Statistical Models for Nuclear Decay: From Evaporation to Vaporization describes statistical models that are applied to the decay of atomic nuclei, emphasizing highly excited nuclei usually produced using heavy ion collisions. The first two chapters present essential introductions to statistical mechanics and nuclear physics, followed by a descript

Radiation detection is key to experimental nuclear physics as well as underpinning a wide range of applications in nuclear decommissioning, homeland security and medical imaging. This book presents the state-of-the-art in radiation detection of light and heavy ions, beta particles, gamma rays and neutrons. The underpinning physics of different detector technologies is presented, and their performance is compared and contrasted. Detector technology likely to be encountered in contemporary international laboratories is also emphasized. There is a strong focus on experimental design and mapping detector technology to the needs of a particular measurement problem. This book will be invaluable to PhD students in experimental nuclear physics and nuclear technology, as well as undergraduate students encountering projects based on radiation detection for the first time. Key Features Provides clear, concise descriptions of key detection techniques Describes detector types with "telescopic depth", so readers can go as deep as they wish Covers real-world applications including short case studies in industry

This volume is the outcome of a community-wide review of the field of dynamics and thermodynamics with nuclear degrees of freedom. It presents the achievements and the outstanding open questions in 26 articles collected in six topical sections and written by more than 60 authors. All authors are internationally recognized experts in their fields.

This book provides a collection of reviews of some of the recent developments in nuclear physics research at intermediate energies from across the globe. It especially focuses on the most essential aspects, such as multifragmentation and associated phenomena in nuclear collisions, with the incident energy region between a few MeV and several hundreds of MeV/nucleon. The topic of the book—multifragmentation—was chosen based on the fact that all heavy-ion collisions revolve around a fragmenting system, which is also thought to have a link to phase transitions. One unique and valuable dimension of this book is that it has brought together the research of several experts working in the field of intermediate energy heavy-ion collisions in various renowned laboratories of the world. It provides a thorough review of the recent developments in various related phenomena, especially multifragmentation, observed at the intermediate-energy range, both theoretically and experimentally. It extensively discusses the concept of nuclear symmetry energy, which is important for the nuclear physics and astrophysics communities. In addition, the book identifies potential research directions and technologies that will drive future innovations. It will serve as a valuable reference for a larger audience, including students who wish to pursue a career in nuclear physics and astrophysics.

Dramatic progress has been made in all branches of physics since the National Research Council's 1986 decadal survey of the field. The Physics in a New Era series explores these advances and looks ahead to future goals. The series includes assessments of the major subfields and reports on several smaller subfields, and preparation has begun on an overview volume on the unity of physics, its relationships to other fields, and its contributions to national needs. Nuclear Physics is the latest volume of the series. The book describes current activity in understanding nuclear structure and symmetries, the behavior of matter at extreme densities, the role of nuclear physics in astrophysics and cosmology, and the instrumentation and facilities used by the field. It makes recommendations on the resources needed for experimental and theoretical advances in the coming decade.

This book brings together various aspects of the nuclear fission phenomenon discovered by Hahn, Strassmann and Meitner almost 70 years ago. Beginning with an historical introduction the authors present various models to describe the fission process of hot nuclei as well as the spontaneous fission of cold nuclei and their isomers. The role of transport coefficients, like inertia and friction in fission dynamics is discussed. The effect of the nuclear shell structure on the fission probability and the mass and kinetic energy distributions of the fission fragments is presented. The fusion-fission process leading to the synthesis of new isotopes including super-heavy elements is described. The book will thus be useful for theoretical and experimental physicists, as well as for graduate and PhD students.

This volume presents a comprehensive introduction to the study of nuclear structure at finite temperature. By measuring the frequencies of the high-energy photons emitted or absorbed by an atomic nucleus it is possible to visualize the structure of that nucleus. In such experiments it is observed that the atomic nucleus displays resonant behavior, absorbing or emitting photons within a relatively narrow range of frequencies. To study emission processes one measures the y-decay of compound nuclei, and by this means it is possible to probe the structure of the nucleus at finite temperature. This book is divided into two main parts: the study of giant resonances based on the atomic nucleus ground state (zero temperature), and the study of the y-decay of giant resonances from compound (finite temperature) nuclei. As this work is an outgrowth of their lectures to fourth-year students at the University of Milan, the authors have placed special emphasis on the general concepts that form the foundation of the phenomenon of giant resonances. This basic subject matter is supplemented with material taken from work going on at the forefront of research on the structure of hot nuclei. Thus, this volume will serve as an essential reference for both young researchers and experienced practitioners.

Major developments have taken place during the last few years in the study of the nuclear paradigm as a result of recent detector and accelerator developments, and of improved theoretical models.The active use of 4-π detectors to measure the gamma decay of excited nuclei has been instrumental in exploring the consequences of extremely high rotational frequencies and excitation energies in the nuclear structure. The identification of superdeformed bands, of limiting temperature for the detection of giant resonances, and of rotational damping, are conspicuous examples of this novel type of research. Studies of the disassembling of the nucleus have been systematically carried out, and the results interpreted in terms of transport models.At even higher temperatures one expects to have a completely new regime of hot dense matter, where the hadronic properties become strongly renormalized by the medium.Furthermore, studies of the properties of the nucleon as a many-body system of quarks and gluons displaying collective degrees of freedom which are damped by couplings to more complicated states, are providing a detailed and consistent picture of the nuclear paradigm.Important progress is also taking place in situations essentially opposite to the scenarios described above, namely in the study of correlations in nuclear matter at very low temperature and density.

Boltzmann''s formula S = In[ W (E) ] defines the microcanonical ensemble. The usual textbooks on statistical mechanics start with the microensemble but rather quickly switch to the canonical ensemble introduced by Gibbs. This has the main advantage of easier analytical calculations, but there is a price to pay OCo for example, phase transitions can only be defined in the thermodynamic limit of infinite system size. The question how phase transitions show up from systems with, say, 100 particles with an increasing number towards the bulk can only be answered when one finds a way to define and classify phase transitions in small systems. This is all possible within Boltzmann''s original definition of the microcanonical ensemble. Starting from Boltzmann''s formula, the book formulates the microcanonical thermodynamics entirely within the frame of mechanics. This way the thermodynamic limit is avoided and the formalism applies to small as well to other nonextensive systems like gravitational ones. Phase transitions of first order, continuous transitions, critical lines and multicritical points can be unambiguously defined by the curvature of the entropy S(E, N) . Special attention is given to the fragmentation of nuclei and atomic clusters as a peculiar phase transition of small systems controlled, among others, by angular momentum. The dependence of the liquid-gas transition of small atomic clusters under prescribed pressure is treated. Thus the analogue to the bulk transition can be studied. The book also describes the microcanonical statistics of the collapse of a self-gravitating system under large angular momentum. Contents: The Mechanical Basis of Thermodynamics; Micro-Canonical Thermodynamics of Phase Transitions Studied in the Potts Model; Liquid-Gas Transition and Surface Tension Under Constant Pressure; Statistical Fragmentation Under Repulsive Forces of Long Range; The Collapse Transition in Self-Gravitating Systems First Model-Studies; Appendices: On the Historical Development of Statistical Nuclear Multifragmentation Models; The Micro-Canonical Ensemble of Na-Clusters; Some General Technical Aspects of Micro-Canonical Monte Carlo Simulation on a Lattice. Readership: Advanced level graduate students, lecturers and researchers in statistical and condensed matter physics."