one has to make constant use of the quantum mechanical apparatus
that governs both the bound (E < 0) and unbound (E > 0) nuclear regime.
Even though the n–n interaction, with a short range attractive part and repulsive
core part (figure I.4), would not immediately suggest a large mean-free path in
the nuclear medium, a quite regular average field becomes manifest. It is the
connection between the non-relativisitic A-nucleon interacting Hamiltonian

A
pi2

A
ˆ = + V (ri , rj ), (I.1)
2m i
i=1 i< j =1

and the one-body plus residual interaction Hamiltonian

 

A
pi2
ˆ = + U (ri ) + ˆ res , (I.2)
2m i
i=1

that is one of the tasks in understanding bound nuclear structure physics. If,
as in many cases, the residual interactions ˆ res can be left out initially, an
independent-particle nucleon motion in the nucleus shows up and is quite well
verified experimentally.

© IOP Publishing Ltd 2004

 Figure I.5. Part of a nuclear phase diagram (schematic). In the upper part possible
configurations in the excitation energy (E x ) and angular momentum (J ) are indicated,
at normal nuclear density. In the lower part a much longer interval of the nuclear phase
diagram, containing the upper part, is shown. Here nuclear temperature (T º 200 MeV)
and nuclear density (ρº 8ρ0 ) represent the variables. Various possible regions—hadron
gas, liquid, condensed phase and quark–gluon plasma—are also presented (adapted from
Greiner and Stöcker 1985).

Concerning decay processes, where transitions between initial and final

states occur, time-dependent perturbation theory will be the appropriate technique
for calculating decay rates. We shall illustrate this, in particular for the α-, β-
and γ -decay processes, showing the very similar aspects in the three main decay
processes that spontaneously occur in standard nuclear physics. At the same time,
we shall highlight the different time-scales and characteristics distinguishing α-
decay (strong interaction process via almost stationary states), β-decay (weak

© IOP Publishing Ltd 2004

 decay creating electrons (positrons) and neutrinos (or antineutrinos)) and γ -decay
(via electromagnetic interaction).
Of course, nuclear physics is a field that interconnects very much to adjacent
fields such as elementary particle physics (at the higher energy end), astrophysics
(via nuclear transmutation processes) and solid state physics (via the nuclear
hyperfine field interactions). Various connections will be highlighted at the
appropriate place.
We shall not concentrate on reaction processes in detail and will mainly keep
to the nuclear excitation region below E x  8–10 MeV.
This presents only a rather small portion of the nuclear system (figure I.5)
but this domain is already very rich in being able to offer a first contact with
nuclear physics in an introductory course requiring a knowledge of standard, non-
relativistic quantum mechanics.
The text is devoted to a typical two-semester period with one lecture a week.
Optional parts are included that expand on recent developments in nuclear physics
(‘boxes’ of text and figures) and extensive references to recent literature are given
so as to make this text, at the same time, a topical introduction to the very alive
and rapidly developing field of nuclear physics.

Kris Heyde
1 June 1994

© IOP Publishing Ltd 2004

 PART A

KNOWING THE NUCLEUS:

THE NUCLEAR CONSTITUENTS AND
CHARACTERISTICS

© IOP Publishing Ltd 2004

 Chapter 1

Nuclear global properties

1.1 Introduction and outline

In this chapter, we shall discuss the specific characteristics of the atomic
nucleus that make it a unique laboratory where different forces and particles
meet. Depending on the probe we use to ‘view’ the nucleus different aspects
become observable. Using probes (e− , p, π ± , . . .) with an energy such that the
quantum mechanical wavelength λ = h/ p is of the order of the nucleus, global
aspects do show up such that collective and surface effects can be studied. At
shorter wavelengths, the A-nucleon system containing Z protons and N neutrons
becomes evident. It is this and the above ‘picture’ that will mainly be of use in
the present discussion. Using even shorter wavelengths, the mesonic degrees and
excited nucleon configurations (, . . .) become observable. At the extreme high-
energy side, the internal structure of the nucleons shows up in the dynamics of an
interacting quark–gluon system (figure 1.1).
Besides more standard characteristics such as mass, binding energy, nuclear
extension and radii, nuclear angular momentum and nuclear moments, we shall
try to illustrate these properties using up-to-date research results that point
towards the still quite fast evolving subject of nuclear physics. We also discuss
some of the more important ways the nucleus can interact with external fields and
particles: hyperfine interactions and nuclear transmutations in reactions.

