Paper 4 Particle Physics

Alpha Particle Scattering was an

experiment in order to investigate the
strucuture of the atom. An alpha particle
source was aimed at an extremely thin gold
foil. Three observations were made:
1. Most alpha particles passed straight
through with little/no deflection. This
indicated that most of the atom is empty
space.
2. Some alpha particles deflected through a
large angle (10-90). The atoms positive
charge is concentrated in one place and
deflects the positive charge of the Alpha
particles.
3. A few alpha particles bounced back to
the source side of the foil. This indicated
that most of the mass, and all positive
charge is in a tiny central nucleus.
A nucleus is made up from nucleons, these
include neutrons and protons. The proton
number is the number of protons in the
nucleus, and determines the element of the
atom.
Above atomic number 20, more neutrons are
required than protons in order to have a stale
nucleus. The neutrons help bind the nucleus
together, and exert the strong nuclear force,
and act as a buffer between positively
repelling protons. The strong nuclear force
only acts on a very close range, and energy is
required to bring nucleons close together.
Electrons in a metal can escape from the
surface when the metal is heated. This is
thermionic emmission. Free electrons in an
electric field will gain kinetic energy by:

Using thermionic emmisssion (in the form of

a cathode) and accelerating anodes, a beam of
fast movin electrons can be generated. A
magnetic field can be used to deflect a beam
of electrons.

In a magenetic field, the force on a particle

. To move in a circle, the force
. Combining these gives a formula
for the radius of a particle in a magnetic field.

The wavelength of a particle can be

calculated using de Broglies wave equation:

Where h is plancks constant, m is mass, and

v is velocity.
In order to investigate the nature of particles,
they are collided at high speeds and high
energies. This is required because at low
energies the particles just repel each other.
A Linac accelerator is linear. It consists of a
long straight tube like electrodes. An
alternating current is applied, so the charge of
the electrodes switches. This is timed such
that the particle is always attracted to the next
electrode, and repelled by the previous. As a
particles speed increases, longer electrodes
are needed to create he same timing. The
particle collides with a fixed target at the end
of the tube.
A cyclotron is a circular accelerator. Two
semicircular electrodes accelerate a particle
across a gap inbetween. Again, the charge of
them is alternated using an alternating
current. A magnetic field is used to keep
particles in a circular motion.
In a syncrotron, particles are accelerate in
both directions of a circle and collided (both
with velocity). It is like a linac bent into a
circle. Switching the charge of electrodes is
timed to be in sync with the movement of the
particles. Magnets are used to keep the
particles moving in a circle, and to focus the
beam.

Leptons dont feel the strong interaction.

They can only interact via the weak
ineraction. Each lepton has a lepton number
of +1. Anti-leptons have a lepton number of 1.

This shows that in a magnetic field, the radius

of movement is proportional to momentum.
This is useful when identifying particles from
their tracks.
Frequency
, where
. Given the
formula for r, the frequency of a particle
moving in a circle is

The GM tube works on the principle of

ionising radiation creating ions which creates
a current in the tube. This current can be
detected to count radioactivity.
The bubble chamber allows us to see the
tracks of charged particles. It works as when
an ion passes through a particular gas,
superheated liquid hydrogen bubbles form.
The radius of the curvature tells us the mass
and charge of the particle from the formula
r=mv/Bq. Neutral particles cannot be
detected in bubble chambers, but because of
the laws of coservation of charge, momentum
and energy, we can find their presence. As a
particle loses energy by ionising the gas, its
curvature will increase, causing it to spiral
inwards.
Hadrons are particles that feel the strong
interaction. They are made up of quarks
(fundamental particles). Hadrons can be
classified and baryons and mesons. Baryons
are made of 3 quarks or 3 anti-quarks (not a
mixture) e.g. potrons, neutrons. Each baryon
has a baryon number of +1. Baryons made of
anti-quarks have a Baryon number of -1.
Mesons are made of a quark-anti-quark pair
i.e. 1 quark and 1 antiquark e.g. Pions,
Kaons.

When energy forms matter, its anti matter

equivalent will also be created, and move in
the opposite direction. Charge and
momentum must be conserved. This is called
pair production. When a paticle and its anti
matter meet, they anhiliate and form energy
(usually in the form of gamma). Momentum
must be conserved so 2 beams will be
produced moving in opposite directions.
Particles posess a property called strangeness.
This refers to the number of strange quarks
within it. For each strange particle, a
strangeness of -1 is assigned. For each antistrange particle, a strangeness of +1 is
asigned.
Before and after particle interactions, the
following must be conserved:

Charge

Baryon number

Lepton number

Strangeness