Nuclear Assignment

NUCLEAR & PARTICLE PHYSICS
CONTENTS
NUCLEAR & PARTICLE PHYSICS
PREVIOUS YEARS’ QUESTION
LEVEL-1 (Solve Yourself)

PAGE NO.
1. Basic Properties of Nuclei
 GATE 01
 OTHER EXAMINATIONS 02
2. Nuclear Models
 GATE 03
 TIFR 05
3. Radioactivity
 GATE 07
4. Nuclear Reactions
 GATE 09
 TIFR 10
 JEST 11
5. Particle Physics
 GATE 12
6. Miscellaneous
 GATE 13
 JEST 15
LEVEL-2
1. Basic Properties of Nuclei
 GATE 16
 CSIR-UGC-NET 17
 TIFR 18
 JEST 19
2. Nuclear Models
 GATE 21
 CSIR-UGC-NET 24
 TIFR 27
3. Radioactivity
 GATE 28
 CSIR-UGC-NET 30
 TIFR 31
 JEST 33
4. Nuclear Reactions
 GATE 35
 CSIR-UGC-NET 37
 TIFR 38
5. Particle Physics
 GATE 39
 CSIR-UGC-NET 44
 TIFR 48
 JEST 50
6. Miscellaneous
 GATE 51
 CSIR-UGC-NET 52
 TIFR/JEST 53
LEVEL-1
Solve Yourself
1. Basic Properties of Nuclei 1
GATE Previous Years’ Questions
1. The mean momentum of a nucleon in a nucleus with mass number A varies as [GATE 2000]
(a) A (b) A2 (c) A–2/3 (d) A–1/3
2. The masses of hydrogen atom, neutron and 92U238 are given by 1.0078, 1.0087 and 238.0508 a.m.u.,
respectively. The binding energy of 92U238 is therefore approximately equal to [GATE 2000 & 03]
(Taking 1 a.m.u. = 931.64 MeV)
(a) 120 MeV (b) 1500 MeV (c) 1600 MeV (d) 1800 MeV
3. The volume of a nucleus in an atom is proportional to the [GATE 2004]
(a) mass number (b) proton number
(c) neutron number (d) electron number
4. The order of magnitude of the binding energy per nucleon in a nucleus is: [GATE 2006]
(a) 10–5 MeV (b) 10–3 MeV (c) 0.1 MeV (d) 10 MeV
ANSWER KEY
1. (d) 2. (d) 3. (a) 4. (d)
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Other Examinations Previous Years’ Questions
1. The following histogram represents the binding energy per particle (B.E./A) in MeV as a function of the mass
number A of a nucleus.
6
B.E.
A 4
0
40 80 120 160 200
A
A nucleus with mass number A = 180 fissions into two nuclei of equal masses. In the process
(a) 180 MeV of energy is released. (b) 180 MeV of energy is absorbed.
(c) 360 MeV of energy is released. (d) 360 MeV of energy is absorbed.
R1
2. Two spherical nuclei have mass numbers 216 and 64 with their radii R1 and R2 respectively. The ratio R is:
2
(a) 1.0 (b) 1.5 (c) 2.0 (d) 2.5
ANSWER KEY
1. (c) 2. (b)
2. Nuclear Models 3
1. The angular momentum and parity of 17

8 O
nucleus, according to the nuclear shell model (including spin-orbit
coupling), is: [GATE 1998]
  
1 3 5
(a) 0+ (b) (c) (d)
2 2 2
2. The asymmetry terms in the Weizsacker semi-empirical mass formula is because of [GATE 2002]
(a) non-spherical shape of the nucleus.
(b) non-zero spin of nucleus.
(c) unequal number of protons and neutrons inside the nucleus.
(d) odd number of protons inside the nucleus.
3. The spin and parity of 4Be9 nucleus, as predicted by the shell model, are respectively.
[GATE 2002]
(a) 3/2 and odd (b) 1/2 and odd (c) 3/2 and even (d) 1/2 and even
4. Which of the following expressions for total binding energy B of a nucleus is correct  a1 , a2 , a3 , a4  0  ?
2
2/3 Z  Z  1  A  2Z 
(a) B  a1 A  a2 A  a3  a4  [GATE 2005]
A1/3 A
2
2/3 Z  Z  1  A  2Z   
(b) B  a1 A  a2 A  a3 1/3
 a4
A A
2
1/3 Z  Z  1  A  2Z 
(c) B  a1 A  a2 A  a3  a4 
A1/3 A
2
Z  Z  1  A  2Z   
1/3
(d) B  a1 A  a2 A  a3 1/3
 a4
A A
5. According to shell model, the ground state of 15

8 O nucleus is [GATE 2005]
   
3 1 3 1
(a) (b) (c) (d)
2 2 2 2
6. 17
According to the shell model the ground state spin of the O nucleus is [GATE 2007]
   
3 5 3 5
(a) (b) (c) (d)
2 2 2 2
7. The four possible configurations of neutrons in the ground state of 4Be9 nucleus according to the shell model,
and the associated nuclear spin are listed below. Choose the correct one. [GATE 2008]
2 3 3 2 2 1 3
(a)  s1/2   p3/2  ; J  (b)  s1/2   p1/2   p3/2  ; J 
1 1 1 1 1
2 2
2 1 4 2 1 2 1 1 1
(c)  1
s1/2 
2
 1
p3/2  ; J  (d)  s1/2   p3/2   p1/2  ; J 
1
2
8. Consider a nucleus with N neutrons and Z protons. If mp, mn and B.E. represents the mass of the proton,
the mass of the neutron and the binding energy of the nucleus respectively and c is the velocity of light in
free space, the mass of the nucleus is given by [GATE 2009]
B.E. B.E.
(a) Nmn  Zm p (b) Nm p  Zmn (c) Nmn  Zm p  2 (d) Nm p  Zmn  2
c c
2. Nuclear Models 4
15
9. In the nuclear shell model the spin parity of 7 N is given by [GATE 2010]
   
1 1 3 3
(a) (b) (c) (d)
2 2 2 2
10. The semi-empirical mass formula for the binding energy of nucleus contains a surface correction term. This
term depends on the mass number A of the nucleus as [GATE 2011]
(a) A1/3 (b) A1/3 (c) A2/3 (d) A
11. According to the single particle nuclear shell model, the spin parity of the ground state of 17
8 O is
   
1 3 3 5
(a) (b) (c) (d) [GATE 2011]
2 2 2 2
17
12. The total angular momentum j of the ground state of the 8 O nucleus is [GATE 2020]
1 3 5
(a) (b) 1 (c) (d)
2 2 2
ANSWER KEY
1. (d) 2. (c) 3. (a) 4. (a) 5. (d) 6. (b) 7. (a)

