Nuclear ScienceA Guide to the Nuclear Science Wall Chart

2003 Contemporary Physics Education Project (CPEP)

Chapter 7

Nuclear Reactions

Nuclear reactions and nuclear scattering are used to measure the properties of nuclei.
Reactions that exchange energy or nucleons can be used to measure the energies of binding and
excitation, quantum numbers of energy levels, and transition rates between levels. A particle
accelerator (see Chapter 11), which produces a beam of high-velocity charged particles
(electrons, protons, alphas, or heavy ions), creates these reactions when they strike a target
nucleus. Nuclear reactions can also be produced in nature by high-velocity particles from
cosmic rays, for instance in the upper atmosphere or in space. Beams of neutrons can be
obtained from nuclear reactors or as secondary products when a charged-particle beam knocks
out weakly bound neutrons from a target nucleus. Beams of photons, mesons, muons, and
neutrinos can also produce nuclear reactions.
In order for a nuclear reaction to occur, the nucleons in the incident particle, or projectile,
must interact with the nucleons in the target. Thus the energy must be high enough to overcome
the natural electromagnetic repulsion between the protons. This energy barrier is called the
Coulomb barrier. If the energy is below the barrier, the nuclei will bounce off each other. Early
experiments by Rutherford used low-energy alpha particles from naturally radioactive material
to bounce off target atoms and measure the size of the target nuclei.
When a collision occurs between the incident particle and a target nucleus, either the
beam particle scatters elastically leaving the target nucleus in its ground state or the target
nucleus is internally excited and subsequently decays by emitting radiation or nucleons. A
nuclear reaction is described by identifying the incident particle, target nucleus, and reaction
products. For example, when a neutron strikes a nitrogen nucleus, 1 4N, to produce a proton, 1 H,
and an isotope of carbon, 1 4C, the reaction is written as
1
0

n+ 147 N146 C+11H

Sometimes the reaction is abbreviated as 14 N(n, p)14C . A number of conservation conditions

apply to any reaction equation:
1. The mass number A and the charge Z must balance on each side of the reaction
arrow. Thus in the example the sum of superscripts 1 + 14 on the left equals the 14
+ 1 on the right to balance the As. The 0 + 7 subscripts on the left equals the 6 + 1
on the right to balance the Zs.
2. The total energy before the reaction must equal the total energy after the reaction.
The total energy includes the particle kinetic energies plus the energy equivalent of
the particle rest masses, E = mc2.
3. Linear momenta before and after the reaction must be equal. For two-particle final
states this means that a measurement of one particles momentum determines the
other particles momentum.
4. Quantum rules govern the balancing of the angular momentum, parity, and isospin
of the nuclear levels.

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Chapter 7Nuclear Reactions

A specific reaction is studied by measuring the angles and kinetic energies of the
reaction products (the kinematic variables). Particle and radiation detectors designed for the
expected charge and energy of each product are arranged around the target. (See Chapter 12 for
a discussion of detector types.)
The most important quantity of interest for a specific set of kinematic variables is the
reaction cross section. The cross section is a measure of the probability for a particular reaction
to occur. This quantity, s, which has the dimension of area, is measured by the experimental
ratio
s=

number!of!reaction!particles!emitted
.
(number!of!beam!particles!per!unit!area)(number!of!target!nuclei!within!the!beam)

The cross section can also be calculated from a mathematical model of the nucleus by applying
the rules of quantum mechanics. Comparing the measured and calculated values of the cross
sections for many reactions validates the assumptions of the nuclear model.
Table 7-1 shows some of the many types of nuclear reactions and what they teach us
about nuclei and nuclear energy.
Table 7-1. Nuclear Reaction Types

Reaction

What is Learned

Nucleon - nucleon scattering

Fundamental nuclear force
Elastic scattering of nuclei
Nuclear size and interaction potential
Inelastic scattering to excited states
Energy level location and quantum numbers
Inelastic scattering to the continuum
Giant resonances (vibrational modes)
Transfer and knockout reactions
Details of the Shell Model
Fusion reactions
Astrophysical processes
Fission reactions
Properties of Liquid-drop Model
Compound nucleus formation
Statistical properties of the nucleus
Multifragmentation
Phases of nuclear matter, Collective Model
Pion reactions
Investigation of the nuclear glue
Electron scattering
Quark structure of nuclei
____________________________________________________________________
The elastic scattering cross sections of protons and neutrons on a proton target give the
essential data to reconstruct the nucleon-nucleon. A complete theory of nuclear structure and
dynamics must start with this elemental interaction.
The systematics of nuclear sizes, shapes, binding energies, and other nuclear properties
are the data that nuclear models are challenged to explain. The Shell Model that has been
mentioned in Chapters 2 and 6 has combined the large body of nuclear data into a coherent
theory of nuclear structure. Most of this data was the result of elastic and inelastic scattering of
electrons, protons, and neutrons from nuclei found in the chart of the nuclides.
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Chapter 7Nuclear Reactions

At high enough excitation energies, a nucleus can undergo a series of normal modes of
collective oscillations called giant resonances. The nucleus rings like a bell at distinct
frequencies with all the nucleons participating and sharing the excitation energy.
Fusion reactions are the combining of two nuclei to form a more massive nucleus.
Many fusion reactions release large amounts of energy. An example is the combining of two
isotopes of hydrogen (tritium and deuterium) to form helium and a neutron plus a large amount
of kinetic energy in the reaction products:
3

H + 2 H 4 He + n + 17.6 MeV.

This reaction as a potential electric power source is discussed in Chapter 14. Another example
of fusion is the reaction set that powers the Sun and other low-mass stars:
H + 1 H 2 H + e+ + ne,
2
H + 1 H 3 He + g,
3
He + 3 He 4 He +1 H + 1 H.
1

The net energy output from this chain is 26.7 MeV for each helium-4 nucleus formed.
Neutron-induced fission of massive nuclei into two lower-mass nuclei plus neutrons is
also an energy source for power generation. This topic is discussed in Chapter 14.
Compound nucleus formation is a reaction in which two nuclei combine into a single
excited nucleus; the excited nucleus lives for a relatively long time and forgets how it was
formed. The decay from this state of excitation is by evaporation of nucleons from the
heated liquid drop of the compound nucleus, by gamma decay, or by fission of the compound
nucleus. The statistical nature of this process teaches us about the average properties of excited
states of complex nuclei.
Multifragmentation reactions, in which high-energy nuclei collide with other nuclei, are a
method of creating nuclear matter in unusual conditions of density and excitation energy. These
states may be in a different phase from normal nuclei and be characteristic of the matter in the
early universe.

When nucleons are flung at one another, they can mesh briefly. During the time they are
one nucleus, the quarks in the nucleons can interact with one another as if they were free
particles. As with Rutherford scattering, an investigation of the angle that a particle is scattered
gives information about the conditions inside the nucleons.
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Chapter 7Nuclear Reactions

Nuclear reactions and their interpretation are the main activity of most nuclear
scientists. The continuing development of accelerators and detectors (see Chapters 11 and
12) permit the refinement of nuclear data and models to benefit basic science and nuclear
applications.
Books and Articles:
Robin Herman, Fusion, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1990.
Robert Serber, The Los Alamos Primer, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1992.

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