Past exam of the particle and nuclear physics course of the University of Cambridge / 2013 / Paper 1 / 2

A nuclear excited state has internal energy above its ground state, with levels labelled by spin and parity $J^{\pi }$ and, where useful, approximate isospin. In the shell model, nucleons occupy orbitals split by spin-orbit coupling; nuclear particle-hole excitation and broken pairs produce excited configurations. An orbital has parity $(-1{)}^l$, and an even-even paired ground state is commonly $0^{+}$. Residual interactions mix configurations, so shell spacings are not a complete spectrum.

Collective motion gives distinct patterns. A deformed nucleus can have a rotational band with $E_J-E_0={\hslash }^{2}J(J+1)/(2\mathcal{I})$, so a simple even-even $0^{+},2^{+},4^{+}$ band has $E_4/E_2=10/3$. Near spherical shape, a quadrupole vibration gives a one-phonon $2^{+}$ excitation; two such phonons can couple to $0^{+},2^{+},4^{+}$ near twice that energy in the harmonic limit. Anharmonicity and coupling to single-particle motion modify these ideal patterns.

De-excitation occurs by gamma emission, internal conversion, or particle emission if energetically open. photon multipolarity $\lambda \ge 1$ must satisfy the angular-momentum triangle rule. Electric multipoles change parity by $(-1{)}^{\lambda }$ and magnetic multipoles by $(-1{)}^{\lambda +1}$; a single photon cannot connect $0\to 0$. Large multipolarity or a small transition matrix element can make a long-lived nuclear isomer. Gamma energies, coincidence cascades, angular correlations and lifetimes constrain level schemes; inelastic scattering and transfer reactions supply complementary spin/configuration information. One observed line alone need not identify a unique level assignment.

parity reverses spatial coordinates and polar vectors such as momentum, while leaving axial vectors such as angular momentum unchanged. The correlation $\mathbf{J}\cdot {\mathbf{p}}_e$ is therefore parity odd. For polarized beta-emitting nuclei one can measurewhere $\theta$ is measured from nuclear polarization, $\mathcal{P}$ its magnitude and $A$ a decay-dependent coefficient. A nonzero spin–momentum asymmetry is incompatible with parity invariance.

The cobalt-60 experiment polarized nuclei at low temperature and compared beta emission along and opposite the polarization axis. Preferential emission on one side established weak-interaction parity violation. Reversing polarization tests whether the asymmetry follows nuclear orientation; warming the sample removes polarization, while gamma anisotropy monitors its loss. Detector acceptance, backgrounds and magnetic deflection of charged particles must be separated from a true emission asymmetry.^[ref]

In the modern weak charged current, the V-A interaction couples to left-chiral fermion fields. In the massless limit this selects left-helicity neutrinos and right-helicity antineutrinos. Massive charged leptons need not be pure-helicity states, consistent with the factor $v/c$. Strong and electromagnetic interactions conserve parity to the usual experimental approximation; parity violation alone should not be confused with CP violation or a failure of CPT.

The electroweak gauge group is $SU(2{)}_L\times U(1{)}_Y$. Left-handed fermions form weak-isospin doublets and right-handed charged fermions are singlets under $SU(2{)}_L$. Before symmetry breaking the gauge fields are $W^1,W^2,W^3$ and $B$, with couplings $g,g^{\prime }$. A Higgs-doublet vacuum expectation value breaks the symmetry to electromagnetic $U(1)$.

In units $\hslash =c=1$, the physical combinations and tree-level relations areThe photon remains massless. charged currents change members of weak doublets, whereas the $Z$ mediates weak neutral currents with parity-dependent couplings. At low energies $W$ exchange reduces to the Fermi contact interaction, $G_F/\sqrt{2}=g^2/(8M_W^2)$; the apparent weak suppression reflects the massive mediator. This unifies the gauge description, not the numerical equality of all low-energy couplings.^[ref]

Neutral-current neutrino interactions and subsequent observation of massive weak vector bosons tested this structure. In a neutral-current neutrino experiment, an isolated hadronic interaction without an accompanying charged lepton is a candidate signal; entering neutral hadrons and missed charged-current leptons are important backgrounds. Gargamelle's neutral-current evidence supplied a direct experimental check beyond ordinary beta decay.^[ref]