Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani Second Semester 2023–24
PHY F343: Nuclear and Particle Physics
Problem Set 1
P1. (Classical elastic hard-sphere scattering) Suppose a ping-pong ball elastically scatters
off a bowling ball of radius R. Calculate the cross-section for this interaction. You may
follow the following steps:
1. Find the relation between impact factor b and scattering angle θ. Note that the
scattering angle is 0 if b ≥ R.
2. Find the differential cross-section using
dσ b db
=
dΩ sin θ dθ
3. Find the total cross-section by integrating over all solid angles and interpret the
result.
Figure 1: The trajectory of the alpha particle is shown in green. Figure for P2.
P2. (Rutherford Scattering in Classical Mechanics) Derive the cross-section for scattering
of α-particles in a Coulomb potential using classical mechanics. You may follow the
following steps (refer Figure 1):
1. Evaluate the change in py between asymptotic states first using kinematics, then by
integrating the impulse due to the Coulomb interaction. Equate the two quantities
and use conservation of angular momentum to substitute the time-integral to φ-
integral. Be careful of the limits! This gives you the impact factor as
k θ
b= cot
2Ekin 2
2. Obtain the differential cross-section using the standard formula (see P1.2). Interpret
why db/dθ is negative.
3. Integrate to obtain the total cross section.
1
P3. In the class, we have obtained the distance of closest approach (dmin ) for complete
back-scattering. Find dmin for any scattering angle θ. You can follow the discussion in
Goldstein
P4. (Rutherford Scattering in Quantum Mechanics) Derive the cross-section for scatter-
ing of α-particles in a Coulomb potential using quantum mechanics. You may follow the
following steps:
1. Obtain the transition amplitude Hf i assuming the incident and scattered electrons
to be plane-waves.
2. Use the Fermi golden rule for transition probability per second
Tf i = 2π|Hf i |2 ρf
d3 kf
where ρf = (2π)3 dEf
is the density of final states. Use E 2 = k 2 + m2
3. The differential cross section is
Tf i
dσ =
Incident flux
where the incident flux is same as the incident velocity ui = dEi /dki (due to our
normalization).
4. Obtain the non-relativistic limit and verify that it matches the Rutherford scatter-
ing formula in classical mechanics.
P5. A very good approximation to the nuclear matter distribution is the Helm distribu-
tion (look at Richard Helm, Physical Review 1956). It is obtained by folding/smearing
the uniform charge distribution.
Z
ρHelm (~r) = ρuniform (~r 0 , R) · ρGaussian (~r − ~r 0 , σ)d3~r 0
where ρGaussian is the radial Gaussian distribution
r2
1
ρGaussian (r, σ) = exp − 2 .
(2πσ 2 )3/2 2σ
Obtain the Helm form-factor. Using any plotting software, plot the Uniform and Helm
distribution as well as the Uniform and Helm form-factors.
P6. Considering the Woods-Saxon distribution, estimate the number of nucleons in the
skin of a nuclei with A=64. Also estimate the same for A=125. Draw your conclusions
on the typical fraction of nucleons in core vs. skin.
