PHYS 560: Assignment 6 : SOLUTIONS

Martin J. Savage
December 18, 2009

Abstract
The sixth assignment for Nuclear Physics, PHY560, Autumn
2009.

December 2009

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 Assignment 6 : PHYS 560
Due : Dec 14

1. Wong : 6.1: We wish to construct the allowed values of total angular

momentum for a system composed of two phonons each with angular
momentum λ. The wavefunction must be totally symmetric under
interchange. If we start by considering the stretch state, M = 2λ, then

(a) There is only one way to obtain this : |λi ⊗ |λi. This state is
allowed as it is symmetric under interchange, and is the stretch
state associated with J = 2λ.
(b) For the state with M = 2λ − 1, we have states |λi ⊗ |λ − 1i and
|λ − 1i ⊗ |λi. The sum of these states gives the M = 2λ − 1 state
of the J = 2λ multiplet.
(c) For the state with M = 2λ − 2, we have states |λi ⊗ |λ − 2i,
|λ − 2i ⊗ |λi, |λ − 1i ⊗ |λ − 1i. The linear combination ∝ |λi ⊗
|λ − 2i + |λ − 2i ⊗ |λi + 2|λ − 1i ⊗ |λ − 1i is the M = 2λ − 2
member of the J = 2λ multiplet as is obvious from acting with the
lowering operator on the M = 2λ−1 state), while the combination
∝ |λi ⊗ |λ − 2i + |λ − 2i ⊗ |λi − |λ − 1i ⊗ |λ − 1i is the M = 2λ − 2
member of the J = 2λ − 2.
(d) This pattern continues all the way through the spectrum. There-
fore there are no states with odd J in the state formed from two
identical bosons each with λ.

For the state composed of three λ = 2 bosons, we simply construct

all possible states. I will shorthand this, and write states with sym-
metrization implicit. The number of states with different values of the
mi corresponds to the number of symmetrized, linearly independent
states–hence states of the systems:

M = 6 : Denoting the tensor product of states by |m1 , m2 , m3 i, we have

|2, 2, 2i, and hence only one state with J = 6.
M = 5 : |2, 2, 1i, hence only one state, there is NO J = 5 state.
M = 4 : |2, 2, 0i, |2, 1, 1i, hence there are two states, there is J = 4 state.
M = 3 : |2, 2, −1i, |2, 1, 0i,|1, 1, 1i, hence there are three states, there is
J = 3 state.

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M = 2 : |2, 2, −2i, |2, 1, −1i,|2, 0, 0i,|1, 1, 0i, hence there are four states,
there is J = 2 state.
M = 1 : |2, 1, −2i, |2, 0, −1i,|1, 1, −1i,|1, 0, 0i, hence there are four states,
there is NO J = 1 state.
M = 0 : |2, 0, −2i, |2, −1, −1i, |2, −2, 0i,|1, 0, −1i,|0, 0, 0i, hence there are
five states, there is a J = 0 state.
Therefore, we have that three identical spin-2 bosons will form states
with J = 0 ⊕ 2 ⊕ 3 ⊕ 4 ⊕ 6.
2. Wong : 6.2: This problem involves taking the measured values of the
energy levels in 25 Mg, and their identification as members of rotational
bands (via their electromagnetic transition strengths) and determining
the momentum of inertia of the intrinsics state that the rotational state
+
is built on, and the decoupling parameters in the K π = 21 bands. The
energy of states in a rotational band have the form
 
1 J+ 21 1
EJ,K = J(J + 1) + a δK, 1 (−) (J + ) + EK , (1)
2I 2 2
where I is the moment of inertia and a is the decoupling parameter.
The easiest way to determine the parameters is to form the differences
in energies, eliminating EK , and then performing a fit to all the avail-
able data. I used the Nonlinearregression package in mathematica that
produces fit values and standard errors, along with the confidence in-
tervals and error-ellipses. I will only quote the standard errors on the
parameters, but one should be aware of the correlation between the
extracted parameters. Fitting for I and a is highly correlated, and so
1
I extracted the coefficient of the J(J + 1) and the δK, 1 (−)J+ 2 (J + 21 )
2
terms.
5+
I find that for the K = 2
band
I = 2.52 ± 0.16 MeV−1 , (2)
which gives fit energy-levels at 0, 1.39, 3.8, 5.36MeV, c/w 0, 1.64, 3.41, 5.45MeV
with uncertainties that I have not propagated (but could and should!).
1+
I find that for the lowest K = 2
band
I = 3.18 ± 0.12 MeV−1 and a = −0.356 ± 0.036 , (3)

