Useful Books

IU Physics P451/551, Experiments in Modern Physics

Spring 2008 (class 010601/010610)

Please note that this list is by no means exhaustive! There are many dozens of excellent books, all relevant for this course. The ones listed here were chosen primarily because they contain information that is useful for several different experiments. The physics background needed for a particular experiment, though, may be best described in a book that is not on this list. So, learn to use your library! Check back here frequently as I will update this list as more are identified for specific experiments.

Modern Physics,
General Text Books

• P. A. Tipler and R. A. Llewellyn, Modern Physics 3rd Edition, Freeman, 1999. Older Editions of this book are good as well.

• A.P. Arya, Elementary Modern Physics. Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 1975.

• R. Eisberg and R. Resnick, Quantum Physics of Atoms, Molecules, Solids, Nuclei, and Particles. Wiley, 1985. A classic introduction in Quantum Physics.

• (There are many more modern physics texts in the library - look around until you find one you like!)

Modern Physics,
Experimental

• D.W. Preston and E.R. Dietz, The Art of Experimental Physics. Wiley, 1991. Buy a copy of this book if you can afford it as many of the experiments that we do come from this book. Modern text on advanced physics experimentation. Contains general information, e.g., on error analysis, fitting, publishing results, programming, use of a PC, etc., but also specific experiments in thermodynamics, atomic, molecular, and condensed matter physics.

• A.C. Melissinos, Experiments in Modern Physics. Academic Press, 1973. Somewhat dated (especially electronics section), but contains excellent descriptions of many experiments typically carried out in an advanced physics lab.

• A.C. Melissinos and J. Napolitano Experiments in Modern Physics, 2nd Edition, Academic Press, 2003. An update of the classic. However, a few nuggets from the first edition did not make it to this one.

• H. Mark and N.T. Olson, Experiments in Modern Physics. McGraw-Hill, 1966.

Nuclear Physics,
Text Books

• W.E. Burcham, Elements of Nuclear Physics. Longman, 1979.

• E. Segre, Nuclei and Particles. Benjamin, 1977. Classic nuclear physics text, and still one of the best introductions into this field with a broad coverage of subjects.

• K. Siegbahn, Beta- and Gamma-Ray Spectroscopy. North-Holland, 1955. A bit technical and quite old ... , but if you need to know it, it's in there!

Nuclear/Particle Physics,
Experimental

• W.R. Leo, Techniques for Nuclear and Particle Physics Experiments, Springer, 1987. Rather complete book on nuclear physics experimentation; discusses decay laws, passage of radiation through matter, biological effects, statistics, detectors, and electronics.

• E. Segre (ed.), Experimental Nuclear Physics, Vols. I, II, III. Wiley, 1953. Very detailed set on nuclear physics experiments, written by specialists in the field. Not for the faint-of-heart.

• Ortec Application Notes on Nuclear Instrumentation. Online link.

Data and Error Analysis

• Rober De Levie, Advanced Excel for scientific data analysis,  Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2004. A lot of useful tips for scientific data analysis using excel.

• P.R. Bevington, Data Reduction and Error Analysis for the Physical Sciences. McGraw-Hill, 1969. The classical book on statistics and error analysis for physicists, including computer code.

• L. Lyons, Statistics for Nuclear and Particle Physicists , Cambridge, 1986.