Nuclear Physics: An Introduction

A simple and direct introduction to the tools of modern nuclear physics, both experimental and mathematical. Emphasizes physical intuition and illuminating analogies rather than formal mathematics. Topics include particle accelerators, radioactive series, types of nuclear reactions, detection of the neutrino, nuclear isomerism, binding energy of nuclei, fission chain reactions and predictions of the shell model. Each chapter contains problems and illustrative examples. Prerequisites are calculus and elementary vector analysis.