| | Contents | |
| | | |
| |
| | Preface | XI |
| 1 | Aspects of Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics | 1 |
| 1.1 | History | 1 |
| 1.2 | Nomenclature | 3 |
| 1.3 | Solar System Abundances | 4 |
| 1.4 | Astrophysical Aspects | 8 |
| 1.4.1 | General Considerations | 8 |
| 1.4.2 | Hertzsprung–Russell Diagram | 10 |
| 1.4.3 | Stellar Evolution of Single Stars | 11 |
| 1.4.4 | Binary Stars | 28 |
| 1.5 | Masses, Binding Energies, Nuclear Reactions, and Related Topics | 33 |
| 1.5.1 | Nuclear Mass and Binding Energy | 33 |
| 1.5.2 | Energetics of Nuclear Reactions | 34 |
| 1.5.3 | Atomic Mass and Mass Excess | 37 |
| 1.5.4 | Number Abundance, Mass Fraction, and Mole Fraction | 39 |
| 1.5.5 | Decay Constant, Mean Lifetime, and Half-Life | 42 |
| 1.6 | Nuclear Shell Model | 43 |
| 1.6.1 | Closed Shells and Magic Numbers | 44 |
| 1.6.2 | Nuclear Structure and Nucleon Configuration | 46 |
| 1.7 | Nuclear Excited States and Electromagnetic Transitions | 49 |
| 1.7.1 | Energy, Angular Momentum, and Parity | 49 |
| 1.7.2 | Transition Probabilities | 51 |
| 1.7.3 | Branching Ratio and Mixing Ratio | 53 |
| 1.7.4 | Gamma-Ray Transitions in a Stellar Plasma | 55 |
| 1.7.5 | Isomeric States and the Case of 26Al | 56 |
| 1.8 | Weak Interaction | 58 |
| 1.8.1 | Weak Interaction Processes | 60 |
| 1.8.2 | Energetics | 61 |
| 1.8.3 | Beta-Decay Probabilities | 63 |
| 1.8.4 | Beta-Decays in a Stellar Plasma | 69 |
| 2 | Nuclear Reactions | 75 |
| 2.1 | Cross Sections | 75 |
| 2.2 | Reciprocity Theorem | 77 |
| 2.3 | Elastic Scattering and Method of Partial Waves | 79 |
| 2.3.1 | General Aspects | 79 |
| 2.3.2 | Relationship Between Differential Cross Section and Scattering Amplitude | 81 |
| 2.3.3 | The Free Particle | 82 |
| 2.3.4 | Turning the Potential On | 83 |
| 2.3.5 | Scattering Amplitude and Elastic Scattering Cross Section | 84 |
| 2.3.6 | Reaction Cross Section | 86 |
| 2.4 | Scattering by Simple Potentials | 89 |
| 2.4.1 | Square-Well Potential | 89 |
| 2.4.2 | Square-Barrier Potential | 95 |
| 2.4.3 | Transmission Through the Coulomb Barrier | 103 |
| 2.5 | Theory of Resonances | 108 |
| 2.5.1 | General Aspects | 108 |
| 2.5.2 | Logarithmic Derivative, Phase Shift, and Cross Section | 109 |
| 2.5.3 | Breit–Wigner Formulas | 113 |
| 2.5.4 | Extension to Charged Particles and Arbitrary Values of Orbital Angular Momentum | 117 |
| 2.5.5 | R-Matrix Theory | 122 |
| 2.5.6 | Experimental Tests of the One-Level Breit–Wigner Formula | 126 |
| 2.5.7 | Partial and Reduced Widths | 130 |
| 2.6 | Continuum Theory | 139 |
| 2.7 | Hauser–Feshbach Theory | 141 |
| 3 | Thermonuclear Reactions | 147 |
| 3.1 | Cross Sections and Reaction Rates | 147 |
| 3.1.1 | Particle-Induced Reactions | 147 |
| 3.1.2 | Photon-Induced Reactions | 151 |
| 3.1.3 | Abundance Evolution | 152 |
| 3.1.4 | Forward and Reverse Reactions | 155 |
| 3.1.5 | Reaction Rates at Elevated Temperatures | 159 |
| 3.1.6 | Reaction Rate Equilibria | 164 |
| 3.1.7 | Nuclear Energy Generation | 170 |
| 3.2 | Nonresonant and Resonant Thermonuclear Reaction Rates | 171 |
| 3.2.1 | Nonresonant Reaction Rates for Charged-Particle-Induced Reactions | 171 |
| 3.2.2 | Nonresonant Reaction Rates for Neutron-Induced Reactions | 185 |
| 3.2.3 | Nonresonant Reaction Rates for Photon-Induced Reactions | 189 |
| 3.2.4 | Narrow-Resonance Reaction Rates | 191 |
| 3.2.5 | Broad-Resonance Reaction Rates | 201 |
| 3.2.6 | Electron Screening | 207 |
| 3.2.7 | Total Reaction Rates | 212 |
| 4 | Nuclear Physics Experiments | 219 |
| 4.1 | General Aspects | 219 |
| 4.1.1 | Charged-Particle Beams | 220 |
| 4.1.2 | Neutron Beams | 222 |
| 4.2 | Interaction of Radiation with Matter | 225 |
| 4.2.1 | Interactions of Heavy Charged Particles | 225 |
| 4.2.2 | Interactions of Photons | 236 |
| 4.2.3 | Interactions of Neutrons | 244 |
| 4.3 | Targets and Related Equipment | 247 |
| 4.3.1 | Backings | 249 |
| 4.3.2 | Target Preparation | 250 |
