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Fundamentals
In Nuclear Physics
From Nuclear Structure to Cosmology by Jean-Louis Basdevant
James Rich
Michel Spiro
Nuclear physics has transformed astronomy from the study of planetary
trajectories into the astrophysical study of stellar interiors. No doubt the most
important result of nuclear physics has been an understanding how the ob-
served mixture of elements, mostly hydrogen and helium in stars and carbon
and oxygen in planets, was produced by nuclear reactions in the primordial
universe and in stars.
This book emerged from a series of topical courses we delivered since the
late 1980’s in the Ecole Polytechnique. Among the subjects studied were the
physics of the Sun, which uses practically all fields of physics, cosmology for
which the same comment applies, and the study of energy and the environ-
ment. This latter subject was suggested to us by many of our students who
felt a need for deeper understanding, given the world in which they were
going to live. In other words, the aim was to write down the fundamentals
of nuclear physics in order to explain a number of applications for which we
felt a great demand from our students.
Such topics do not require the knowledge of modern nuclear theory that
is beautifully described in many books, such as The Nuclear Many Body
Problem by P. Ring and P Schuck. Intentionally, we have not gone into such
developments. In fact, even if nuclear physics had stopped, say, in 1950 or
1960, practically all of its applications would exist nowadays. These appli-
cations result from phenomena which were known at that time, and need
only qualitative explanations. Much nuclear phenomenology can be under-
stood from simple arguments based on things like the Pauli principle and the
Coulomb barrier. That is basically what we will be concerned with in this
book. On the other hand, the enormous amount of experimental data now
easily accesible on the web has greatly facilitated the illustration of nuclear
systematics and we have made ample use of these resources.
This book is an introduction to a large variety of scientific and techno-
logical fields. It is a first step to pursue further in the study of such or such
an aspect. We have taught it at the senior undergraduate level at the Ecole
Polytechnique. We believe that it may be useful for graduate students, or
more generally scientists, in a variety of fields.
In the first three chapters, we present the “scene” , i.e. we give the basic
notions which are necessary to develop the rest. Chapter 1 deals with the basic concepts in nuclear physics. In chapter 2, we describe the simple nu-
clear models, and discuss nuclear stability. Chapter 3 is devoted to nuclear
reactions.
Chapter 4 goes a step further. It deals with nuclear decays and the fun-
damental electro-weak interactions. We shall see that it is possible to give a
comparatively simple, but sound, description of the major progress particle
physics and fundamental interactions made since the late 1960’s.
In chapter 5, we turn to the first important practical application, i.e.
radioactivity. We shall see examples of how radioactivity is used be it in
medicine, in food industry or in art.
Chapters 6 and 7 concern nuclear energy. Chapter 6 deals with fission and
the present aspects of that source of energy production. Chapter 7 deals with
fusion which has undergone quite remarkable progress, both technologically
and politically in recent years with the international ITER project.
Fusion brings us naturally, in chapter 8 to the subject of nuclear as-
trophysics and stellar structure and evolution. Finally, we present an intro-
duction to present ideas about cosmology in chapter 9. A more advanced
description can be found in Fundamentals of Cosmology, written by one of
us (J. R.).
We want to pay a tribute to the memory of Dominique Vautherin, who
constantly provided us with ideas before his tragic death in December 2000.
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