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 which gives fit energy-levels at 0.585(input), 0.89, 1.96, 2.66, 4.58, 5.69MeV,
c/w 0.585, 0.98, 1.96, 2.74, 4.70, 5.74MeV.
1+
I find that for the second K = 2
band
I = 2.73 ± 0.12 MeV−1 and a = −0.21 ± 0.14 , (4)
which gives fit energy-levels at 2.56(input), 2.997, 4.10, 5.12MeV, c/w
2.56, 2.80, 3.905, 5.00MeV.
3. Wong : 6.5: We are extracting the moment of inertia and the in-
trinsic quadrupole moment of 20 N e from the B(E2) matrix elements
and the energy eigenvalues. Fitting the energy levels (j π , E(M eV )) =
(0, 0+ ), (2+ , 1.22), (4+ , 4.08), (6+ , 8.57), (8+ , 14.7), using the same pro-
cedure as described earlier gives I = 2.45 ± 0.15 MeV−1 .
The inband B(E2)-values are related to the intrinsic quadrupole mo-
ment, Q0 , by
5 2 2
B(E2; Ji → Jf ) = e Q0 |hJi K20|Jf 0i|2
16π
K=0 5 2 2 3J(J − 1)
→ e Q0 , (5)
16π 2(2J + 1)(2J − 1)
and the transition rate is given by
8π(λ + 1)
W (λ; Ji → Jf ) = α E 2λ+1 B(Eλ) , (6)
λ[(2λ + 1)!!]2 γ
where λ is the transition multipolarity, and I have tossed all factors of
~ and c.
Fitting the lowest three transition strengths,
Γ(2+ , 1.63MeV → 0+ , g.s.) = 6.3 × 10−4 eV
Γ(4+ , 4.25MeV → 2+ , 1.63 MeV) = 7.1 × 10−3 eV
Γ(6+ , 8.78MeV → 4+ , 4.25 MeV) = 0.10 eV , (7)
gives eQ0 = 49.8 ± 3.4 e fm2 . The fit values of the transition rates are
4.5 × 10−4 , 7.0 × 10−3 , 0.12eV.
Using the relation
3K 2 − J(J + 1)
QJK = Q0 , (8)
(J + 1)(2J + 3)

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 gives the quadrupole moment of the J π = 2+ state to be Q20 =
−14.2 e fm2 .

4. Wong : 9.5: We need to calculate the quadrupole moment and mo-

ment of inertia about the symmetry axis of an axially-symmetric uni-
form charge distribution, bounded by r < R0 (1 + βY20 (Ω)). This is
straightforward:
r Z
16π
Qzz = d3 r r2 Y20 (Ω) ρ(r)
5
r Z Z R0 (1+βY20 (Ω))
16π
= dΩ dr r4 Y20 (Ω)
5 0
r Z
16π 5
dΩ β (Y20 (Ω))2 + 2β 2 (Y20 (Ω))3 + O(β 3 )
 
= R 0 ρ0
5
r " r #
16π 5 2 5 2
= R ρ0 β + 2β
5 0 7 4π
3ZR02
β 1 + 0.3604β + O(β 3 )
 
= √ , (9)
5π
4π
where we have used Z = ρ R3
3 0 0
+ O(β 2 ).
The moment of inertia about the z-axis is given by
Z Z R0 (1+βY20 (Ω))
Izz = ρ0 dΩ dr r4 sin2 θ
0
Z
1
ρ0 R05 dΩ sin2 θ 1 + 5β Y20 (Ω) + O(β 2 )