8. (c) 9. (a) 10. (c) 11. (d) 12. (d)
2. Nuclear Models 5
TIFR Previous Years’ Questions
1. In the semi-empirical mass formula, the volume (V), surface (S), coulomb (C), and pairing (P) contributions
to the binding energy of a nucleus ZA X vary with mass number A as [TIFR 2015]
(a) V  A, S  A2/3 , C  A1/3 , P  A 3/4
(b) V  A, S  A1/3 , C  A1/3 , P  A 3/4
(c) V  A, S  A 2/3 , C  A1/3 , P  A 3/4
(d) V  A2 , S  A2/3 , C  A1/3 , P  A 3/4
ANSWER KEY
1. (a)
2. Nuclear Models 6
1. A nucleus may be modelled as a drop of liquid consisting of the nucleons (protons and neutrons). In this
model, the dominant contribution to the nuclear binding energy is from the volume, which is proportional
to A, the total number of nucleons. Then the two important subdominant contributions from the surface
tension and the coulomb repulsion of the protons are, proportional to
(a) A2/3 and Z / A1/3 respectively (b) A2/3 and Z2 / A1/3 respectively
(c) A1/3 and Z2 / A2/3 respectively (d) A1/2 and Z2 / A1/3 respectively
ANSWER KEY
1. (b)
3. Radioactivity 7
1. The evidence for the non-conservation of parity in  -decay has been obtained from the observation that
the  -intensity [GATE 2005]
(a) anti-parallel to the nuclear spin directions is same as that along the nuclear spin direction
(b) anti-parallel to the nuclear spin direction is not the same as that along the nuclear spin direction
(c) shows a continuous distribution as a function of momentum
(d) is independent of the nuclear spin direction
2. Which one of the following disintegration series of the heavy elements will give 209Bi as a stable nucleus?
(a) Thorium series (b) Neptunium series [GATE 2006]
(c) Uranium series (d) Actinium series
3. In the  -decay of neutron, n  p  e    e , the anti-neutrino  e escapes detection. Its existence is inferred
from the measurement of [GATE 2011]
(a) energy distribution of electrons (b) angular distribution of electrons
(c) helicity distribution of electrons (d) forward-backward asymmetry of electrons
ANSWER KEY
1. (b) 2. (b) 3. (a)
3. Radioactivity 8
1. The variation of binding energy per nucleus with respect to the mass of nuclei is shown in the figure
Consider the following reactions:

(1) 238
92
206
U  82 Pb  10 p  22n (2) 238
92 U 206
82 Pb  842 He  6e 
Which one of the following statements is true for the given decay modes of 238
92 U ?
(a) both 1 and 2 are allowed (b) both 1 and 2 are forbidden
(c) 1 is forbidden and 2 is allowed (d) 1 is allowed and 2 is forbidden
2. A particular radioisotope has a half-life of 5 days. In 15 days the probability of decay in percentage will be
______________
ANSWER KEY
1. (c) 2. (87 to 88)
4. Nuclear Reactions 9
1. Typical energies released in a nuclear fission and a nuclear fusion reactions are respectively:
(a) 50 MeV and 1000 MeV (b) 200 MeV and 1000 MeV
(c) 1000 MeV and 50 MeV (d) 200 MeV and 10 MeV [GATE 2002]
2. A thermal neutron having speed v impinges on a U235 nucleus. The reaction cross-section is proportional
to [GATE 2004]
(a) v 1 (b) v (c) v1/2 (d) v 1/ 2

3. Fission fragments are generally radioactive as [GATE 2007]
(a) they have excess of neutrons (b) they have excess of protons
(c) they are products of radioactive nuclide (d) their total kinetic energy is of the order of 200 MeV.
4. A neutron scatters elastically from a heavy nucleus, the initial and final states of the neutron have the
[GATE 2007]
(a) same energy (b) same energy and linear momentum
(c) same energy and angular momentum (d) same linear and angular momenta
ANSWER KEY
1. (d) 2. (a) 3. (a) 4. (a)
1. In a beta decay experiment, an electromagnet M and a detector D are used to measure the energy of
electrons     , as shown in the figure. [TIFR 2014]
The detector D is capable of detecting either electons     or positrons     . Now the   source
is replaced with a   source, and we would like to measure the energy of the positrons     using
the same setup. Which of the following is correct?
(a) This can be done quite easily, if the polarity of current in the coils of the electromagnet is reversed.
(b) This is can done trivially, without changing anything, since the detector D can detect either   or   .
(c) There is no way to do this with the given set up, since   will have to be converted into   , which
is obviously not possible.
(d) This cannot be done since the magnet does not have a symmetric shape.
2. It is well-known that the energy of the Sun arises from the fusion of hydrogen nuclei (protons) inside the
core of the Sun. This takes place through several mechanisms, each resulting in emission of energy.
Which of the following reactions is NOT possible during the proton fusion inside the Sun?
(a) 11 H  11 H 
 22 He (b) 12 H  11 H 
 32 He [TIFR 2014]
 12 H  e   ve
(c) 11 H  11 H   42 He  2e 
(d) 11 H  11 H 11 H  11 H 
ANSWER KEY
1. (a) 2. (d)
JEST Previous Years’ Questions
1. If hydrogen atom is bombarded by energetic electrons, it will emit [JEST 2014]

(a) K X -rays (b)  -rays (c) Neutrons (d) None of the above
ANSWER KEY
1. (d)
5. Particle Physics 12
1. Which of the following functions describes the nature of interaction potential V  r  between two quarks
inside a nucleon? (r is the distance between the quarks and a and b are positive constants of suitable
dimensions). [GATE 2001]
a a a a
(a) V  r    br (b) V  r     br (c) V  r    br (d) V  r     br
r r r r
2. The Baryon number of proton, the lepton number of proton, the baryon number of electron and the lepton
number of the electron are respectively [GATE 2002]
(a) zero, zero, one and zero (b) one, one, zero and one
(c) one, zero, zero and one (d) zero, one, one and zero
3. Suppose that a neutron at rest in free space decays into a proton and an electron. This process would
violate [GATE 2003]
(a) conservation of charge (b) conservation of energy
(c) conservation of linear momentum (d) conservation of angular momentum
4. Choose the particle with zero Baryon number from the list given below [GATE 2004]
(a) pion (b) neutron (c) proton (d) 
5. The interaction potential between two quarks, separated by a distance r inside a nucleon, can be described
by (a, b and  are positive cosntants) [GATE 2006]
a a a
(a) ae   r (b)  br (c)   br (d)
r r r
6. Weak nuclear forces act on [GATE 2006]
(a) both hadrons and leptons (b) hadrons only
(c) all particles (d) all charged particles
7. The strangeness quantum number is conserved in [GATE 2007]
(a) strong, weak and electromagnetic interactions
(b) weak and electromagnetic interactions
(c) strong and weak interactions
(d) strong and electromagnetic interactions.
8. The strange baryon   has the quark structure [GATE 2007]
(a) uds (b) uud (c) uus (d) us
9. According to the quark model, the K+ meson is composed which of the following quarks
(a) uud (b) uc (c) us (d) su [GATE 2008]
10. In the quark model which one of the following represents a proton? [GATE 2009]
(a) udd (b) uud (c) ub (d) cc
11. The isospin and the strangeness of   baryon are [GATE 2011]
(a) 1, –3 (b) 0, –3 (c) 1, 3 (d) 0, 3
12. The isospin (I) and baryon number (B) of the upquark is [GATE 2013]
(a) I = 1, B = 1 (b) I = 1, B = 1/3 (c) I = 1/2, B = 1 (d) I = 1/2, B = 1/3
ANSWER KEY
1. (b) 2. (c) 3. (d) 4. (a) 5. (c) 6. (c) 7. (d)