1.2 Nuclear mass table

Nuclei, consisting of a bound collection of Z protons and N neutrons (A
nucleons) can be represented in a diagrammatic way using Z and N as axes
in the plane. This plane is mainly filled along or near to the diagonal N = Z
line with equal number of protons and neutrons. Only a relatively small number
of nuclei form stable nuclei, stable against any emission of particles or other
transmutations. For heavy elements, denoted as ZA X N , with A ² 100, a neutron
excess over the proton number shows up along the line where most stable nuclei

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 4 Nuclear global properties

Figure 1.1. Different dimensions (energy scales) for observing the atomic nucleus. From
top to bottom, increasing resolving power (shorter wavelengths) is used to see nuclear
surface modes, the A-body proton–neutron system, the more exotic nucleon, isobar,
mesonic system and, at the lowest level, the quark system interacting via gluon exchange.

are situated and which is illustrated in figure 1.3 as the grey and dark zone.
Around these stable nuclei, a large zone of unstable nuclei shows up: these nuclei
will transform the excess of neutrons in protons or excess of protons in neutrons
through β-decay. These processes are written as
−
A
Z XN → Z +1 Y N−1 + e
A
+ ν̄e ,
A
Z XN → ZA−1 Y N+1 + e+ + νe ,
A
Z XN + e− → ZA−1 Y N+1 + νe ,

for β − , β + and electron capture, respectively. (See chapter 5 for more detailed
discussions.) In some cases, other, larger particles such as α-particles (atomic
nucleus of a 4 He atom) or even higher mass systems can be emitted. More
particularly, it is spontaneous α-decay and fission of the heavy nuclei that makes
the region of stable nuclei end somewhat above uranium. Still, large numbers
of radioactive nuclei have been artificially made in laboratory conditions using
various types of accelerators. Before giving some more details on the heaviest

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 Nuclear binding, nuclear masses 5

elements (in Z ) observed and synthesized at present we give an excerpt of the

nuclear system of nuclei in the region of very light nuclei (figures 1.2(a), (b))
using the official chart of nuclides. These mass charts give a wealth of information
such as explained in figure 1.2(b). In this mass chart excerpt (figure 1.2(a)),
one can see how far from stability one can go: elements like 82 He6 , 11 3 Li8 , . . .
have been synthesized at various accelerator, isotope separator labs like GANIL
(Caen) in France, CERN in Switzerland using the Isolde separator facility and,
most spectacularly, at GSI, Darmstadt. In a separate box (Box 1a) we illustrate
the heaviest elements and their decay pattern as observed.
In this division of nuclei, one calls isotopes nuclei with fixed proton number
Z and changing neutron number, i.e. the even–even Sn nuclei forms a very long
series of stable nuclei (figure 1.3). Analogously, one has isotones, with fixed
N and isobars (fixed A, changing Z and N). The reason for the particular way
nuclei are distributed in the ( N, Z ) plane, is that the nuclear strong binding force
maximizes the binding energy for a given number of nucleons A. This will be
studied in detail in chapter 7, when discussing the liquid drop and nuclear shell
model.

1.3 Nuclear binding, nuclear masses

As pointed out in the introductory section, the nuclear strong interaction acts on
a very short distance scale, i.e. the n–n interaction becomes very weak beyond
nucleon separations of 3–4 fm.
The non-relativistic A-nucleon Hamiltonian dictating nuclear binding was
given in equation (I.1) and accounts for a non-negligible ‘condensation’ energy
when building the nucleus from its A-constituent nucleons put initially at very
large distances (see figure 1.4). Generally speaking, the solution of this A-
body strongly interacting system is highly complicated and experimental data can
give an interesting insight in the bound nucleus. Naively speaking, we expect
A(A − 1)/2 bonds and, if each bond between two nucleons amounts to a fairly
constant value E 2 , we expect for the nuclear binding energy per nucleon

