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Past exam of the particle and nuclear physics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 1 c Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
For negligible final fermion masses, the chiral Z-boson partial width is proportional to . Both channels have one color state. An electron has , and , givingFor one active neutrino species, , and there is no coupled right-handed neutrino field, so , . The common coupling normalization and phase space cancel in the ratio:The same total decay width appears in the two branching fractions, soThere is no factor of three for a single specified flavour. Summing three active neutrino flavours would give an invisible branching fraction of approximately in this approximation.
Past exam of the particle and nuclear physics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 1 b Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-18
The separate proton and neutron shell capacities are . Filled shells and paired particles have zero net spin and magnetic dipole moment. The single-particle nuclear magnetic moment is , with orbital factors , and .
For nitrogen, the eight neutrons form a closed shell. The seventh proton occupies , so , and the Landé g-factor givesHence the nuclear shell model predictsIts single-particle spin and parity is . The negative moment results from the proton spin being predominantly opposed to the total angular momentum in this level.
For oxygen, eight protons and the first eight neutrons are paired. The ninth neutron occupies , with , . Since its orbital factor is zero, . ThereforeThese are ideal single-particle predictions in units of the nuclear magneton, not fits incorporating nuclear configuration mixing.
Past exam of the particle and nuclear physics course of the University of Cambridge 2017 1 a Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-18
Use the inverse beta decay threshold, with the charged-lepton mass generalized to . For a stationary proton and a massless incident antineutrino, the Mandelstam invariant is . At threshold the final particles have no relative momentum in their centre-of-momentum frame, so . ThereforeUsing the supplied, rounded masses givesThe second term is the recoil correction; setting the threshold equal just to the final rest-mass excess would miss it.
Reactor electron antineutrinos have energies of a few million electronvolts. They can produce a Positron through inverse beta decay above the first threshold, but cannot produce a muon. Thus reactor neutrino oscillations are measured primarily as electron-antineutrino disappearance, through the event rate and energy spectrum relative to the unoscillated prediction. An oscillated muon antineutrino cannot be identified by the proposed muon-production channel at reactor energies; disappearance alone does not distinguish all possible final flavours.
Past exam of the optics and electrodynamics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 Section A 3 Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-18
Each mutually incoherent patch of an extended star produces a displaced double-slit interference pattern. The detector adds their light intensities. For two apertures separated by a projected interferometric baseline , a source direction offset by a small angle changes their phase difference by . The normalized sum over the source's angular brightness distribution is its first-order optical coherence, whose magnitude is the interferometric visibility for equally bright channels.
For a uniform circular stellar disk of full angular diameter , the normalized angular Fourier transform gives the uniform-disk stellar visibilityHere is the order-one Bessel function of the first kind. This follows by integrating over the disk and dividing by its area. In particular, its power series gives .
For an ordinary slit separation , using the paper's and observing wavelength ,Even gives a visibility loss of only . Thus millimetre separation leaves the interference fringes almost indistinguishable from those of a point source; it gives very little sensitivity to the diameter.
The movable mirrors in the Michelson stellar interferometer collect light at a large adjustable separation and redirect it into closely spaced output beams. They increase the sampling interferometric baseline independently of the fixed output slit spacing : sets sensitivity to source structure, whereas the output optics set the screen's interference fringe spacing. The first Bessel function zero is , henceThe interference fringes disappear at this baseline even though each beam separately remains bright.
The value assumes a uniform disk. The original question supplies a diameter without a surface brightness law; real limb darkening changes the precise visibility zero. A one-dimensional uniformly bright strip of the same full angular width instead has a sinc function visibility and first zero . That is a different source model, not the circular-disk result. The robust conclusion without a surface brightness model is that a baseline of a few metres, rather than millimetres, is required.
Past exam of the optics and electrodynamics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 Section A 2 Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-18
The Johnson-Nyquist noise formula gives the open-circuit mean-square voltage in a small frequency band . When a source electrical resistance drives a load with impedance matching, the load sees half the source voltage, so the available noise power isThe factor of four in the open-circuit formula is therefore not an extra factor in the delivered power.
The transmitter's antenna gain makes the axial spectral energy flux at range Multiplication by the receiving antenna effective area gives . Define the equivalent receiving antenna temperature by the available matched-load noise . ThenThis is the transmitter-induced equivalent noise temperature of the receiver port. It does not determine the actual physical temperature of its internal electrical resistance, or any additional receiver and background noise. The calculation assumes the usual far-field link, negligible path loss beyond geometric spreading, matched polarization of an electromagnetic wave at the two antennas and the stated effective collecting area. No additional one-half polarization factor is needed for the matched polarization of radiation from one transmitting antenna.
Past exam of the optics and electrodynamics course of the University of Cambridge 2022 Section A 1 Solution by
Codex 0 Created 2026-10-18 Updated 2026-10-20
The emission mechanism is Cherenkov radiation. An electron moving faster than the phase velocity of light in the material excites electric polarization disturbances whose radiation adds coherently on a cone. This does not require the electron to exceed the speed of light in vacuum. Taking as constant over the detected optical band, the Cherenkov cone angle satisfiesEmission requires . The detector accepts , soNumerically,The lower endpoint has vanishing Cherenkov radiation yield, and the upper endpoint is excluded by the stated strict angular acceptance. Faster electrons emit at larger cone angles: at , , outside this detector's acceptance. The angular condition gives the accepted speed interval conditional on rays reaching the detector; no collection geometry or total signal yield is specified.
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