8. (c) 9. (c) 10. (b) 11. (b) 12. (d)
6. Miscellaneous 13
1. An admissible potential between the proton and the neutron in a deutron is [GATE 2000]
(a) Coulomb (b) Harmonic oscillator
(c) Finite square potential (d) Infinite square well.
2. Nuclear forces are [GATE 2002]
(a) spin dependent and have no non-central part
(b) spin dependent and have a non-central part
(c) spin independent and have no non-central part
(d) spin independent and have a non-central part
3. With reference to nuclear forces which of the following statements is NOT true? [GATE 2005]
The nuclear forces are
(a) short range (b) charge independent (c) velocity dependent (d) spin independent
4. To explain the observed magnetic moment of deutron (0.8574 µN), its ground state wavefunction is taken to be
an admixture of S and D states, the expectation values of the z-component of the magnetic momenta in pure S
and pure D-states are 0.8797 µN and 0.3101 µN respectively. The contribution of the D-state to the mixed
ground state is approximately [GATE 2006]
(a) 40% (b) 4% (c) 0.4% (d) 0.04%
5. In the deuterium + tritium (d + t) fusion more energy is released as compared to deuterium + deuterium (d + d)
fusion because [GATE 2007]
(a) tritium is radioactive
(b) more nucleus participate in fusion
(c) the coulomb parrier is lower for the d + t system then (d + d) system
(d) the reaction product 4He is more tightly bound
6. A heavy nucleus is found to contain more neutrons than protons. This fact is related to which one of the
following statement [GATE 2008]
(a) the nuclear force between neutrons is stronger than that between protons.
(b) the nuclear force between protons is of a shorter range than those between neutrons, so that a smaller
number of protons are held together by the nuclear force.
(c) protons are unstable, to their number in a nucleus diminishes.
(d) it costs more energy to add a proton to a (heavy) nucleus, than a neutron because of the Coulomb
repulsion between protons.
7. The ground state wavefunction of deuteron is in a superposition of s and d states. Which of the following
is NOT true as a consequence? [GATE 2010]
(a) It has a non-zero quadruple moment
(b) The neutron-proton potential is non-central
(c) The orbital wavefunction is not spherically symmetric
(d) The Hamiltonian does not conserve the total angular momentum
8. A neutron passing through a detector is detected because of [GATE 2011]
(a) the ionization it produces
(b) the scintillation light it produces
(c) the electron-hole pair it produces
(d) the secondary particles produced in a nuclear reaction in the detector medium.
6. Miscellaneous 14
9. In case of a Geiger-Muller (GM) counter, which one of the following statements is CORRECT?
10
(a) Multiplication factor of the detector is of the order of 10 . [GATE 2012]
(b) Type of the particles detected can be identified.
(c) Energy of the particles detected can be distinguished.
(d) Operating voltage of the detector is few tens of Volts.
ANSWER KEY
1. (d) 2. (b) 3. (d) 4. (b) 5. (a) 6. (d) 7. (d)

8. (d) 9. (a)
6. Miscellaneous 15
1. The binding energy of the k-shell electron in a Uranium atom (Z = 92, A = 238) will be modified due to (i)
screening caused by other electrons and (ii) the finite extent of the nucleus as follows: [JEST 2013]
(a) increases due to (i), remains unchanged due to (ii).
(b) decreases due to (i), decreases due to (ii).
(c) increases due to (i), increases due to (ii).
(d) decreases due to (i), remains unchanged due to (ii).
ANSWER KEY
1. (b)
LEVEL-2
1. As one moves along the line of stability from 56Fe to 235U nucleus, the nuclear binding energy per particle
decreases from about 8.8 MeV to 7.6 MeV. This trend is mainly due to the:
(a) short range nature of the nuclear forces. [GATE 2004]
(b) long range nature of the coulomb forces.
(c) tensor nature of the nuclear forces.
(d) spin dependence of the nuclear forces.
2. The experimentally measured spin g-factors of proton and neutron indicate that [GATE 2006]
(a) both proton and neutron are elementary point particles.
(b) both proton and neutron are not elementary point particles.
(c) while proton is an elementary point particle, neutron is not
(d) while neutron is an elementary point particle, proton is not.
3. A particle is confined within a spherical region of radius one femtometer (10–15 m). Its momentum can be
expressed to be about [GATE 2010]
keV keV MeV GeV
(a) 20 (b) 200 (c) 200 (d) 2
c c c c
4. A proton is confined to a cubic box, whose sides have length 10–12 m. What is the minimum kinetic energy
of the proton? The mass of proton is 1.67 × 10–27 kg and Planck’s constant is 6.63 × 10–34 Js.
[GATE 2013]
(a) 1.1 × 10 J–17 –17
(b) 3.3 × 10 J (c) 9.9 × 10 J (d) 6.6 × 10–17 J
–17
5. The mean kinetic energy of a nucleon in a nucleus of atomic weight A varies as An, where n is_______
(upto two decimal places) [GATE 2015]
6. An 8O16 nucleus is spherical and has a charge radius R and a volume V  4  R 3 . According to empirical
3
observations of the charge radii, the volume of the 54 Xe128 nucleus assumed to be spherical is
(a) 8 V (b) 2 V (c) 6.75 V (d) 1.89 V [GATE 2008]
7. The Compton wavelength of a proton is _____ fm. (up to two decimal places). [GATE 2017]
27 34 19 8 1
( m p  1.67 10 kg, h  6.626 10 Js, e  1.602  10 C, c  3  10 ms )
q2
8. The electromagnetic form factor F(q2) of a nucleus is given by, F ( q 2 )  exp  [GATE 2013]
2Q 2
4 
where Q is a constant. Given that F ( q 2 ) 
q 0
rdr ( r )sin qr
3
 d r ( r )  1
where ( r ) is the charge density, the root mean square radius of the nucleus is given by
(a) 1/Q (b) 2 /Q (c) 3/Q (d) 6/Q
ANSWER KEY
1. (b) 2. (b) 3. (c) 4. (c) 5. (–0.66 to –0.67) 6. (a)

