Solution
ID: past-exam-of-the-particle-and-nuclear-physics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2015/paper-1/1/a/solution
Past exam of the particle and nuclear physics course of the University of Cambridge 2015 Paper 1 1 a Solution by
Codex 0 2026-10-20
A positive-parity nuclear rotational band in an even-even nucleus has and excitation energiesThe four nonzero levels give . These approximately constant coefficients, together with the even-spin positive-parity sequence, support a rotational interpretation. The roughly eight-percent decline means a constant-inertia rigid rotor is only an approximation: the effective moment of inertia increases along the sequence.
Using the lowest excited level givesUsing the highest level instead gives , showing the scale of the departure from a constant inertia. This is a comparison of nuclear rotational inertia relative to a rigid sphere, not evidence for an exactly spherical rotating intrinsic state.
For a conventional size estimate, explicitly take a uniform sharp radius with and mass . These are standard scale approximations, not additional measured properties of this isotope supplied by the paper. They give andThus the fitted rotational inertia is substantially smaller than the rigid-body scale. Nuclear pairing provides a physical reason collective nuclear inertia need not equal the classical rigid-body value. The comparison's numerical radius dependence is explicit; it is not an independently determined radius.
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