Atomic and Nuclear Physics [Phys 433] Spring 2007 Homework Problems.

Listed below are all of the homework problems that you will be responsible for this term. As advertised in the syllabus, there are 75 of them, with the first 57 taken from the text [Das & Ferbel]. You should obviously not attempt the text problems until after you have carefully read all text material prior to the problems appearance. We will cover the entire text this term, and I will assume that you are religiously reading it. The final 18 problems may be attempted whenever you feel comfortable. Some may be obvious to you immediately; others may not become clear until the final week of the class. You need not do them in order. Feel free to submit any of them as soon as you wish.

Homework Problems:
[1] Problem 1.1, p. 30, Das & Ferbel. [2] Problem 1.4, p. 30, Das & Ferbel. [3] Problem 1.6, p. 31, Das & Ferbel. [4] Problem 1.10, p. 31, Das & Ferbel. Note that the word minimum here should actually be maximum. [5] Problem 2.2, p. 50, Das & Ferbel. [6] Problem 2.5, p. 51, Das & Ferbel. [7] Problem 2.9, p. 51, Das & Ferbel. [8] Problem 2.10, p. 52, Das & Ferbel. [9] Problem 3.1, p. 78, Das & Ferbel. [10] Problem 3.5, p. 79, Das & Ferbel. [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] Problem Problem Problem Problem Problem Problem Problem Problem 3.6, 4.2, 4.5, 4.7, 5.1, 5.2, 5.5, 5.7, p. p. p. p. p. p. p. p. 79, Das & Ferbel. 103, Das & Ferbel. 103, Das & Ferbel. 103, Das & Ferbel. 129, Das & Ferbel. 129, Das & Ferbel. 129, Das & Ferbel. 130, Das & Ferbel.

[19] Problem 5.11, p. 130, Das & Ferbel. [20] Problem 5.12, p. 130, Das & Ferbel. [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39] [40] [41] [42] [43] [44] [45] [46] [47] [48] [49] [50] [51] [52] [53] [54] [55] [56] Problem Problem Problem Problem Problem Problem Problem Problem Problem Problem Problem Problem Problem Problem Problem Problem Problem Problem Problem Problem Problem Problem Problem Problem Problem Problem Problem Problem Problem Problem Problem Problem Problem Problem Problem Problem 5.13, p. 130, Das & Ferbel. 6.3, p. 155, Das & Ferbel. 6.5, p. 155, Das & Ferbel. 6.8, p. 155, Das & Ferbel. 6.9, p. 156, Das & Ferbel. 7.2, p. 180, Das & Ferbel. 7.5, p. 181, Das & Ferbel. 8.1, p. 203, Das & Ferbel. 8.3, p. 203, Das & Ferbel. 9.1, p. 236, Das & Ferbel. 9.2, p. 236, Das & Ferbel. 9.3, p. 236, Das & Ferbel. 9.4, p. 236, Das & Ferbel. 9.5, p. 237, Das & Ferbel. 9.6, p. 237, Das & Ferbel. 10.1, p. 266, Das & Ferbel. 10.2, p. 266, Das & Ferbel. 10.3, p. 266, Das & Ferbel. 10.4, p. 266, Das & Ferbel. 11.1, p. 284, Das & Ferbel. 11.2, 11.3, 11.4, 11.5, 11.6, 12.1, 12.2, 13.1, 13.2, 14.1, 14.4, 14.5, 14.6, 14.7, 15.1, 15.2, p. p. p. p. p. p. p. p. p. p. p. p. p. p. p. p. 284, 284, 284, 284, 285, 310, 310, 343, 343, 355, 284, 284, 284, 284, 285, 310, Das Das Das Das Das Das Das Das Das Das Das Das Das Das Das Das & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & Ferbel. Ferbel. Ferbel. Ferbel. Ferbel. Ferbel. Ferbel. Ferbel. Ferbel. Ferbel. Ferbel. Ferbel. Ferbel. Ferbel. Ferbel. Ferbel.

