Kursöversikt

Schema, kursplan mm.

Kursstart: 29 mars klockan 10:00
Lokal: FL61
Hitta till salen: Digital karta över Campus Johanneberg

Examinator: Andreas Heinz
https://www.chalmers.se/en/staff/Pages/andreas-heinz.aspx

 

Schema: Schema till alla kurser hittar du i TimeEdit.. För kurser som ges på Johanneberg (fysik och matematik) kan du gå via https://cloud.timeedit.net/chalmers/web/public/ri1Q5006.html.

Kurslitteratur: https://studentportal.gu.se/minastudier/fysik/Kurslitteratur 

Introductory Nuclear Physics, Kenneth S. Krane ISBN 0-471-80553-X

Kurslitteratur kan köpas hos Cremona Chalmers bokhandelLinks to an external site. (öppnas i nytt fönster).
Besöksadress: Sven Hultins gata 4 Tel: 772 3945 E-post: info@cremona.se

This book is rather old, but it is in my opinion still the best book to understand the basics of subatomic physics. Obviously, more modern developments of the field will be covered within the lecture and in lecture slides, which will be posted under "Material" in due time. A compendium on particle and nuclear astrophysics will be used instead of the corresponding chapter in the course book.

Preliminary course plan: FYP204-LGFY65_SubatomarFysik_VT2022.pdf

Reading tips for the course book: LASHANDLEDNING2022.pdf

Problems for exercises: Rakneuppgifter.pdf

We will use four of our lecture times to have calculation exercises, aimed at helping you to solve problems. Those are clearly marked in the course plan (see link above), as are the problems we plan to discuss there. The problems are taken from the file above (with answers in the back). 

Please make sure that you sign into Canvas regularly AND make sure to set your setting so, that any announcements are forwarded to your preferred email address.

Note that, unless the pandemic situation changes, the course will be held completely on campus.

Laboratories

Three laboratories, K5, K6 and K8 are part of the course. Participation in those labs is required for passing the course!

Lab reports for those labs are encouraged, but voluntary. If you hand in a lab report (alone or together with a lab partner) you can gain bonus points, which will be counted for the written exam at the end of the course. A maximum of 25 bonus points can be obtained. This is calculated in the following way: all lab reports are graded to a maximum number of 15 points. The best report is counted in full, while the points of other lab reports are multiplied by a factor of 1/3. 

Please read the lab handouts before the labs, answer questions and do exercises in those handout before the lab starts! You will have problems to finish the labs in time if you are not prepared. Material for the labs, including handouts and preparation material are under the Files tab to your right in the Labs folder.

Lab reports can be uploaded as Assignment on this course page (will be created at the latest by Monday, April 18, 2021). The lab reports are due two weeks after the lab is finished. In case you work with a lab partner on your report who takes the lab at a later time, this counts from the day both partners have finished the lab they write the report on.

Sign-up for the labs will be done via this canvas page.

Some tips about lab reports:

• Up to 8 pages, including a cover page and figures. Additional figures can be put in an appendix if needed.
• The report should be a readable text with your own reflections and conclusions based on your results. It should not be just a list with “answers”.
• Explain the underlying theory with your own words (Note that for K5 you do not have provide a presentation of Fermi’s theory of beta decay).
• Discuss possible sources of uncertainties and how those affect the results you obtained.
• Do not forget to label axes and to give proper units.
• Data in figures should be calibrated for full points.
• Include answers to preparation questions and tasks from the lab handouts.

Example of topics to get more than 12 points:

• Deeper theoretical discussion than usually needed
• Scientific-historic context
• Detailed error analysis and discussion of sources of uncertainties
• …

Expeditionen Fysik

Studieadministratör (studieadminstrativa frågor, t.ex. betygsrapportering, tentamensschema och tentamen): Victoria Ringstedt victoria.ringstedt@physics.gu.se

Generell mejladress för administrativa frågor (t. ex. om  kursregistreringar och passerkort): studieexpeditionen@physics.gu.se

Studievägledning (pedagogisk anpassning etc.): Johanna Giske johanna.giske@physics.gu.se

Institutionen för fysik

Besöksadress: Origovägen 6 B, 412 96 Göteborg
Webb: www.gu.se/fysik

 

Syllabus: Subatomic Physics (FYP204/LGFY65 Subatomär Fysik)

Prerequisites: Material covered in physics courses during the first three semesters, especially knowledge on FYP203 Kvantfysik.

Learning Objectives:

- Knowledge on the constituents of nuclei and nuclear models.

- Binding energies and interactions of particles.

- Knowledge on the strong, weak, electromagnetic interactions and radioactive decay.

- Knowledge on nuclear reactions in nucleosynthesis and laboratory experiments.

- Understanding of nuclear fission and fusion reactions.

- Knowledge on the standard and quark models.

- Knowing about different particles ( baryons, mesons, leptons, anti-particles) and basic understanding of the role of relativistic effects.

- Knowledge on nuclear astrophysics.

- Know about different experimental approaches in subatomic physics.

 

Skills and abilities:

- Be able to calculate bindings and decay energies (Q-values).

- On the basis of nuclear models to estimate nuclear shapes and to predict quantum numbers.

- To estimate/calculate lifetimes of atomic nuclei and particles.

- Based on conservation laws to be able to analyze/predict decays and/or reactions.

- To be able to apply quantum mechanics and some relativistic relations in the subatomic physics world.

- To be able to identify the physics background of nuclear physics applications.

- To have a qualitative understanding of radiation effects in therapy and radiation safety.

 

Judgement and approach:

- Have insight into a reality, which cannot be described in terms of classical physics and cannot be observed by the human eye, which is why indirect experimental approaches are needed.

- Knowledge on the different involved scales in terms of size, energy, etc. in the subatomic world.

- Insight into the creation of the universe and the elements as well as the coupling between the microscopic and the macroscopic worlds.

 

Contents:

Nuclear physics concepts and nomenclature. Introduction of interaction mechanisms beyond the electromagnetic and gravitational interactions to explain the stability of atomic nuclei. Discussion of the nucleon-nucleon interaction with the deuteron as starting point. Nuclear models based on quantum mechanics. The statistical nature of radioactive decay and the mechanisms of alpha, beta and gamma emission. The interaction of radiation with matter for the detection of radiation. Different types of nuclear reactions, also nuclear fission, fusion and the energy production in the sun. Meson- and particle physics, leptons, quarks, as well as their relations to baryons and mesons. Nucleosynthesis, the formation of leptons, quarks and photons in the Big Bang.

Some of those aspects are also core of the three laboratories, which need to be attended in order to pass the course.

Exam:

There is a written exam at the end of the course. Voluntary lab reports can, depending on quality, result in bonus points for the written exam.