7. (1.32) 8. (c)
CSIR-UGC-NET Previous Years’ Questions
64
1. The radius of a 29 Cu nucleus is measured to be 4.8  10 13 cm. [NET June 2011]
27
(A) The radius of a 12 Mg nucleus can be estimated to be
(a) 2.86  10 13 cm (b) 5.2  10 13 cm (c) 3.6  10 13 cm (d) 8.6  10 13 cm
(B) The root-mean-square (rms) energy of a nucleon in a nucleus of atomic number A in its ground state varies
as:
4/3
(a) A (b) A1/3 (c) A 1/3 (d) A 2/3
2. The intrinsic electrric dipole moment of a nucleus AZ X [NET Dec. 2013]

(a) increases with Z, but independent of A (b) decreases with Z, but independent of A
(c) is always zero ` (d) increases with Z and A
3. The range of the nuclear force between two nucleons due to the exchange of pions is 1.40 fm. If the mass
of the pion is 140 MeV/c2 and the mass of the rho-meson is 770 MeV/c2, then the range of the force due
to exchange of rho mesons is [NET June 2017]
(a) 1.40 fm (b) 7.70 fm (c) 0.25 fm (d) 0.18 fm
ANSWER KEY
1_A(c) 1_B(d) 2. (c) 3. (c)
1. A proton is accelerated to a high energy E and shot at a nucleus of Oxygen  168 O  . In order to penetrate the
Coulomb barrier and reach the surface of the Oxygen nucleus, E must be at least [TIFR 2012]
(a) 3.6 MeV (b) 1.8 MeV (c) 45 keV (d) 180 eV
2. In a theoretical model of the nucleus, the binding energy per nucleon was predicted as shown in the
figure below.
nucleon (BE/A) (MeV) 9

8
Binding energy per
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
0 50
100 150 200 250
Mass Number (A)
If a nucleus of mass number A = 240 undergoes a symmetric fission to two daughter nuclei each of mass
number A = 120, write down the amount of energy released in this process, in units of MeV, using this theoreti-
cal model. [TIFR 2017]
ANSWER KEY
1. (a) 2. (240)
1
1. The stable nucleus that has the radius of 189Os nucleus is, [JEST 2016]
3
(a) 7Li (b) 16O (c) 4He (d) 14N
ANSWER KEY
1. (a)
1. A neutron of mass mn = 1.6×10–27 kg is moving inside a nucleus. Assume the nucleus to be a cubical box of size
10–14 m with impenetrable walls. Take   1034 Js and 1 MeV  1013 J . An estimate of the energy in MeV
of the neutron is:
1 1
(a) 80 MeV (b) MeV (c) 8 MeV (d) MeV
8 80
2. According to the uncertainty principle, the kinetic energy of an electron confined to a spherical region of
volume 10 33 m3 is of the order of
(a) 1010 J (b) 1012 J (c) 1014 J (d) 1016 J
3. The radius of the nucleus of the Ra atom, which carries an electric charge +88e, is 7.0×10–15 m. What should
roughly be the speed of a proton, if it has to reach as close as 1.0×10–14 m from the centre of the nucleus?[The
radius of the cloud of orbital clectrons of the Ra atom is approximately 5.0×10–11m.]
(a) 6.7  109 m / s (b) 3.1×108 m/s (c) 1.4×105 m/s (d) 4.9×107 m/s
4. If Me, Mp and MH are the rest masses of electron, proton and hydrogen atom in the ground state (with energy
–13.6 eV), respectively, which of the following is exactly true? (c is the speed of light in free space)
13.6 eV 13.6 eV
(a) M H  M p  M e (b) M H  M p  M e  2 (c) M H  M p  M e 
c c2
13.6 eV
(d) M H  M p  M e  K , where K   or zero.
c2
5. A nucleus has a size of 10–15 m. Consider an electron bound within a nucleus. The estimated energy of
this electron is of the order of
(a) 1 MeV (b) 10 2 MeV (c) 10 4 MeV (d) 10 6 MeV
ANSWER KEY
1. (c) 2. (d) 3. (d) 4. (b) 5. (b)
2. Nuclear Models 21
1. The nuclear spins of 6 C14 and 12 Mg 25 nuclei are respectively,, [GATE 2002]
(a) zero and half integer (b) half integer and zero
(c) an integer and half integer (d) both half integer
Common Data for Q.2 and Q.3:
The nucleus 41Ca can be described by the single particle shell model.
2. The single particle states occupied by the last proton and the last neutron, respectively, are given by
[GATE 2004]
(a) d 5/2 and f 7/2 (b) d 3/2 and f5/2 (c) d 5/2 and f 5/2 (d) d 3/2 and f 7 /2
3. The ground state angular momentum and parity of 41Ca are: [GATE 2004]

7 3 5 5
(a)   (b) (c) (d)
2 2 2 2
4. The following gives a list of pairs containing [GATE 2008]