B E( ZA X N )/A ∝ E 2 (A − 1)/2, (1.1)

or, an expression that increases with A. The data are completely at variance
with this two-body interaction picture and points to an average value for
B E( ZA X N )/A  8 MeV over the whole mass region. The above data therefore
imply at least two important facets of the n–n interaction in a nucleus:
(i) nuclear, charge independence,
(ii) saturation of the strong interaction.
The above picture, pointing out that the least bound nucleon in a nucleus
is bound by 8 MeV, independent of the number of nucleons, also implies
an independent particle picture where nucleons move in an average potential

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 6 Nuclear global properties

(a)

Figure 1.2. (a) Sections of the nuclear mass chart for light nuclei. (b) Excerpt from the
Chart of Nuclides for very light nuclei. This diagram shows stable as well as artifical
radioactive nuclei. Legend to discriminate between the many possible forms of nuclei
and their various decay modes, as well as the typical displacements caused by nuclear
processes. (Taken from Chart of Nuclides, 13th edition, General Electric, 1984.)

(figure 1.5) In section 1.4, we shall learn more about the precise structure of
the average potential and thus of the nuclear mass and charge densities in this
potential.
The binding energy of a given nucleus ZA X N is now given by
B E( ZA X N ) = Z · Mp c2 + N · Mn c2 − M
( ZA X N )c2 , (1.2)
where Mp , Mn denote the proton and neutron mass, respectively and M
( ZA X N )
is the actual nuclear mass. The above quantity is the nuclear binding energy. A
total, atomic binding energy can be given as
B E( ZA X N ; atom) = Z · M1 H · c2 + N · Mn c2 − M( ZA X N ; atom)c2 . (1.3)
where M1 H is the mass of the hydrogen atom. If relative variations of the order of
eV are neglected, nucleon and atomic binding energies are equal (give a proof of

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 Nuclear binding, nuclear masses 7

(b)

Figure 1.2. (Continued.)

this statement). In general, we shall for the remaining part of this text, denote the
nuclear mass as M
( ZA X N ) and the atomic mass as M( ZA X N ).
Atomic (or nuclear) masses, denoted as amu or m.u. corresponds to 1/12 of
the mass of the atom 12 C. Its value is

1.660566 × 10−27 kg = 931.5016 ± 0.0026 MeV/c2 .

In table 1.1 we give a number of important masses in units of amu and MeV. It is
interesting to compare rest energies of the nucleon, its excited states and e.g. the
rest energy of a light nucleus such as 58 Fe. The nucleon excited states are very
close and cannot be resolved in figure 1.6. A magnified spectrum, comparing the
spectrum of 58 Fe with the nucleon exited spectrum is shown in figure 1.7, where
a difference in scale of ×103 is very clear.

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 8 Nuclear global properties

Figure 1.3. Chart of known nuclei in which stable nuclei (natural elements showing up
in nature), neutron-rich and neutron-deficient nuclei are presented. Magic (closed shell)
nuclei occur where the horizontal and vertical lines intersect. A few regions of deformed
nuclei are also shown as well as a few key nuclei: 100 Zr, 132 Sn, 235 U.

Figure 1.4. Representation of the condensation process where free nucleons (protons and
ri −
neutrons), under the influence of the two-body, charge-independent interaction V (| r j |),
form a bound nucleus at a separation of a few fermi and release a corresponding amount
of binding (condensation) energy.

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 Nuclear binding, nuclear masses 9

Before leaving this subject, it is interesting to note that, even though the
average binding energy amounts to 8 MeV, there is a specific variation in
B E( ZA X N )/A, as a function of A. The maximal binding energy per nucleon is
situated near mass A = 56–621, light and very heavy nuclei are containing less
bound nucleons. Thus, the source of energy production in fusion of light nuclei
or fission of very heavy nuclei can be a source of energy. They are at the basis of
fusion and fission bombs and (reactors), respectively, even though fusion reactors
are not yet coming into practical use.

(Reprinted with permission of the American Physical Society.)

1 It is often stated that 56 Fe is the most tightly bound nucleus—this is not correct since 62 Ni is more
bound by a difference of 0.005 MeV/nucleon or, for  60 nucleons, with an amount of 300 keV. For
more details, see Shurtleff and Derringh’s article reproduced below.

