PHYS 801 course notes. Introduction to nuclear physics

This document gathers notes taken during a course of nuclear physics given by Daniel Decamp in 2013. It addresses the nucleus general characteristics (nucleons), the issues of nucleus mass and of bound energy, the liquid drop model, and applications. The next part addresses the dimension of nuclei and nuclear density: Rutherford scattering (scattering of a charged particle by a nucleus, particle deflection angle), notion of cross section (probability of scattering at a given angle, experimental verifications, generalisation of the notion of cross section), and charge distribution within the nucleus (density of final states, differential cross section of elastic scattering, experimental results, nuclear density). The next part addresses radioactivity: generalities, energetic conditions, mass parabola, law of radioactivity (fundamental law, half-life, line width, decay products, natural radioactivity and radioactive families). The next parts address applications of radioactivity: carbon-14 dating, dating of rocks and meteorites), artificial radioactivity (notion of cross section, production of radioactive nuclei), the theoretical approach to radioactivity (semi-conventional BKW approach, other calculation method, Gramow's theory of radioactivity, Fermi's theory of radioactivity), and nuclear models with models based on independent particles (Fermi model, layer model and its applications) and collective models (rotational and vibrational models)