PHYSICS 872
Nuclear Physics
Instructor: Simonetta Liuti
Textbook: The Structure of the Nucleon by Anthony W. Thomas and Wolfram Weise
http://www.wileyeurope.com/cda/product/0,,3527402977|desc|2655,00.html
Brief Description and Aim: This course was developed as a continuation of Nuclear Physics I . As in the first part, it will address current ideas and experiments in Nuclear Physics, with the aim of providing the student with the basic tools for exploring the many interdisciplinary questions and far-reaching aspects of this field.
Research in Nuclear Physics today probes the properties of nuclei and nucleons in terms of their fundamental constituents, the quarks and gluons. Central goals of nuclear physics are both to understand the structure of nucleons within Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) - the universally acclaimed theory of strong interactions - and to unravel the properties of hot nuclear matter, along with many other important questions in astrophysics, from the origin of the elements to the production of neutrinos in the universe.
General Organization: List of topics chosen by students at the beginning of classes. Next, we proceed through "Journal Club style" mixed with regular classes. Homework: read papers. Papers are presented and discussed by instructor and/or students.
Prerequisites: Many theoretical results are derived from first principles and each student should be able to work her/his way through the various problems with a solid mathematical background at the undergraduate level. Dirac Equation. Feynman Diagrams. Quantum Electrodynamics.