Scattering of high-energy electrons from nuclear and nucleon targets essentially provides a microscope for examining the structure of these tiny objects. This 2001 book examines the motivation for electron scattering, develops the theoretical analysis of the process and summarises present experimental capabilities. Suitable for advanced undergraduates, graduates and researchers.
There is a unity to physics; it is a discipline which provides the most fundamental understanding of the dynamics of matter and energy. To understand anything about a physical system you have to interact with it and one of the best ways to learn something is to use electrons as probes. This book is the result of a meeting, which took place in Magdalene College Cambridge in December 2001. Atomic, nuclear, cluster, soHd state, chemical and even bio- physicists got together to consider scattering electrons to explore matter in all its forms. Theory and experiment were represented in about equal measure. It was meeting marked by the most lively of discussions and the free exchange of ideas. We all learnt a lot. The Editors are grateful to EPSRC through its Collaborative Computational Project program (CCP2), lOPP, the Division of Atomic, Molecular, Optical and Plasma Physics (DAMOPP) and the Atomic Molecular Interactions group (AMIG) of the Institute of Physics for financial support. The smooth running of the meeting was enormously facilitated by the efficiency and helpfulness of the staff of Magdalene College, for which we are extremely grateful. This meeting marked the end for one of us (CTW) of a ten-year period as a fellow of the College and he would like to take this opportunity to thank the fellows and staff for the privilege of working with them.
The purposes of the present work are: (1) To investigate the method of elastic electron-deuteron scattering by detection of the recoil target nucleus. (2) To evaluate existing theory for the scattering process in light of the recent advances in understanding nucleon structure and the nuclear force. (3) To provide experimental data at values of the momentum transfer where none had previously existed. Some fundamental preliminary considerations are discussed in Chapter II. Chapter III contains a summary of theoretical aspects of the problem and results of calculation. Some basic experimental questions are answered in Chapter IV. In Chapter V the experimental apparatus is described. The data, method of analysis, and corrections are discussed in Chapter VI. In the last chapter a comparison of the experimental results with theoretical predictions is made, and conclusions and suggestions for further work are given.
Dramatic progress has been made in all branches of physics since the National Research Council's 1986 decadal survey of the field. The Physics in a New Era series explores these advances and looks ahead to future goals. The series includes assessments of the major subfields and reports on several smaller subfields, and preparation has begun on an overview volume on the unity of physics, its relationships to other fields, and its contributions to national needs. Nuclear Physics is the latest volume of the series. The book describes current activity in understanding nuclear structure and symmetries, the behavior of matter at extreme densities, the role of nuclear physics in astrophysics and cosmology, and the instrumentation and facilities used by the field. It makes recommendations on the resources needed for experimental and theoretical advances in the coming decade.
For ten days at the end of September, 1987, a group of about 75 scientists from 21 different countries gathered in a restored monastery on a 750 meter high piece of rock jutting out of the Mediterranean Sea to discuss the simulation of the transport of electrons and photons using Monte Carlo techniques. When we first had the idea for this meeting, Ralph Nelson, who had organized a previous course at the "Ettore Majorana" Centre for Scientific Culture, suggested that Erice would be the ideal place for such a meeting. Nahum, Nelson and Rogers became Co-Directors of the Course, with the help of Alessandro Rindi, the Director of the School of Radiation Damage and Protection, and Professor Antonino Zichichi, Director of the "Ettore Majorana" Centre. The course was an outstanding success, both scientifically and socially, and those at the meeting will carry the marks of having attended, both intellectually and on a personal level where many friendships were made. The scientific content of the course was at a very high caliber, both because of the hard work done by all the lecturers in preparing their lectures (e. g. , complete copies of each lecture were available at the beginning of the course) and because of the high quality of the "students", many of whom were accomplished experts in the field. The outstanding facilities of the Centre contributed greatly to the success. This volume contains the formal record of the course lectures.
Several significant additions have been made to the second edition, including the operator method of calculating the bremsstrahlung cross-section, the calcualtion of the probabilities of photon-induced pair production and photon decay in a magnetic field, the asymptotic form of the scattering amplitudes at high energies, inelastic scattering of electrons by hadrons, and the transformation of electron-positron pairs into hadrons.
This book is an in-depth treatment of the theoretical background relevant to an understanding of materials that can be obtained by using high-energy electron diffraction and microscopy.