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 10 Nuclear global properties

Figure 1.5. The binding energy per nucleon B/ A as a function of the nuclear mass
number A. (Taken from Krane, Introductory Nuclear Physics 
c 1987 John Wiley & Sons.
Reprinted by permission.)

Figure 1.6. Total rest energy of the states in 58 Fe (typical atomic nucleus) and of the
nucleon and its excited states. On the scale, the excited states in 58 Fe are so close to
the ground state that they cannot be observed without magnification. This view is shown
in figure 1.7. (Taken from Frauenfelder and Henley (1991) Subatomic Physics  c 1974.
Reprinted by permission of Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.)

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 Nuclear binding, nuclear masses 11

Figure 1.7. Ground state and excited states in 58 Fe and of the nucleon. The region above
the ground state in 58 Fe in figure 1.7 has been exploded by a factor 104 . The spectrum
of the nucleon in figure 1.6 has been expanded by a factor 25. (Taken from Frauenfelder
and Henley (1991) Subatomic Physics  c 1974. Reprinted by permission of Prentice-Hall,
Englewood Cliffs, NJ.)

Table 1.1. Some important masses given in units amu and MeV respectively.
amu MeV
12 C/12 1 931.5016
1 MeV 1.073535 ×10−3 1
Electron 5.485580 ×10−4 0.511003
Neutron 1.008665 939.5731
Proton 1.007276 938.2796
Deuterium atom 2.0141014 1876.14
Helium atom 4.002600 3728.44

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 12 Nuclear global properties

1.4 Nuclear extension: densities and radii

The discussion in section 1.3 indicated unambiguous evidence for saturation in
the nuclear strong force amongst nucleons in an atomic nucleus. Under these
assumptions of saturation and charge independence each nucleon occupies an
almost equal size within the nucleus. Calling r0 an elementary radius for a
nucleon in the nucleus, a most naive estimate gives for the nuclear volume
V = 43 π r03 A, (1.4)
or
R = r0 A1/3 . (1.5)
This relation describes the variation of the nuclear radius, with a value of r0 = ∼
1.2 fm when deducing a ‘charge’ radius, and a value of r0 ∼ = 1.4 fm for the full
‘matter’ radius.
The experimental access to obtain information on nuclear radii comes
from scattering particles (e− , p, π ± , . . .) off the atomic nucleus with appropriate
energy to map out the nuclear charge and/or matter distributions. A corresponding
typical profile is a Fermi or Woods–Saxon shape, described by the expression
ρ0
ρ(r ) = , (1.6)
1+ e R0 )/a
(r−

with ρ0 the central density. R0 is then the radius at half density and a describes
the diffuseness of the nuclear surface.
Electron scattering off nuclei is, for example, one of the most appropriate
methods to deduce radii. The cross-sections over many decades have been
measured in e.g. 208 Pb (see figure 1.8) and give detailed information on the
nuclear density distribution ρc (r ) as is discussed in Box 1b. We also point out the
present day level of understanding of the variation in charge and matter density
distributions for many nuclei. A comparison between recent, high-quality data
and Hartree–Fock calculations for charge and mass densities are presented in
figures 1.9 giving an impressive agreement between experiment and theory.
Here, some details should be presented relating to the quantum mechanical
expression of these densities. In taking collective, nuclear models (liquid drop,
. . .) a smooth distribution ρc (r ), ρmass (r ) can be given (figure 1.10). In a
more microscopic approach, the densities result from the occupied orbitals in
the nucleus. Using a shell-model description where orbitals are characterized
by quantum numbers α ≡ n a , la , ja , m a (radial, orbital, total spin, magnetic
quantum number) the density can be written as (figure 1.10).


A
ρmass (r ) = |ϕαk (r )|2 , (1.7)
k=1

where αk denotes the quantum numbers of all occupied (k = 1, . . . , A) nucleons.

