Abstract
Before we continue, we must explain one other feature of radioactive decays: they produce α and γ particles of a well-defined energy, which are known as spectral lines (Fig. 3.1). This is very similar to what is observed in atomic physics: the light emitted by atoms, e.g. by a neon tube has a sharply defined set of colour lines, which correspond to precise wavelengths of the light (Figs. 3.2).
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Notes
- 1.
After David Hilbert (1862–1943), mathematician, was born in Konigsberg, Prussia (now Russia). He was professor in Göttingen, Germany.
- 2.
After Max Planck, 1858–1947, from Germany, who was awarded the Nobel prize in 1918 for his discovery of energy quanta.
- 3.
After Werner Heisenberg, 1901–1976, who was awarded the Nobel prize in 1932 for the creation of quantum mechanics.
Bibliography and Further Reading
B.H. Brandsen, C.J. Joachain Quantum Mechanics (Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, 2000)
W. Greiner, Quantum Mechanics – An Introduction (Springer, Berlin, 2001)
P. Pereira, Fundamentals of Quantum Physics (Springer, Berlin, 2012)
L.E. Picasso, Lectures in Quantum Mechanics (Springer, Berlin, 2017)
J.J. Sakurai, J. Napolitano, Modern Quantum Mechanics (Pearson Education, New Delhi, 2013)
L. Susskind, A. Friedman, Quantum Mechanics: The Theoretical Minimum (Basic Books, New York, 2014)
K. Sundermeyer, Symmetries in Fundamental Physics (Springer, Berlin, 2014)
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This chapter was added for consistency, because quantum mechanics is taught in other courses. Many readers and students may already be familiar with it and many high-quality books explain it in much more detail. A very partial and incomplete list is given below, where introductory books and innovative presentations are preceding more classical approaches to the topic.
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D’Auria, S. (2018). Essential Quantum Mechanics. In: Introduction to Nuclear and Particle Physics. Undergraduate Lecture Notes in Physics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93855-4_3
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