Nuclear structure theory

Nuclear structure theory

Rook Reviews AN APPROACH TO GENERAL SYSTEMS THEORY, by George J. Klir. 323 pages, diagrams, 6 x 9 in. New York, Van Nostrand, 1969. Price $12.95 (app...

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Rook Reviews

AN APPROACH TO GENERAL SYSTEMS THEORY, by George J. Klir. 323 pages, diagrams, 6 x 9 in. New York, Van Nostrand, 1969. Price $12.95 (approx. $5.00). The rapidly growing field of general systems theory, as in all infant sciences, is in need of frameworks which synthesize and give direction. This text, by utilizing an inductive study of basic principles common to all systems, evolves an approach to general systems theory whose generality and content is in balance with its applications. It yields a general systems theory based on two fundamental definitions of systems which the author proceeds to apply to systems as diverse as musical scores, social systems and digital computers. Numerous other systems are discussed. Chapters 1 and 2 provide essential background on fundamental concepts, system problems, general system theories and their meaning. Chapters 3 and 4 develop the basic methodology of general systems (analysis, syntheses and black box approach). The last chapter deals with the problem of further activity in this embryonic field. Also included are a glossary of general system terms, a listing of 24 definitions of the concept of “system” culled from the literature, a guide to the literature of systems and an extensive g-page bibliography. This book is pioneering and highly original in its approach and as such is a milestone in the foundations of general systems theory. Individuals in systems science, cybernetics, computer science, modeling and simulation will find the book of particular value. However, the intended audience also includes the social behavioral sciences. In fact, virtually any competent disciplinarian with a standard liberal arts mathematics background is capable of reading and assimilating the material. To quote the text: “It is intended to be used by prople working in a broad range of fields. If the people are to use the theory, they have to understand

it first. Consequently, the exposition of the theory must be as clear as possible.” It is! R. A. ORCHARD Department of Mathematics and Computer Science Fairleigh Dickinson University Teaneck, New Jersey

NUCLEAR STRUCTURE THEORY, by J. M. Irvine. 478 pages, diagrams, 7 x lOa in. Oxford, New York, Pergamon Press, 1972. Price $21.50 (approx. $9.00). The goal of this volume is defined in the preface to be a “guide-book” to nuclear structure theory. Consequently although it is possibly suitable as a graduate text, it is probably of more value to those readers desiring a rapid introduction to the principal ideas and methods of the subject, and who combine their reading with frequent references to the original literature cited. A familiarity with undergraduate level quantum mechanics, electromagnetic theory and nuclear physics is assumed. Despite the exclusion of nuclear reaction theory the amount of subject material remaining is very large and a single volume work must necessarily be quite selective. Here attention is concentrated on the nuclear shell model and its underlying justification in many-body theory. This choice permits a clear exposition of the interconnections between apparently contradictory descriptions of nuclear phenomena. A further virtue of the work is the manner in which the important physical concepts are clearly identified and discussed. The main text is divided into four parts which deal respectively with the experimental results relevant to nuclear structure, the many-body description of nuclei, empirical models and finally with some mathematical and technical details. The first part is entitled “Nuclear Phenomenology” and summarizes those experimental results upon which present structure theories depend. Essentially no

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Boolc Reviews theoretical interpretation is given and although the material is standard in most textbooks on nuclear physics the description here is notable for its conciseness and lucidity. The opening chapters provide the context for the remainder of the book with short accounts of selected elementary particle properties and of the twonucleon system. Experimental measurements of nuclear masses, charges, shapes and sizes are discussed. The final chapter on nuclear spectroscopy includes some mention of OL-and /3-decay results. A secondary aim of the book is as a reference work. To enhance its value in this respect the author has included extensive tabulations of various data such as nuclear masses, charges and magnetic moments. However, the large number of energy level diagrams displayed adds little, and the book would have been improved if some of these had been replaced with more detailed discussions in certain sections of later chapters. Already the latest complications contain level schemes which show considerable changes from those reproduced in this book. A further deficiency is that imperfect printing has resulted in figures which are difficult to read, especially in diagrams with high-level densities. The second part, entitled “The Nuclear Many-body Problem”, is devoted to the most important aspects of present understanding of the microscopic description of nuclear structure. Opening chapters parallel review articles by Day, and by Bethe and Rajaraman with fairly complete descriptions of perturbation theory and its applications to the theory of nuclear matter. Both methods for obtaining approximate reaction matrices and for estimating the nuclear matter binding energy contribution of threebody clusters are discussed. The theoretical description of finite nuclei proper is then introduced in two chapters which consider spherical and openshell nuclei, respectively. The first of these chapters gives a clear picture of the considerations involved in solving the Brueckner-Hartree-Fock equations. Some of this material is drawn from the author’s own research. Also included is a table of Elliot matrix elements together

