Key facts
Details for course being taught in current academic year
Level 3 - 15 credits - autumn term
E-learning links
Resources
Course description
Course outline
Chronology of discoveries. Basic nuclear properties. Nuclear Forces. Models of nuclear structure. Magic numbers. Nuclear reactions, nuclear decay and radioactivity, including their roles in nature. The weak force. Existence and properties of neutrinos. Qualitative introduction to neutrino oscillations. C, P and T symmetries. Classification of elementary particles, and their reactions and decays. Particle structure. Qualitative introduction to Feynman diagrams
Pre-requisite
Atomic Physics I
Quantum Mechanics
Learning outcomes
By the end of the course, a successful student should be able to:
to make calculations involving precise nuclear masses and energies
to predict ground state nuclear spins and parities using the shell model
to distinguish types of nuclear decay processes and to make quantitative calculations on radioactivity
to demonstrate an understanding of the four fundamental types of inter-particle forces and their symmetry properties.
to classify elementary particles and their reaction and decay processes and to know how the classifications are explained in terms of quarks, leptons and fundamental forces.
Library
Main text at the level of the course:
Williams, `Nuclear and Particle Physics’ (Clarendon Press, 1991)
B. Martin, ‘Nuclear and Particle Physics’
Otherwise:
Blin-Stoyle `Nuclear and particle physics (Chapman and Hall 1994) QG4500. Now out of print, but the Library has about a dozen copies
Fuller texts Burcham and Jobes, `Nuclear and Particle Physics’ (Longman)
Fuller texts on particle physics Griffiths D, `Introduction to Elementary Particles’ (Wiley 1988)
Martin and Shaw, `Particle Physics’ (Wiley 1997) QG5025
Perkins D, `Introduction to High Energy Physics’ Close F E, `The cosmic onion’ (Heinemann) QG5025 (coffee-table reading)
Assessments
| Type | Timing | Weighting |
|---|---|---|
| Coursework | 30.00% | |
| Exercise | Autumn Week 2 | 5.00% |
| Exercise | Autumn Week 3 | 5.00% |
| Exercise | Autumn Week 4 | 5.00% |
| Exercise | Autumn Week 5 | 5.00% |
| Problem Sets | Autumn Week 5 | 30.00% |
| Exercise | Autumn Week 6 | 5.00% |
| Exercise | Autumn Week 7 | 5.00% |
| Exercise | Autumn Week 8 | 5.00% |
| Exercise | Autumn Week 9 | 5.00% |
| Problem Sets | Autumn Week 10 | 30.00% |
| Unseen Examination | Summer Term (1 hour 30 minutes) | 70.00% |
Resit mode of assessment
| Type | Timing | Weighting |
|---|---|---|
| Unseen Examination | Summer Vacation (1 hour 30 minutes) | 100.00% |
Timing
Submission deadlines may vary for different types of assignment/groups of students.
Weighting
Coursework components (if listed) total 100% of the overall coursework weighting value.
Teaching methods
| Term | Method | Duration | Week pattern |
|---|---|---|---|
| Autumn Term | LECTURE | 1 hour | 2222222222 |
| Autumn Term | CLASS | 1 hour | 1111111111 |
How to read the week pattern
The numbers indicate the weeks of the term and how many events take place each week.
Contact details
Prof Philip Harris
Assess convenor
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/physics/profile8102.html
Dr Jeff Hartnell
Assess convenor
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/physics/profile212474.html