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fiontie
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Good day, everyone!
Lately I faced the necessity of solving a problem from a field I know literally nothing about. So I just made an online research but without success. Any help (hints, good sources, relevant equations) would be greatly appreciated!
Gold nucleus (Au Z=79 A=197) of radius R is bombarded by an alpha particle (He z=2 A=4) of radius r. Find the minimum energy of the alpha particle required to penetrate inside the nucleus.
Would be great to know.
(the following most likely has nothing to do with a solution and is not to be read :) )
A nucleus and a particle are repulsed by the Coulomb force when colliding, so the problem refers to overcoming the Coulomb barrier. Its approximate height for an arbitrary nucleus is
[itex] B = \frac{Zz}{A^{\frac{1}{3}}} [/itex]
What I am missing here is a "minimum energy required to penetrate". In quantum mechanics, the particle with energy far lower than a barrier can still penetrate, isn't it just a matter of possibility? At what point does the penetration become impossible?
Thus, we can find the possibility of overcoming our barrier (which is its transparency coefficient [itex]D[/itex]). Given the formula for a rectangular barrier
[itex] D = \exp{\left(-\frac{2}{\hbar} d \sqrt{2m(U-E)}\right)} [/itex]
where [itex]d[/itex] is a barrier width, [itex]U[/itex] is a barrier height and [itex]E[/itex] is a particle energy, we can get one for an arbitrary barrier by breaking it into thin rectangular stripes and integrating over them:
[itex] D = \exp{\left(-\frac{2}{\hbar} \int_{x_1}^{x_2} dx \, \sqrt{2m(U-E)} \right)} [/itex]
Now let's apply this formula to our case. The potential energy of a particle on a distance [itex]r \geq R[/itex] is defined by the energy of a Coulomb interaction (I just stumbled across this formula and am not sure where it comes from):
[itex] U(r) = E_{C} \frac{R}{r} [/itex]
[itex] E_0 = m_\alpha c^2[/itex] is a rest energy of an alpha particle
The barrier boundaries are [itex]R[/itex] and [itex]r_\alpha[/itex], where [itex]r_\alpha = R\frac{E_C}{E_\alpha}[/itex] is a distance where the energy of a particle becomes equal to the energy of a Coulomb repulsion.
So finally,
[itex] D = \exp{\left(-\frac{2}{\hbar c} \sqrt{2 E_0} \int_{R}^{r_\alpha} dr \, \sqrt{E_{C} \frac{R}{r} - E_\alpha} \right)} [/itex]
I'm actually clueless how this can help.
And I'm also not sure how to make use of an alpha particle size.
Thanks in advance!
Lately I faced the necessity of solving a problem from a field I know literally nothing about. So I just made an online research but without success. Any help (hints, good sources, relevant equations) would be greatly appreciated!
Homework Statement
Gold nucleus (Au Z=79 A=197) of radius R is bombarded by an alpha particle (He z=2 A=4) of radius r. Find the minimum energy of the alpha particle required to penetrate inside the nucleus.
Homework Equations
Would be great to know.
The Attempt at a Solution
(the following most likely has nothing to do with a solution and is not to be read :) )
A nucleus and a particle are repulsed by the Coulomb force when colliding, so the problem refers to overcoming the Coulomb barrier. Its approximate height for an arbitrary nucleus is
[itex] B = \frac{Zz}{A^{\frac{1}{3}}} [/itex]
What I am missing here is a "minimum energy required to penetrate". In quantum mechanics, the particle with energy far lower than a barrier can still penetrate, isn't it just a matter of possibility? At what point does the penetration become impossible?
Thus, we can find the possibility of overcoming our barrier (which is its transparency coefficient [itex]D[/itex]). Given the formula for a rectangular barrier
[itex] D = \exp{\left(-\frac{2}{\hbar} d \sqrt{2m(U-E)}\right)} [/itex]
where [itex]d[/itex] is a barrier width, [itex]U[/itex] is a barrier height and [itex]E[/itex] is a particle energy, we can get one for an arbitrary barrier by breaking it into thin rectangular stripes and integrating over them:
[itex] D = \exp{\left(-\frac{2}{\hbar} \int_{x_1}^{x_2} dx \, \sqrt{2m(U-E)} \right)} [/itex]
Now let's apply this formula to our case. The potential energy of a particle on a distance [itex]r \geq R[/itex] is defined by the energy of a Coulomb interaction (I just stumbled across this formula and am not sure where it comes from):
[itex] U(r) = E_{C} \frac{R}{r} [/itex]
[itex] E_0 = m_\alpha c^2[/itex] is a rest energy of an alpha particle
The barrier boundaries are [itex]R[/itex] and [itex]r_\alpha[/itex], where [itex]r_\alpha = R\frac{E_C}{E_\alpha}[/itex] is a distance where the energy of a particle becomes equal to the energy of a Coulomb repulsion.
So finally,
[itex] D = \exp{\left(-\frac{2}{\hbar c} \sqrt{2 E_0} \int_{R}^{r_\alpha} dr \, \sqrt{E_{C} \frac{R}{r} - E_\alpha} \right)} [/itex]
I'm actually clueless how this can help.
And I'm also not sure how to make use of an alpha particle size.
Thanks in advance!