[57] Problem 15.3, p. 310, Das & Ferbel. [58] Nuclear Innards: In the period before the discovery of the neutron, many people thought that the nucleus consisted of protons and electrons, with the atomic number equal to the excess number of protons. Beta decay seemed to support this idea after all, electrons come popping out; doesnt this imply that there were electrons inside? Use the position-momentum uncertainty relation x p hbar to estimate the minimum momentum of an electron confined to a nucleus (radius around 1 Fermi). From the relativistic energy-momentum relation, determine the corresponding energy. For comparison, the highest energy electron emitted in the beta decay of tritium has an energy of approximately 17 KeV. So, what do you think of the possibility of the electron having been in the tritium nucleus the entire time? [59] Kinematics: (a) In the Lab Frame, a particle traveling at speed v approaches an identical particle at rest. What is the speed of each particle in the CM frame? (I want an answer correct for all speeds here, not v/2, which is correct only non-relativistically). (b) Use your result from part (a) to relate the kinetic energy of each particle in the CM frame, T, to the total kinetic energy in the Lab Frame, T. [60] Death: The particle is unstable. (a) A bit over 32% of the time, the particle decays into three 0 particles. Determine the maximum energy that one of the pions in this decay can have. (b) Less commonly (a bit under 5% of the time), the will decay to a +, a -, and a . Determine the maximum energy that the can have in this decay. [61] Neutrino Spotting: Work out the problem below, which details some of the true trials and tribulations of a neutrino detector. A common reaction used to detect neutrinos from the sun is the inverse beta-decay reaction: e + 37Cl e- + 37Ar. The number of solar neutrinos produced may be estimated from the solar constant (1350 W/m2). Assume that 10% of the thermonuclear

energy is carried by neutrinos of mean energy 1 MeV each. Only about 1% of the neutrinos are energetic enough to convert 37Cl to 37 Ar. If a detector containing 400 m3 of tetrachloroethylene (C2Cl4) is used, estimate the average number of 37Ar nuclei produced in a day if the density of C2Cl4 is 1.5 g/cm3 and about a quarter of the chlorine is 37Cl. The cross section for the reaction may be taken to be 10-49 m2 (ahhthats the killer). [62] Counting: (a) Assume that there are n different quark flavors. Determine how many different meson combinations can be made from these flavors. (b) Still assuming that there are n different quark flavors, determine how many different baryon combinations can be made from these flavors. [63] Kosher?: Examine the following processes, and state for each one whether it is possible or impossible, according to the Standard Model. If possible, state which interaction is responsible strong, electromagnetic, or weak. If impossible, cite a conservation law that prevents the interaction from occurring.
(i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) (vi) (vii) (viii) (ix) (x)

proton + antiproton + + 0 + 0 + 0 - n + e+ + e- + + - e- + electron anti-neutrino + p + 0 electron anti-neutrino + p n + e+ e + p e + 0 p + p + + n + K0 + + + 0

[64] Light v. Light: Sketch a Feynman Diagram representing Delbruck Scattering: + +

Note that this process, the scattering of light by light, has no analog in classical electrodynamics. [65] Feynman Diagram Practice: In Quantum Electrodynamics, the first sub-leading contribution to Compton scattering comes from diagrams with four vertices (and hence 1 loop). There are 17 such diagrams! Try to draw them all but, if you cant, draw at least 12.

[66] More Feynman Diagrams: Some decays involve two (or even all three) different forces. Draw possible Feynman diagrams for the following processes:
(a) K+ + + (b) + p +

[67] Meson Excitations: We have argued that the strong force between a quark and antiquark should be roughly constant, and therefore that the potential energy between them should be approximately linear: V(r) = F0r , where F0 is a constant and r is the distance between the quark and antiquark. Supposing that the quark and antiquark each have mass m, use dimensional analysis to determine the form for the energy levels of a meson. That is, determine how the energy of the nth excitation of the meson, En, depends on the parameters of the physical system and on hbar. [68] Spin Coupling: Suppose that you had two particles of spin 2, each in a state with Sz = 0. If you measured the total angular momentum of this system, given that the orbital angular momentum is zero, what values might you get, and what is the probability of each? Check that your answers sum to 1. [69] More Spin Coupling: Suppose that you had a particle of spin 3/2, and another of spin 2. If you knew that their orbital angular momentum was zero, and that the total spin of the composite system was 5/2 and its z component was -1/2, what values might you get for a measurement of Sz on the spin 2 particle? What is the probability of each? Again, check that your answers sum to 1.