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with details of the methods used to obtain them. The chapter on open-shell nuclei is quite brief and does contain a section on the time-independent many-body perturbation theory of the nuclear shell model formulated by Bloch and Horowitz and Brandow. The concluding two chapters stand somewhat apart from the remainder, their topics being the Thomas-Fermi and Landau-Migdal theories, respectively. This second part forms the core of the material presented and is characterized by an economy of line which has permitted many topics to be included which are otherwise found only in more specialized texts. The title of the third part is “Nuclear Models” and this includes chapters on the liquid drop, Nilsson and phenomenological shell models. Topical subjects such as fission isomers are mentioned, and the chapter on the phenomenological shell model complements the viewpoint adopted in the second part. Although the unified model and the subject of nuclear correlations are both fully treated in the references quoted, this reviewer would have preferred to see certain aspects presented in more detail here. The Nilsson model is treated quite adequately and of the model wavefunctions many tabulated. The fourth part, “The Technology of Nuclear Structure Theory” supplements those preceding it with additional mathematical details. Skeleton accounts are given of graph, angular momentum and scattering theories. Also, a sketch is given of those aspects of group theory which have proven useful in this field. The selection of references appearing at the ends of chapters is good, but the section entitled “Further Reading” could perhaps have been lengthened to include more recent references. However, a serious flaw in the book is the rather large number of typographical errors. Fortunately, however, most of them are easily identified and should not cause confusion. This volume fills a gap by providing a level of detail intermediate between that presented in most basic graduate texts and that of very extensive or highly specialized works on the subject. It is the

Journal of The Franklin

Institute

Book Reviews 49th in Pergamon’s International Series of Monographs in Natural Philosophy. CLIFFORD J. NOBLE Bartol Research Foundation of The Franklin Institute Swarthmore, Pennsylvania

MICROWAVE FILTERS USING PARALLEL COUPLED LINES, by Leo Young. 240 pages, diagrams, 6 x 9 in. Dedham, 1972. Price $11.95 (approx. Mass., $4.50). As stated by the editor, the field of microwave filters is far too extensive to be covered adequately in one slim volume. Hence this book is restricted to those filters employing parallel coupled lines, and is intended as a companion volume to the author’s book on parallel coupled lines and directional couplers. It consists of 26 of the most important and most representative papers in the field appearing up to 1970. After an initial section on general theory (synthesis techniques) there follow sections dealing with parallel coupled filters, interdigital and combline filters, band-stop filters, elliptic-function filters, multiplexers and a short introduction to linear phase filters. The papers are indeed well chosen, and include at least three which are not easily available, plus many references to other important papers. Hence the book is invaluable as a reference work, and as a convenient source work for many of the latest design techniques. The subject has developed so rapidly that many of the techniques presented in the authors’ own classic textbook coauthored with 0. L. Matthaei and E. M. T. Jones are now outdated, even though this appeared as late as 1964. The present volume will do much to supplement the earlier work since most of the papers it contains have been published since 1964. It is unfortunate but inevitable that part of this 1972 volume will become outmoded by later developments; but on the other hand much of it will not, many of the papers having become classics in the field. As such it is thoroughly recommended, especially to those individuals interested

Vol. 296, No. 5, November

1973

in filters but who are not familiar with all aspects of the field. R. LEVY Microwave Development Laboratories, Inc. Needham, Massachusetts SANITATION, by APPLIED STREAM Clarence J. Velz. 619 pages, diagrams, 6 x 9 in. New York, Wiley-Interscience, 1970. Price $24.95 (approx. $9.50). In the preface the author explicitly says that his book was intended as a complementary work to Phelps’ Stream Sanitation, a classic 1944 text. Indeed, by taking Phelps’ book and adding from this new volume those chapters not covered by Phelps, namely Chaps. 3 (Hydrologic and climatologic factors in stream sanitation), 6 (Radioactive and inorganic selfpurification), 7 (Heat dissipation) and 12 (Management of waste disposal and stream flow quantity and quality), one will get a rather complete text on stream sanitation according to the concepts and needs of engineers in 1944. Thus in 1970 when Velz’s book appeared, a certain discrepancy was unavoidable between today’s expectations and the concepts and materials offered under the title of his work, rooted in 1944. is conceptually Stream “sanitation” understood by Velz as symptom abatement by engineering means. He states that stream sanitation is part of the broader field of potamology in which physical, chemical and biological sciences integrate in what we define as stream ecology. It is exactly this aspect which leads to the evident weakness of this book: there is plenty of “waste assimilation capacity” and “selfpurification” (Chaps. (4) Organic selfpurification, (6) Radioactive and inorganic selfpurification, (8) Selfpurification in estuaries, (9) Impact of river development on waste assimilation capacity and (11). Efficient use of waste assimilation capacity) in the text without emphasis of biological and chemical reactions and interrelationships, i.e. ecological considerations, not to mention definitions and explanations on the driving forces, mechanisms, kinetics and dependencies of selfpurification reactions. Even under the most restrictive

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