(i) a nucleus (ii) one of its properties
Find the pair which is in appropriate.
(a) (i) 10Ne20 nucleus, (ii) stable nucleus;
(b) (i) a spheroidal nucleus, (ii) an electric quadrupole moment;
1
(c) (i) 8O16 nucleus, (ii) nucleus spin J  ;
2
(d) (i) U238 nucleus, (ii) binding energy = 1785 MeV (approx);
5. The mass difference between the pair of mirror nuclei 6C11 and 5B11 is given to be ΔMeV/c 2 . According
to the semi empirical mass formula, the mass difference between the pair of mirror nuclei 17
9 F and
17
8 O
will approximately be (rest mass of proton mp = 938.27 MeV/c2 and rest mass of neutron mn = 939.57
MeV/c2). [GATE 2008]
(a) 1.39 MeV / c2 (b) 1.39  0.5  MeV / c 2
(c) 1.86 MeV / c2 (d) 1.6   0.78  MeV / c2
6. Consider the following expression for the mass of a nucleus with Z protons and A nucleons.
1
M  A, Z    f A  yZ  zZ 2 
2   
c
Here, f  A  is a function of A. [GATE 2009]
y  4 a A
z  ac A1/3  4a A A1
aA and ac are constants of suitable dimensions. For a fixed A, the expression of Z for the most stable nucleus
is
A/2 A/2
(a) Z  (b) Z 
  ac  2/3    ac  2/3 
1    A  1   A 
  aA     4 a A  
A/ 2 A
(c) Z  (d) Z 
  ac  2/3  1  A2/3 
1   A 
  4a A  
228
7. The first three energy level of Th90 are shown below [GATE 2010]
+
4 187 keV
2+ 57.5 keV
0+ 0 keV
The expected spin-parity and energy of the next level are given by
(a) (6+; 400 keV) (b) (6+; 300 keV) (c) (2+; 400 keV) (d) (4+; 300 keV)
8. Total binding energies of O15 , O16 and O17 are 111.96 MeV, 127.62 MeV and 131.76 MeV, respectively..
1 1
The energy gap between p 12 and d 5 2 neutron shells for the nuclei whose mass number is close to 16,
is: [GATE 2012]
(a) 4.1 MeV (b) 11.5 MeV (c) 15.7 MeV (d) 19.8 MeV
Statement for Linked Answer Q. 09 and Q.10:

In the Schmidt model of nuclear magnetic moments, we have,
 e  
 ( gl l  g s S )
2Mc
where the symbols have their usual meaning
 
9. For the case J  l  1/ 2 , where J is the total angular momentum, the expectation value of S  J in the
nuclear ground state is equal to, [GATE 2013]
(a) (J – 1)/2 (b) (J + 1)/2 (c) J/2 (d) –J/2
10. For the O17 nucleus (A = 17, Z = 8), the effective magnetic moment is given by,
 e 
 eff  gJ
2 Mc
where g is equal to, (gs = 5.59 for proton and –3.83 for neutron) [GATE 2013]
(a) 1.12 (b) –0.77 (c) –1.28 (d) 1.28
1  
11. In the nuclear shell model, the potential is modeled as V (r )  m  2 r 2   L  S ,   0 . The correct spin-
2
parity and isospin assignments for the ground state of 13C is [GATE 2015]
1 1 1 1 3 1 3 1
(a) ; (b) ; (c) ; (d) ;
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
12. According to the nuclear shell model, the respective ground state spin-parity values of 15 17
8 O and 8 O nuclei are
       
1 1 1 5 3 5 3 1
(a) , (b) , (c) , (d) , [GATE 2016]
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
13. For nucleus 164Er, a j  2 state is at 90 keV. Assuming 164Er to be a rigid rotor, the energy of its 4+ state is
________ keV. (up to one decimal place). [GATE 2018]
14. 4 MeV  -rays emitted by the de-excitation of 10F are attributed, assuming spherical symmetry, to the transi-  
tion of protons from 1 d3/2 state. If the contribution of spin-orbit term to the total energy is written as C (l  s ) ,
the magnitude of C is ________ MeV (up to one decimal place). [GATE 2018]
15. The nuclear spin and parity of 40

20 Ca in its ground state is [GATE 2019]
(a) 0+ (b) 0– (c) 1+ (d) 1–

16. According to the Fermi gas model of the nucleus, the nucleons move in a spherical volume of
radius R(= R0A1/3, where A is the mass number and R0 is an empirical constant with the
dimensions of length). The Fermi energy of the nucleus EF is proportional to
1 1 1
(a) R02 (b) R (c) R 2 (d) R3 [GATE 2020]
0 0 0
ANSWER KEY
1. (a) 2. (d) 3. (a) 4. (c) 5. (b) 6. (c) 7. (a)

8. (b) 09. (b) 10. (b) 11. (a) 12. (b) 13. (300) 14. (1.6)
15. (a) 16. (c)
1. The difference in the Coulomb energy between the mirror nuclei 49

24 Cr and
49
25 Mn is 6.0 MeV. Assuming
that the nuclei have a spherically symmetric charge distribution and that e 2 is approximately 1.0 MeV-fm
49
, the radius of the 25 Mn nucleus is [NET Dec. 2011]
15 15
(a) 4.9  10 13 m (b) 4.9  10 m (c) 5.1 10 13 m (d) 5.1 10 m
125 89
2. According to the shell model the spin and parity of the two nuclei 51 Sb and Sr are, respectively.
38
[NET Dec. 2011]

       
5 5 5 7 7 5 7 7
(a)   and   (b)   and   (c)   and   (d)   and  
 2 2  2 2  2 2  2 2
3. The single particle enertgy difference between the p-orbitals (i.e. p 3 2 and p 1 2 ) of the nucleus 114
50 Sn is
3 MeV. The energy difference between the states in its 1f orbital is [NET Dec. 2012]
(a) –7 MeV (b) 7 MeV (c) 5 MeV (d) – 5 MeV
4. The binding energy of a light nucleus (Z, A) in MeV is given by the approximate formula
3 (N  Z) 2
B(A, Z)  16A  20A 2/3  Z2 A 1/3  30 [NET June 2013]
4 A
where N = A – Z is the neutron number. The value of Z of the most stable isobar for a given A is
1 1
A  A 2/3  A A  A 2/3  A  A 4/3 
(a) 1   (b) (c) 1   (d) 2  1  64 
2  160  2 2 120   
5. According to the shell model, the total angular momentum (in units of  ) and the parity of the ground
state of the 73 Li nucleus is [NET Dec. 2013]
3 3
(a) with negative parity (b) with positive parity
2 2
1 7
(c) with positive parity (d) with negative parity
2 2
6. A permanently deformed even-even nucleus with JP = 2+ has rotational energy 93 keV. The energy
of the next excited state is [NET June 2014]
(a) 372 keV (b) 310 keV (c) 273 keV (d) 186 keV
7. Let us approximate the nuclear potential in the shell model by a 3-dimensional isotropic harmonic
oscillator. Since the lowest two energy levels have angular momenta l = 0 and l = 1 respectively, which
of the following two nuclei have magic numbers of protons and neutrons ?
[NET June 2015]
4 16 2 8 4 8 4 12
(a) He and O (b) D and Be (c) He and Be (d) He and Be
2 8 1 4 2 4 2 6
8. Of the nuclei of mass number A = 125, the binding energy calculated from the liquid drop model (given
that the coefficients for the Coulomb and the asymmetry energy are aC = 0.7MeV and asym = 22.5 MeV
respectively) is a maximum for [NET Dec. 2015]
125 125 125 125
(a) 54 Xe (b) 53 I (c) 52 Te (d) Sb
51
9. If the binding energy B of a nucleus (mass number A and charge Z) is given by[NET Dec. 2014]
(2 Z  A) 2 ac Z 2
B  aV A  aS A2/3  asym  1/3 where aV  16 MeV, aS  16 MeV, asym  24 MeV and
A A
ac  0.75 MeV , then the Z for the most stable isobar for a nucleus with A = 216 is
(a) 68 (b) 72 (c) 84 (d) 92
(2 j  1) 2
10. The electric quadrupole moment of an odd proton nucleus is r , where j is the total angular
2( j  1)
momentum. Given that R0 = 1.2 fm, what is the value, in barn, of the quadrupole moment of the 27Al
nucleus in the shell model? [NET Dec. 2015]
(a) 0.043 (b) 0.023 (c) 0.915 (d) 0
11. Let ES denote the contribution of the surface energy per nucleon in the liquid drop model. The ratio
ES  13
27
Al  : ES  30
64
Zn  is [NET June 2016]
(a) 2 : 3 (b) 4 : 3 (c) 5 : 3 (d) 3: 2
27
12. According to the shell model, the nuclear magnetic moment of the 13 Al nucleus is (Given that for a
proton g l  1, g s  5.586 , and for a neutron g l  0, g s   3.826 ). [NET June 2016]
(a) 1.913  N (b) 14.414  N (c) 4.793  N (d) 0
13. The spin-parity assignments for the ground and first excited states of the isotrope 57
28 Ni , in the single
particle shell model, are [NET Dec. 2017]
       