| 4.3.3 | Contaminants | 255 |
| 4.3.4 | Target Chamber and Holder | 256 |
| 4.4 | Radiation Detectors | 258 |
| 4.4.1 | General Aspects | 258 |
| 4.4.2 | Semiconductor Detectors | 263 |
| 4.4.3 | Scintillation Detectors | 267 |
| 4.4.4 | Proportional Counters | 272 |
| 4.4.5 | Microchannel Plate Detectors | 273 |
| 4.5 | Nuclear Spectroscopy | 274 |
| 4.5.1 | Charged-Particle Spectroscopy | 275 |
| 4.5.2 | Gamma-Ray Spectroscopy | 280 |
| 4.5.3 | Neutron Spectroscopy | 299 |
| 4.6 | Miscellaneous Experimental Techniques | 305 |
| 4.6.1 | Radioactive Ion Beams | 306 |
| 4.6.2 | Activation Method | 311 |
| 4.6.3 | Time-of-Flight Technique | 315 |
| 4.7 | Background Radiation | 317 |
| 4.7.1 | General Aspects | 318 |
| 4.7.2 | Background in Charged-Particle Detector Spectra | 321 |
| 4.7.3 | Background in  -Ray Detector Spectra | 323 |
| 4.7.4 | Background in Neutron Detector Spectra | 331 |
| 4.8 | Yields and Cross Sections for Charged-Particle-Induced Reactions | 334 |
| 4.8.1 | Nonresonant and Resonant Yields | 335 |
| 4.8.2 | General Treatment of Yield Curves | 342 |
| 4.8.3 | Measured Yield Curves and Excitation Functions | 348 |
| 4.8.4 | Determination of Absolute Resonance Strengths and Cross Sections | 352 |
| 4.9 | Transmissions, Yields, and Cross Sections for Neutron-Induced Reactions | 361 |
| 4.9.1 | Resonance Transmission | 362 |
| 4.9.2 | Resonant and Nonresonant Yields | 364 |
| 4.9.3 | Effective Cross Section | 365 |
| 4.9.4 | Measured Yields and Transmissions | 366 |
| 4.9.5 | Relative and Absolute Cross Sections | 368 |
| 5 | Nuclear Burning Stages and Processes | 375 |
| 5.1 | Hydrostatic Hydrogen Burning | 378 |
| 5.1.1 | pp Chains | 379 |
| 5.1.2 | CNO Cycles | 396 |
| 5.1.3 | Hydrostatic Hydrogen Burning Beyond the CNO Mass Region | 410 |
| 5.2 | Explosive Hydrogen Burning | 417 |
| 5.2.1 | Hot CNO Cycles | 418 |
| 5.2.2 | Explosive Hydrogen Burning Beyond the CNO Mass Region | 431 |
| 5.3 | Hydrostatic Helium Burning | 437 |
| 5.3.1 | Helium-Burning Reactions | 439 |
| 5.3.2 | Nucleosynthesis During Hydrostatic He Burning | 446 |
| 5.3.3 | Other Helium-Burning Reactions | 448 |
| 5.4 | Explosive Hydrogen-Helium Burning | 449 |
| 5.4.1 | Breakout from the HCNO Cycles | 450 |
| 5.4.2 | Network Calculations at Constant Temperature and Density | 454 |
| 5.4.3 | Nucleosynthesis for Temperature–Density Profiles | 466 |
| 5.5 | Advanced Burning Stages | 472 |
| 5.5.1 | Carbon Burning | 472 |
| 5.5.2 | Neon Burning | 480 |
| 5.5.3 | Oxygen Burning | 484 |
| 5.5.4 | Silicon Burning | 494 |
| 5.5.5 | Nuclear Statistical Equilibrium and Freeze-Out | 507 |
| 5.6 | Nucleosynthesis Beyond the Iron Peak | 514 |
| 5.6.1 | The s-Process | 518 |
| 5.6.2 | The r-Process | 536 |
| 5.6.3 | The p-Process | 556 |
| 5.7 | Origin of the Solar System Nuclides | 568 |
| | Appendix | |
| A | Solutions of the Schrödinger Equation in Three Dimensions | 575 |
| A.1 | Zero Orbital Angular Momentum and Constant Potential | 577 |
| A.2 | Arbitrary Orbital Angular Momentum and Zero Potential | 578 |
| A.3 | Arbitrary Orbital Angular Momentum and Coulomb Potential | 578 |
| B | Quantum Mechanical Selection Rules | 581 |
| C | Kinematics | 589 |
| C.1 | Relationship of Kinematic Quantities in the Laboratory Coordinate System | 589 |
| C.2 | Transformation Between Laboratory and Center-of-Mass Coordinate System | 593 |
| D | Angular Correlations | 599 |
| D.1 | General Aspects | 600 |
| D.2 | Pure Radiations in a Two-Step Process | 604 |
| D.3 | Mixed Radiations in a Two-Step Process | 606 |
| D.4 | Three-Step Process with Unobserved Intermediate Radiation | 611 |
| D.5 | Experimental Considerations | 613 |
| D.6 | Concluding Remarks | 615 |
| E | Constants, Data, Units, and Notation | 619 |
| E.1 | Physical Constants and Data | 619 |
| E.2 | Mathematical Expressions | 620 |
| E.3 | Prefixes and Units | 621 |
| E.4 | Physical Quantities | 623 |
| | Color Plates | 631 |
| | References | 643 |
| | Index | 653 |