Using an A-nucleon product wavefunction to characterize the nucleus in an

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 Nuclear extension: densities and radii 13

Figure 1.8. Typical cross-section obtained in electron elastic scattering off 208 Pb as a
function of momentum transfer. The full line is a theoretical prediction. (Taken from Frois
1987).

independent-particle model (neglecting the Pauli principle for a while)


A
ψ(r1 , . . . , rA ) = ϕαk (rk ), (1.8)
k=1

the density should appear as the expectation value of the density ‘operator’
ρ̂mass (r ), or

ρmass (r ) = ψ ∗ (r1 , . . . rA )ρ̂mass (r )ψ(r1 , . . . rA )dr1 . . . dr A . (1.9)

From this, an expression for ρ̂mass (r ) is derived as

A
ρmass (r ) = δ(r − rk ), (1.10)
k=1

as can be easily verified. The above expression for the density operator (a similar
one can be discussed for the charge density) shall be used later on.
As a final comment, one can obtain a simple estimate for the nuclear matter
density by calculating the ratio
M 1.66 × 10−27 A kg
ρ= = = 1.44 × 1017 kg m−3 ,
V 1.15 × 10−44 A m3

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 14 Nuclear global properties

Figure 1.9. (a) Charge density distributions ρc (r ) for the doubly-magic nuclei 16 O,
40 Ca, 48 Ca, 90 Zr, 132 Sn and 208 Pb. The theoretical curves correspond to various forms

of effective nucleon–nucleon forces, called Skyrme forces and are compared with the
experimental data points (units are ρc (efm−3 ) and r (fm)). (b) Nuclear matter density
distributions ρm (fm−3 ) for the magic nuclei. (Taken from Waroquier 1987.)

and is independent of A. This density is (see the introductory chapter)

approximately 1014 times normal matter density and expresses the highly packed
density of nucleons.

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 Angular momentum in the nucleus 15

Figure 1.10. Nuclear density distributions ρ(r ). Both a purely collective distribution
(left-hand part) and a microscopic description, incorporating both proton and neutron
variables (right-hand part) are illustrated.

Figure 1.11. Angular momentum ( ˆ) connected to the orbital motion of a nucleon

(characterized by radius vector r and linear momentum p). The intrinsic angular
momentum (spin ŝ) is also indicated. On the left-hand side, the semiclassical picture of
angular momentum in quantum mechanics is illustrated and is characterized by the length
( [ ( + 1)]1/2 ) and projection ( m).

1.5 Angular momentum in the nucleus

Protons and neutrons move in an average field and so cause orbital angular
momentum to build up. Besides, nucleons, as fermions with intrinsic spin /2,
will add up to a total angular momentum of the whole nucleus. The addition can
be done correctly using angular momentum techniques, in a first stage combining
orbital and intrinsic angular momentum to nucleon total angular momentum and
later adding individual ‘spin’ (used as an abbreviation to angular momentum) to
the total nuclear spin I (figure 1.11).
Briefly collecting the main features of angular momentum quantum
mechanics, one has the orbital eigenfunctions (spherical harmonics) Ym (r̂ ) with

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 16 Nuclear global properties

eigenvalue properties
ˆ2 Ym (r̂ ) = 2 ( + 1)Ym (r̂ )
ˆz Ym (r̂ ) = m Ym (r̂ ). (1.11)

Here, r̂ denotes the angular coordinates r̂ ≡ (θ, ϕ). Similarly, for the intrinsic
spin properties, eigenvectors can be obtained with properties (for protons and
neutrons)
ms ms
ŝ 2 χ1/2 (s) = 2
· 3
4 · χ1/2 (s)
ms ms
ŝz χ1/2 (s) = m s χ1/2 (s), (1.12)

where m s = ±1/2 and the argument s just indicates that the eigenvectors relate
ms
to intrinsic spin. A precise realization using for ŝ 2 , ŝz and χ1/2 2 × 2 matrices and
2-row column vectors, respectively, can be found in quantum mechanics texts.
Now, total ‘spin’ ĵ is constructed as the operator sum

ĵ = ˆ + ŝ, (1.13)

which gives rise to a total ‘spin’ operator for which ĵ 2, ĵz commute and
also commute with ˆ2 , ŝ 2 . The precise construction of the single-particle
wavefunctions, that are eigenfunctions of ˆ2 , ŝ 2 and also of ĵ 2 , ĵz needs angular
momentum coupling techniques and results in wavefunctions characterized by the
quantum numbers ( , 12 ) j, m with j = ± 1/2 and is denoted as