1 3 5 7  3 5  3 5
(a)   and   (b)   and   (c)   and   (d)   and  
 2 2  2  2  2  2  2 2
238
14. The first excited state of the rotational spectrum of the nucleus 92 U has an energy 45 keV above the
ground state. The energy of the second excited state (in keV), is [NET Dec. 2017]
(a) 150 (b) 120 (c) 90 (d) 60
15. The low lying energy levels due to the vibrational excitations of an even-even nucleus are shown in the
figure below. [NET Dec. 2018]
0+ E4 = 1.35 MeV
2+ E3 = 1.25 MeV
+
4 E2 = 1.17 MeV
~2E
jp E1 = 0.56 MeV
E
0+ E0 = 0 MeV
p
The spin-parity j of the level E1 is
(a) 1+ (b) 1 – (c) 2 – (d) 2+
16. An excited state of a 84 Be nucleus decays into two  particles which are in a spin-parity 0+ state. If the means
life-time of this decay is 10–22 s, the spin-parity of the excited state of the nucleus is [NET June 2019]
(a) 2+ (b) 3+ (c) 0– (d) 4–
17. The Bethe-Weizsäecker formula for the binding energy (in MeV) of a nucleus of atomic number Z and mass
number A is [NET Dec. 2019]
Z ( Z  1) ( A  2Z )2
15.8 A  18.3 A2/3  0.714  23.2
A1/3 A
The ratio Z/A for the most stable isobar of a A = 64 nucleus, is nearest to
(a) 0.30 (b) 0.35 (c) 0.45 (d) 0.50
18. The Bethe-Weizsacker formula for the binding energy of a heavy even-even nucleus with Z protons and N
Z2 ( N  Z )2
neutrons is BE  aV A  aS A2/3  aC  a A , where A is the mass number and aV , aS , aC and
A1/3 A
a A are constants. When it spontaneously breaks up into two equal fragments, the total energy released is
1 1 2
(a) 
2
 4

aV A  aS A2/3 1  21/3  aa A1  N  Z  [NET Dec. 2019]
1 2
2/3

1/3

2 1/3
(b) aS A 1  2  aC Z A 1  21/3    4
aa A1  N  Z 
2/3

1/3

2 1/3
(c) aS A 1  2  aC Z A 1  22/3  
1
(d) 
2
  
aV A  aS A2/3 1  21/3  aC Z 2 A1/3 1  21/3 
ANSWER KEY
1. (b) 2. (c) 3. (b) 4. (a) 5. (a) 6. (b) 7. (a)

8. (c) 9. (c) 10. (a) 11. (b) 12. (c) 13. (d) 14. (a)
15. (d) 16. (a) 17. (c) 18. (c)
1. 
The Weizacker semi-empirical mass formula for an odd nucleus with Z protons and A nucleons may be
written as M ( Z , A)  1 A   2 A2/3 +  3 Z   4 Z 2 where the  i are constants independent of Z, A. For a
given A, if ZA is the number of photons of the most stable isobar, the total energy released when an unstable
nuclide undergoes a single   decay to ( Z A , A) is [TIFR 2016]
(a)  3 (b)  4 (c)  4   3 (d) 1   2
2. The semi-empirical mass formula for a heavy nucleon (Z, A) can be written, to some approximation, as
Z ( Z  1) ( A  2 Z )2 5
M ( Z , A) c 2  ZM p c 2  ( A  Z ) M nc 2  1 A  2 A2/3  3 1/3
 4  1/2
A A A
where M p c 2  938 MeV, M n c 2  939 MeV , and 1  16, 2  18, 3  0.7, 4  23 , all in MeV, where
12 MeV for even  even nuclei

5  12 MeV for odd  odd nuclei
 0 for others

Now, consider a spontaneous fission reaction [TIFR 2019]
238
92 U  146
56 Ba 
91
36 Kr  10 n
The energy released in this reaction will be close to
(a) 190 MeV (b) 170 MeV (c) 17.92 keV (d) 19.2 MeV
ANSWER KEY
1. (b) 2. (a)
3. Radioactivity 28
1. A nucleus having mass number 240 decays by a emission to the grond state of its daughter nucleus. The Q value
of the process is 5.26 MeV. The energy (in MeV) of the a particle is: [GATE 2005]
(a) 5.26 (b) 5.17 (c) 5.13 (d) 5.09
2. The plot of log At is versus time t, where, At is activity, as shown in the figure, corresponds to decay
log At [GATE 2005]