[70] Baryons, Excited and Strange: The *0 can decay into + + -, 0 + 0, or - + + (among other things). Suppose that you observed 100 of the disintegrations listed above. How many of each type would you expect to see? [71] particle Isospin:
(a) The particle is a bound state of two protons and two

neutrons, that is, a 4He nucleus. There is no isotope of hydrogen with an atomic weight of four (4H), nor of lithium (4Li). What do you conclude about the isospin of an particle? why not.

(b) The reaction d + d + 0 has never been observed. Explain

(c) Would you expect 4Be to exist? How about a bound state of

four neutrons? [72] Mesons: A fairly successful model for meson masses is encapsulated in the following formula: M = m1 + m2 + A( S1 S 2 )/ (m1m2) , where m1 and m2 are the relevant constituent quark masses, the S vectors are the two quark spins, and A is a parameter setting the strength of the spin-spin interaction. Taking the masses of the up and down quarks to be 310 MeV/c2, that of the strange quark to be 483 MeV/c2, and the parameter A to have value (2mu/hbar)2(160 MeV/c2), determine the masses of all of the pseudoscalar and vector mesons comprised only of u, d, and s quarks. [73] Spin and Flavor: Construct the spin-flavor wave functions for + with spin up and with spin down.
[74] Positronium: The cross section for e+ + e- 3 in the triplet spin configuration is
=
2 16 2 ( 9) 3 2 m cv 9

Find the lifetime of positronium in the 1 3S1 state. For comparison, the experimental value is 1.45 x 10-7 seconds.

[75] Color Factors: As we have said many times, the strong force is based on the symmetry group SU(3), and the exchange of gluons by particles corresponds to the particles flexing their symmetry muscles by rotating in SU(3) space. Let us choose the color basis {red, blue, green} so that the colors red, blue, and green are represented by the column vectors c = (1,0,0), (0,1,0), and (0,0,1), respectively. For an antiquark, the same three column vectors will represent antired, antiblue, and antigreen, respectively. These vectors will be the color matrices associated with quarks and antiquarks. We also need to represent gluons, of which there are eight. Since gluons carry both color and anticolor, each gluon will be represented by a 3 x 3 traceless Hermitian matrix. One choice of such matrices is the following: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 = = = = = = = = {{0,1,0},{1,0,0},{0,0,0}} {{0,-i,0},{i,0,0},{0,0,0}} {{1,0,0},{0,-1,0},{0,0,0}} {{0,0,1},{0,0,0},{1,0,0}} {{0,0,-i},{0,0,0},{i,0,0}} {{0,0,0},{0,0,1},{0,1,0}} {{0,0,0},{0,0,-i},{0,i,0}} {{1/3,0,0},{0,1/3,0},{0,0,-2/3}}

In these expressions, the inner braces enclose matrix rows. For example, the 12 element of 2 is i. Okay. We are now in a position to calculate color factors. Applying the Feynman rules for QCD, we find that the interaction of a quark and antiquark produces the color factor: f = i i (1/4)i(dq cq)(ca da). In this expression, cq corresponds to the color vector for the incoming quark, while ca corresponds to the color vector for the incoming antiquark. Similarly, dq and da correspond to the color vectors for the outgoing quark and antiquark, respectively. Note that the sum is over the eight different gluon matrices. This is because the quark and antiquark interact by exchanging all eight different types of gluons. If this color factor comes out positive, the quark and antiquark will

attract one another. If it is negative, on the other hand, the two will repel. (a) First, suppose that the quark and antiquark are in an octet color configuration. For example, take the quark to be green and the antiquark to be antired. Calculate the color factor for this configuration, and hence show that the quark and antiquark repel one another.
(b) We now place the quark and antiquark in the color singlet
1 r r + b b + gg 3

configuration:

].

Calculate the color factor in

this case, and show that the quark and antiquark now attract.