| name | nuclear-particle-physics |
| description | Formulate and verify nuclear and particle physics calculations. Use for reactions, decays, relativistic kinematics, conservation laws, cross sections, lifetimes, quantum numbers, detector yields, backgrounds, and statistical significance. |
| license | MIT |
Nuclear and Particle Physics
Define the process
Write the initial and final states, reference frame, four-momenta, masses, charges, quantum numbers, polarization,
units, detector acceptance, and target observable. Distinguish bound-state, decay, scattering, production,
detector, and statistical models. Use current evaluated constants and cite their provenance when precision matters.
Analyze
- Apply exact four-momentum conservation and invariant masses before frame-specific algebra.
- Check electric charge, baryon and lepton numbers, angular momentum, parity, and other applicable selection rules.
- Separate matrix element, phase space, flux, branching fraction, luminosity, efficiency, and acceptance.
- For unstable states, state width, lifetime, line-shape, interference, and narrow-width assumptions.
- Model backgrounds and detector resolution before converting theoretical rates to expected counts.
Verify
- Check thresholds, allowed phase space, invariant relations, units, and symmetry factors.
- Recompute in a second frame or with an independent invariant construction.
- Confirm cross-section or decay-rate normalization and integrate differential quantities over their stated domain.
- Propagate luminosity, efficiency, calibration, and background uncertainty with correlations.
- Report local and global significance separately; do not describe an excess as discovery without the field's criteria.
Deliver
Report process, conventions, conservation audit, kinematics, dynamical assumptions, predicted observable,
uncertainty, detector model, statistical interpretation, and validity limits.
Source basis
Original synthesis informed by Crowell's openly licensed Modern Physics and NIST uncertainty guidance;
source details are in ../../docs/TEXTBOOK_SOURCES.md.