t
(a) from only one kind of radioactive nuclei having same half-life.
(b) from only neutron activated nuclei
(c) from a mixture of radioactive nuclei having different half-lives.
(d) which is unphysical.
3. Consider Fermi theory of  -decay [GATE 2006]
(I) The number of final states of electrons corresponding to momenta between p and (p + dp) is
(a) independent of p (b) proportion to pdp
(c) proportional to p 2 dp (d) proportional to p3dp
(II) The number of emitted electrons with momentum (p) and energy (E) in the allowed approximation is
proportional to (E0 is the total energy given up by the nucleus)
2 2
(a)  E0  E  (b) p  E0  E  (c) p 2  E0  E  (d) p  E0  E 
4. Half-life of a radioisotope is 4×108 years. If these are 103 radioactive nuclei in a sample today, the number
of such nuclei in the sample 4×109 years ago were. [GATE 2007]
(a) 128  103 (b) 256  103 (c) 512  103 (d) 1024  103
Statement for Linked Answer Q.5 and Q.6
Consider the  -decay of a free neutron at rest in the laboratory..
5. Which of the following configurations of the decay products correspond to the largest energy of the anti-
neutrino  ? (rest mass of electron, me  0.51 MeV /c 2 , rest mass of proton m p  938.27 MeV /c 2 and rest
mass of neutron mn  939.57 MeV /c 2 ) [GATE 2008]
(a) In the laboratory, proton is produced at rest
(b) In the laboratory, momenta of proton, electron and the anti-neutrino all have the same magnitude.
(c) In the laboratory, proton and electron fly-off with (nearly) equal and opposite momenta.
(d) In the laboratory, electron is produced at rest.
6. Using the result of above problem, answer the following. Which of the following represents approximately the
maximum allowed energy of the anti-neutrino ? [GATE 2008]
7. The disintegration energy is defined to be the difference in the rest energy between the initial and final states.
Consider the following process: [GATE 2009]
240
Pu  236
94
4
92 U  2 He
The emitted  particle has a kinetic energy 5.17 MeV. The value of the disintegration energy is
3. Radioactivity 29
8. In the  -decay process, the transition 2   3 , is [GATE 2013]

(a) allowed both by Fermi and Gamow-Teller selection rule
(b) allowed by Fermi and but not by Gamow-Teller selection rule
(c) not allowed by Fermi but allowed by Gamow-Teller selection rule
(d) not allowed both by Fermi and Gamow-Teller selection rule
9. A nucleus X undergoes a first forbidden  -decay to a nucleus Y. If the angular momentum (I) and parity
7
(P), denoted by I P as for X, which of the following is a possible IP value for Y?
2
1 1 3 3
(a) (b) (c) (d) [GATE 2014]
2 2 2 2
10. A beam of X-ray of intensity I0 is incident normally on a metal sheet of thickness 2 mm. The intensity of the
transmitted beam is 0.025I0. The linear absorption coefficient of the metal sheet (in m-1) is _______________
(upto one decimal place) [GATE 2015]
11. An  particle is emitted by a 230
90 Th nucleus. Assuming the potential to be purely Coulombic beyond the point
of separation, the height of the Coulomb barrier is ________ MeV (up to two decimal places).
 e2 
  1.44 MeV-fm, r0  1.30 fm  [GATE 2018]
 4  0 
12. A radioactive element X has a half-life of 30 hours. It decays via alpha, beta and gamma emissions with the
branching ratio for beta decay being 0.75. The particle half-life for beta decay in unit of hours is ________.
[GATE 2019]
ANSWER KEY
1. (b) 2. (c) 3. (c) 4. (d) 5. (d) 6. (b) 7. (a)

8. (c) 9. (c) 10. (1844.4) 11. (25.38) 12. (40)
3. Radioactivity 30
1 
1. The ground state of 207
82 , while the first excited state has J P  5 . The
Pb nuclcus has spin-parity J P 
2 2
electromagnetic radiation emitted when the nucleus makes a transition from the first excited state to the ground
state are [NET June 2012]
(a) E2 and E3 (b) M2 and E3 (c) E2 and M3 (d) M2 and M3
2. A radioactive element X decays to Y, which in turn decays to a stable element Z. The decay constant from X to
Y is 1 , and that from Y to Z is 2 . If, to begin with, there are only N 0 atoms of X, at short times (t  1/1 as
well as 1/2 ) the number of atoms of Z will be [NET June 2016]
1 12
(a) 12 N 0t 2 (b) N 0t (c) (1  2 ) 2 N 0 t 2 (d) (1  2 )N 0 t
2 2(1  2 )
3. A nucleus decays by the emission of a gamma ray from an excited state of spin-parity 2+ to the ground state
with spin-parity 0+. What is the type of the corresponding radiation ? [NET Dec. 2018]
(a) magnetic dipole (b) electric quadrupole (c) electric dipole (d) magnetic quadrupole
ANSWER KEY
1. (c) 2. (a) 3. (b)
3. Radioactivity 31
1. A detector is used to count the numbr of  -rays emitted by a radioactive source. If the number of counts
recorded in exactly 20 seconds is 10000, the error in the counting rate per second is [TIFR 2010]
(a) ± 5.0 (b) ± 22.4 (c) ± 44.7 (d) ± 220.0
60 60
2. A lead container contains 1 gm of a 27 Co radioactive source. It is known that a 27 Co nucleus emits a
 -particle of energy 316 KeV followed by two  - emissions of energy 1173 and 1333 KeV respectively..
60
Which of the following experimental methods would be the best way to determine the lifetime of the 27 Co
source?
(a) Measure the change in temperature of the source [TIFR 2010]
(b) Measure the weight of the source now and again after one year
(c) Measure the recoil momentum of the nucleus during  - emission
(d) Measure the number of  - photons emitted by this source
3. An excited atomic electron undergoes a spontaneous transition, 3d3/2  2p1/2 [TIFR 2011]
The interaction responsible for this transition must be of the type
(a) electric dipole (E1) OR magnetic quadrupole (M2)
(b) electric dipole (E1) OR magnetic dipole (M1)
(c) electric quadrupole (E2) OR magnetic quadrupole (M2)
(d) electric quadrupole (E2) OR magnetic dipole (M1)
4. Let EN be the energy released when one mole of pure 235U undergoes controlled fission, and EC be the
energy released when one mole of pure carbon undergoes complete combustion. The ratio EN/EC will have
the order of magnitude [TIFR 2013]
(a) 10 4 (b) 10 8 (c) 10 9 (d) 10 6
5.  -
A standard radioactive source is known to decay by emission of rays. The source is provided to a student
in a thick sealed capsule of unbreakable plastic and she is asked to find out the half-life. Which of the following
would be the most useful advice to the student? [TIFR 2014]
(a) The half-life cannot be measured because the initial concentration of the source is not given.
(b) Mount the source in front of a gamma ray detector and count the number of photons detected in one
hour.
(c) Measure the mass of the source at different times with an accurate balance having a least count of 1
mg. Plot these values on a curve and fit it with an exponential decay law.
(d) Mount the source in front of a gamma ray detector and count the number of photons detected in a
specific time interval. Repeat this experiment at different times and note how the count changes.
6. Which of the following radioactive decay chains is it possible to observe ? [TIFR 2015]
206
(a) 82 Pb  202 202
80 Hg  79 Au (b) 210
83 Bi  210 206
84 Po  82 Pb
214
(c) 88 Ra  210
86 Rn 
207
82 Pb (d) 206
82 Pb  202 202
80 Hg  79 Au
3. Radioactivity 32
7. In an experiment, 197 198