ψ( 2,
1
j m) = [Y ⊗ χ1/2](m)
j , (1.14)

in vector-coupled notation (see quantum mechanics). In a similar way one can go

on to construct the total spin operator of the whole nucleus

A
Jˆ = ĵi , (1.15)
i=1

where still Jˆ2 , Jˆz will constitute correct spin operators. These operators still
commute with the individual operators ĵ12 , ĵ22 , . . . , ĵ A2 but no longer with the ĵi,z
operators. Also, extra internal momenta will be needed to correctly couple spins.
This looks like a very difficult job. Many nuclei can in first approximation
be treated as a collection of largely independent nucleons moving in a spherical,
average field. Shells j can contain (2 j +1) particles that constitute a fully coupled
shell with all m-states − j ≤ m ≤ j occupied thus forming a J = 0, M = 0 state.
The only remaining ‘valence’ nucleons will determine the actual nuclear ‘spin’
J . As a consequence of the above arguments and the fact that the short-range
nucleon–nucleon interaction favours pairing nucleons into angular momentum 0+
coupled pairs, one has that:

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 Nuclear moments 17

• even–even nuclei have J = 0 in the ground state

• odd-mass nuclei will have a half-integer spin J since j itself is always half-
integer
• odd–odd nuclei have integer spin J in the ground state, resulting from
combining the last odd-proton spin with the last odd-neutron spin, i.e.

Jˆ = ĵp + ĵn . (1.16)

For deformed nuclei (nuclei with a non-spherical mass and charge density
distribution) some complications arise that shall not be discussed in the present
text.

1.6 Nuclear moments

Since in the nucleus, protons (having an elementary charge +e) and neutrons
are both moving, charge, mass and current densities result. We shall give some
attention to the magnetic dipole and electric quadrupole moment, two moments
that are particularly well measured over many nuclei in different mass regions.

1.6.1 Dipole magnetic moment

With a particle having orbital angular momentum, a current and thus a magnetic
moment vector µ  can be associated. In the more simple case of a circular, orbital
motion (classical), one has
 = r × p, (1.17)
and
| | = r mv.
For the magnetic moment one has

 = πr 2 · i1,
µ  (1.18)

(with 1 a unit vector, vertical to the circular motion, in the rotation sense going
with a positive current). For a proton (or electron) one has, in magnitude
ev e 
|µ|
 = πr 2 = | |, (1.19)
2πr 2m
and derives (for the circular motion still)
e   e 
µ
 = in Gaussian units . (1.20)
2m 2mc
Moving to a quantum mechanical description of orbital motion and thus of
the magnetic moment description, one has the relation between operators
e ˆ
µ̂ = , (1.21)
2m

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 18 Nuclear global properties

and
e ˆ
z.
µ̂ ,z = (1.22)
2m
The eigenvalue of the orbital, magnetic dipole operator, acting on the orbital
m
eigenfunctions Y then becomes

m e ˆ m
µ̂ ,z Y (r̂ ) = z Y (r̂)
2m
e
= m Ym (r̂ ). (1.23)
2m
If we call the unit e /2m the nuclear (if m is the nucleon mass) or Bohr (for
electrons) magneton, then one has for the eigenvalue µ N (µB )

µ ,z = m µN . (1.24)

For the intrinsic spin, an analoguous procedure can be used. Here, however, the
mechanism that generates the spin is not known and classic models are doomed to
fail. Only the Dirac equation has given a correct description of intrinsic spin and
of its origin. The picture one would make, as in figure 1.12, is clearly not correct
and we still need to introduce a proportionality factor, called gyromagnetic ratio
gs . for intrinsic spin /2 fermions. One obtains

µs,z = gs µ N m s , (1.25)
ms
as eigenvalue, for the µ̂s,z operator acting on the spin χ1/2 (s) eigenvector. For
the electron this gs factor turns out to be almost −2 and at the original time of
introducing intrinsic /2 spin electrons this factor (in 1926) was not understood
and had to be taken from experiment. In 1928 Dirac gave a natural explanation
for this fact using the now famous Dirac equation. For a Dirac point electron this
should be exact but small deviations given by

|g| − 2
a= , (1.26)
2
were detected, giving the result
exp
ae− = 0.001159658(4). (1.27)

Detailed calculations in QED (quantum electrodynamics) and the present

value give
1 α  α 2  α 3
aeth− = − 0.328479 + 1.29 , (1.28)
2 π π π
with α = e2 / c, and the difference (aeth− − ae− )/a th = (2 ± 5) × 10−6 , which
exp

means 1 part in 105 (for a nice overview, see Crane (1968) and lower part of
figure 1.12).

