Techniques for Nuclear and Particle Physics Experiments: A How-To Approach (Paperback, 2, Revised)

1. Basic Nuclear Processes in Radioactive Sources.- 1.1 Nuclear Level Diagrams.- 1.2 Alpha Decay.- 1.3 Beta Decay.- 1.4 Electron Capture (EC).- 1.5 Gamma Emission.- 1.5.1 Isomeric States.- 1.6 Annihilation Radiation.- 1.7 Internal Conversion.- 1.8 Auger Electrons.- 1.9 Neutron Sources.- 1.9.1 Spontaneous Fission.- 1.9.2 Nuclear Reactions.- 1.10 Source Activity Units.- 1.11 The Radioactive Decay Law.- 1.11.1 Fluctuations in Radioactive Decay.- 1.11.2 Radioactive Decay Chains.- 1.11.3 Radioisotope Production by Irradiation.- 2. Passage of Radiation Through Matter.- 2.1 Preliminary Notions and Definitions.- 2.1.1 The Cross Section.- 2.1.2 Interaction Probability in a Distance x. Mean Free Path.- 2.1.3 Surface Density Units.- 2.2 Energy Loss of Heavy Charged Particles by Atomic Collisions.- 2.2.1 Bohr's Calculation - The Classical Case.- 2.2.2 The Bethe-Bloch Formula.- 2.2.3 Energy Dependence.- 2.2.4 Scaling Laws for dE/dx.- 2.2.5 Mass Stopping Power.- 2.2.6 dE/dx for Mixtures and Compounds.- 2.2.7 Limitations of the Bethe-Bloch Formula and Other Effects.- 2.2.8 Channeling.- 2.2.9 Range.- 2.3 Cherenkov Radiation.- 2.4 Energy Loss of Electrons and Positrons.- 2.4.1 Collision Loss.- 2.4.2 Energy Loss by Radiation: Bremsstrahlung.- 2.4.3 Electron-Electron Bremsstrahlung.- 2.4.4 Critical Energy.- 2.4.5 Radiation Length.- 2.4.6 Range of Electrons.- 2.4.7 The Absorption of ? Electrons.- 2.5 Multiple Coulomb Scattering.- 2.5.1 Multiple Scattering in the Gaussian Approximation.- 2.5.2 Backscattering of Low-Energy Electrons.- 2.6 Energy Straggling: The Energy Loss Distribution.- 2.6.1 Thick Absorbers: The Gaussian Limit.- 2.6.2 Very Thick Absorbers.- 2.6.3 Thin Absorbers: The Landau and Vavilov Theories.- 2.7 The Interaction of Photons.- 2.7.1 Photoelectric Effect.- 2.7.2 Compton Scattering.- 2.7.3 Pair Production.- 2.7.4 Electron-Photon Showers.- 2.7.5 The Total Absorption Coefficient and Photon Attenuation.- 2.8 The Interaction of Neutrons.- 2.8.1 Slowing Down of Neutrons. Moderation.- 3. Radiation Protection. Biological Effects of Radiation.- 3.1 Dosimetric Units.- 3.1.1 The Roentgen.- 3.1.2 Absorbed Dose.- 3.1.3 Relative Biological Effectiveness (RBE).- 3.1.4 Equivalent Dose.- 3.1.5 Effective Dose.- 3.2 Typical Doses from Sources in the Environment.- 3.3 Biological Effects.- 3.3.1 High Doses Received in a Short Time.- 3.3.2 Low-Level Doses.- 3.4 Dose Limits.- 3.5 Shielding.- 3.6 Radiation Safety in the Nuclear Physics Laboratory.- 4. Statistics and the Treatment of Experimental Data.- 4.1 Characteristics of Probability Distributions.- 4.1.1 Cumulative Distributions.- 4.1.2 Expectation Values.- 4.1.3 Distribution Moments. The Mean and Variance.- 4.1.4 The Covariance.- 4.2 Some Common Probability Distributions.- 4.2.1 The Binomial Distribution.- 4.2.2 The Poisson Distribution.- 4.2.3 The Gaussian or Normal Distribution.- 4.2.4 The Chi-Square Distribution.- 4.3 Measurement Errors and the Measurement Process.- 4.3.1 Systematic Errors.- 4.3.2 Random Errors.- 4.4 Sampling and Parameter Estimation. The Maximum Likelihood Method.- 4.4.1 Sample Moments.- 4.4.2 The Maximum Likelihood Method.- 4.4.3 Estimator for the Poisson Distribution.- 4.4.4 Estimators for the Gaussian Distribution.- 4.4.5 The Weighted Mean.- 4.5 Examples of Applications.- 4.5.1 Mean and Error from a Series of Measurements.- 4.5.2 Combining Data with Different Errors.- 4.5.3 Determination of Count Rates and Their Errors.- 4.5.4 Null Experiments. Setting Confidence Limits When No Counts Are Observed.- 4.5.5 Distribution of Time Intervals Between Counts.- 4.6 Propagation of Errors.- 4.6.1 Examples.- 4.7 Curve Fitting.- 4.7.1 The Least Squares Method.- 4.7.2 Linear Fits. The Straight Line.- 4.7.3 Linear Fits When Both Variables Have Errors.- 4.7.4 Nonlinear Fits.- 4.8 Some General Rules for Rounding-off Numbers for Final Presentation.- 5. General Characteristics of Detectors.- 5.1 Sensitivity.- 5.2 Detector Response.- 5.3 Energy Resolution. The Fano Factor.- 5.4 The Response