=
5
" √ #
8π 5
= ρ0 R05 1 − √ β + O(β 2 )
15 2 π
2
M R02 1 − 0.63β + O(β 2 )
 
= , (10)
5
which differs from the desired result given in Wong. Wongs answer is
incorrect, as one can show that
2
M R02 1 + 0.31β + O(β 2 )
 
Ixx = Iyy = . (11)
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5. Wong : 10.6: We wish to calculate the production of 37 Ar via νe +37
Cl → e− +37 Ar. From the solar constant of 1350 W/m2 we have
1
0.9
135 J/s/m2 of neutrinos impacting the earth. With an average
neutrino energy of Eν = 1 MeV, this corresponds to a flux of φν =
8.4 × 1014 m−2 s−1 . This is further reduced by a factor of 100 due to
the energy required to produce 37 Ar. The number of 37 Cl atoms in the
tank is NCl = 2.42×1030 . The rate of production of 37 Ar is the product
of the cross-section, the flux and NCl . When converted into events per
day, I find a rate of 1.76 events/day.

6. Wong : 10.8: Neutron Stars (NS): Using the density of nuclear matter
(NM) to be ρ = 0.17 N/fm3 and the mass of the NS to be MN S =
3 × 1030 Kg I find a radius of RN S = 13.68 km.
If th core is all 56 Ni, then there are NN i = 3.2 × 1055 atoms, and
if al the protons transmute into neutrons, this produces (Z = 28),
56
RNν ∼ 9 × 10 neutrinos.
13 −2
The integrated (in time) flux at the earth is
dtΦν = 3.14 × 10 m , where we used the distance of d = 160000
light years to the earth.
Assuming al the 3000 ton detector are free nucleons, we find a total
number of nucleons to be Ntank = 1.83 × 1033 . Thus the number of
events seen in this tank should be events = (3.14 × 1013 )(10−48 )(1.83 ×
1033 ) = 0.057.
The total energy emitted corresponds to about 1% of the rest mass of
the sun.

7. YN Interactions:
In order to determine, or constrain, the scattering parameters describ-
ing YN processes, we need to get the limited data from the Nijmegen
web-page. One cannot use the phase-shifts that they give as they
have already been processed once-must use the experimental measure-
ments..including their uncertainties. Isolating the s-wave cross-section
requires a measurement of the isotropy of the scattering, and we restrict
ourselves to low-energies only. Ideally we would use on p < 70 MeV (in
CoM frame) in order to be below the pion cut, where the effective range
expansion is valid, but this is not available. So to solve this problem

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we do something that is not justified, and write the cross section as
4π
σ = . (12)
|k|2 + ( −1
a
+ 1
r |k|2
2 0
+ 21 r1 |k|4 + ..)2

The cross section data is on units of millibarns, and is multiplied by

0.1 to convert to fm2 .
The actual fitting is done with mathematica, using the Nonlinearregres-
sion fitting package. As we are dealing with fitting intervals and data
with pretty large errors, I chose to Monte-Carlo the error analysis. I
ran many fits to data where the momentum is uniformly sampled from
each interval, and a Gaussian distribution is used for the cross section.
The extracted values result from the mean and standard deviation of
the fit values.
I only did the Λ-proton scattering amplitude as I was pressed for time,
but al can be done the same way. The data here is perhaps the best
set. I could not extract the effective range with any meaningful errors,
and so only fit the scattering length. I found aΛ−p to lie between 2.2
and 4.3 fm, using the data below p ∼ 320 MeV.
In fitting, I actually fit a−1 as fitting a was not stable for obvious
reason. I found a−1 = 67 ± 20 MeV. This makes clear the problem of
determining the range for a as at 3σ the range is huge.
Keep in mind that we are doing something illegal here by using the
ER expansion at such large momentum, and so the results must be
regarded as a guide at best.

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Figure 1: Fit to the Λ − p cross section. The three curves correspond to the
mean and mean± 1-σ for the scattering length.