© IOP Publishing Ltd 2004

 Nuclear moments 19

Figure 1.12. In the upper part, the relationships between the intrinsic (µ  s ) and orbital
 ) magnetic moments and the corresponding angular moment vectors (  /2 and ,
(µ
respectively) are indicated. Thereby gyromagnetic factors are defined. In the lower
part, modifications to the single-electron g-factor are illustrated. The physical electron
g-factor is not just a pure Dirac particle. The presence of virtual photons, e+ e− creation
and more complicated processes modify these free electron properties and are illustrated.
(Taken from Frauenfelder and Henley (1991) Subatomic Physics  c 1974. Reprinted by
permission of Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.)

This argumentation can also be carried out for the intrinsic spin motion of
the single proton and neutron, and results in non-integer values for both the proton
and the neutron, i.e. gs (proton) = 5.5855 and gs (neutron) = −3.8263. The fact
is that, even for the neutron with zero charge, an intrinsic, non-vanishing moment

© IOP Publishing Ltd 2004

 20 Nuclear global properties

Figure 1.13. Charge distributions of nucleons deduced from the analyses of elastic electron
scattering off protons (hydrogen target) and off neutrons (from a deuterium target). In the
lower parts, the typical difference between a nuclear and a nucleon density distribution are
presented.

shows up and points towards an internal charge structure for both the neutron and
proton that is not just a simple distribution (see Box 1c).
From electron high-energy scattering off nucleons (see section 1.4) a charge
form factor can be obtained (see results in figure 1.13 for the charge density
distributions ρcharge (r ) for proton and neutron). As a conclusion one obtains that:

• Nucleons are not point particles and do not exhibit a well-defined surface
in contrast with the total nucleus, as shown in the illustration. Still higher
energy scattering at SLAC (Perkins 1987) showed that the scattering process
very much resembled that of scattering on points inside the proton. The
nature of these point scatterers and their relation to observed and anticipated
particles was coined by Feynman as ‘partons’ and attempts have been made
to relate these to the quark structure of nucleons (see Box 1d).

One can now combine moments to obtain the total nuclear magnetic dipole
moment and obtain:
µ J,z = g J µ N m J , (1.29)
with g J the nuclear gyromagnetic ratio. Here too, the addition rules for angular
momentum can be used to construct (i) a full nucleon g-factor after combining

© IOP Publishing Ltd 2004

 Nuclear moments 21

Figure 1.14. Coordinate system for the evaluation of the potential generated at the point
r ) and caused by a continuous charge distribution ρc (
P( r ). Here we consider, an axially
symmetric distribution along the z-axis.

orbital and intrinsic spin and (ii) the total nuclear dipole magnetic moment. We
give, as an informative result, the g-factor for free nucleons (combining ˆ and ŝ
to the total spin ĵ) as
1
g=g ± (gs − g ), (1.30)
2 +1
where the upper sign applies for the j = + 12 and lower sign for the j = − 12
orientation. Moreover, these g-factors apply to free ‘nucleons’. When nucleons
move inside a nuclear medium the remaining nucleons modify this free g-value
into ‘effective’ g-factors. This aspect is closely related to typical shell-model
structure aspects which shall not be discussed here.

1.6.2 Electric moments—electric quadrupole moment

If the nuclear charge is distributed according to a smooth function ρ (r ), then an
analysis in multipole moments can be made. These moments are quite important
 compared to the
in determining e.g. the potential in a point P at large distance R,
nuclear charge extension. The potential ( R)  can be calculated as (figure 1.14)

 = 1 ρ(r )
( R) dr , (1.31)
4π0 Vol | R − r|

 can be expanded in a series for (r/R), and gives

which, for small values of |r / R|
as a result

 = 1 q + 1 ρ(r )r cos θ dr
( R)
4π0 R 4π0 R2

© IOP Publishing Ltd 2004

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