79 Au nuclei were bombarded with neutrons leading to formation of 79 Au , which is un-
stable. The half-life of 198

79 Au was measured to be 2.25 days and it was found later that this measured half-life
was an underestimate by 10%. The corresponding percentage error in the estimated population of 198
79 Au after
9 days is [TIFR 2015]

(a) 10% (b) 25% (c) 2.5% (d) 15%
8. Cosmic ray muons, which decay spontaneously with proper lifetime 2.2 µs, are produced in the atmo-
sphere, at a height of 5 km above sea level. These move straight downwards at 98% of the speed of light.
Find the percent ratio 100 × ( N A /N B ) of the number of muons measured at the top of two mountains A
and B, which are at heights 4,848 m and 2,682 m respectively above mean sea level. [TIFR 2017]
ANSWER KEY
1. (b) 2. (d) 3. (a) 4. (d) 5. (d) 6. (b) 7. (b)

8. (194)
3. Radioactivity 33
238
1. U decays with a half life of 4.51 × 109 years, the decay series eventually ending at 206 Pb, which is stable. A
rock smaple analysis shows that the ratio of the numbers of atoms of 206Pb to 238U is 0.0058. Assuming that all
the 206Pb has been produced by the decay of 238U and that all other half lives in the chain are negligible, the age
of rock sample is [JEST 2013]
6 6 7 7
(a) 38 × 10 years (b) 48 × 10 years (c) 38 × 10 years (d) 48 × 10 years
2. In the mixture of isotopes normally found on the earth at the present time, 238
92 U has on aboundance of 99.3%
235
and 92 U has an aboundance of 0.7%. The measured lifetimes of these isotopes are 6.52 × 109 years and
1.02×109 years respectively. Assuming that they were equally aboundant when the earth was formed, the
estimated age of the earth, in years is [JEST 2014]
9 9 8 8
(a) 6.0 × 10 (b) 1.0 × 10 (c) 6.0 × 10 (d) 1.0 × 10
3. The half-life of a radioactive nuclear source is 9 days. The fraction of nuclei which are left undercayed after
3 days is: [JEST 2016]
7 1 5 1
(a) (b) (c) (d)
8 3 6 21/3
ANSWER KEY
1. (a) 2. (a) 3. (d)
3. Radioactivity 34
1. The activity of a radioactive sample is decreased to 75% of the initial value after 30 days. The half-life (in days)
of the sample is approximately [You may use ln 3  1.1, ln 4  1.4]
(a) 38 (b) 45 (c) 59 (d) 69
55
2. The radioactivity of a sample of Co decreases by 4% every hour. (The decay product is not radioactive). The
half-life of Co55 is approximately
(a) 1 hour (b) 1 day (c) 1 month (d) 1 year.
3. A radioactive nucleus X decays to Y with a mean lifetime  2    1 / 2  . If N 0 nuclei of X ( but no nuclei of
Y) are present at t=0, how many nuclei of Y will be there when the number of X nuclei becomes N0 / 2 ?
(a) N 0 / 2e (b) N 0 / 4 (c) N 0 / 2 (d) N 0 / e
4. 60
27 Co is a radioactive nucleus of half-life 2n 2  108 s . The activity of 10 g of 60
27 Co in disintegration per
second is:
1 1
(a)  1010 (b) 5 1010 (c)  1014 (d) 5 10
14
5 5
5. Radon has a half-life of 3.8 days. If we start with 10.24 gm of radon, the amount of it which will be left after 38
days is
(a) 10–4gm (b) 10–2 gm (c) 10–6 gm (d) 10–3 gm
ANSWER KEY
1. (d) 2. (b) 3. (b) 4. (d) 5. (b)
1. An atomic bomb consisting of 235U explodes and releases an energy of 1014 J. It is known that each 235U
which undergoes fission releases 3 neutrons and about 200 MeV of energy. Further, only 20% of the 235U
atoms in the bomb undergoes fission: [GATE 2003]
(i) the total number of neutrons released is about
(a) 4.7 1024 (b) 9.7  1024 (c) 1.9  1025 (d) 3.7  1025
(ii) The mass of 235U in the bomb is about
(a) 1.5 kg (b) 3.0 kg (c) 6.1 kg (d) 12 kg.
2. The threshold temperature above which the thermonuclear reaction: [GATE 2005]
3 3 4
2 He  2 He 2 He  211 H  12.86 MeV
can occur is (use e2/4   0 = 1.44 × 10–15 MeV-m)
(a) 1.28 × 1010 K (b) 1.28 × 109 K (c) 1.28 × 108 K (d) 1.28 ×107 K
Linked Answer Q.3 and Q.4
A 16 µA beam of alpha particles, having cross-sectional area 10–4 m2, is incident on a Rhodium target of
thickness 1 µm. This produces neutrons through the reaction,
 100 Rh   101Pd  3n
3. The number of  particles hitting the target per second is [GATE 2007]
(a) 0.5  1014 (b) 1.0  1014 (c) 2.0  1020 (d) 4.0  10 20
4. The neutrons are observed at the rate of 1.806×108 s–1. If the density of rhodium is approximated as 104
kg m–3 the cross-section for the reaction (in barns) is [GATE 2007]
(a) 0.1 (b) 0.2 (c) 0.4 (d) 0.8
5. The energy released in the fission of 1 kg Uranium (approximately [in Joule]): [GATE 2008]
(a) 1014 (b) 1017 (c)1016 (d) 10 10
6. The atomic masses of 152 152 1

63 Eu , 62 Sm, 1 H and neutron are 151.921749, 151.919756, 1.007825 and 1.008665
in atomic mass units (a.m.u.), respectively. Using the above information, the Q-value of the reaction
152 3
63 Eu  n  152
62 Sm  p is_______  10 a.m.u. (upto three decimal places) [GATE 2015]
7. A particle of rest mass M is moving along the positive x-direction. It decays into two photons 1 and  2 as
shown in the figure. The energy of 1 is 1GeV and the energy of  2 is 0.82 GeV. The value of M (in units of
GeV/c2) is _____________. (Give your answer upto two decimal places) [GATE 2016]
1
M 45º
60º
2
8. The  decays at rest to   and   . Assuming the neutrino to be massless, the momentum of the neutrino is
________ MeV/c. (up to two decimal places) [GATE 2017]
m   139 MeV/c 2 , m  105 MeV/c 2  .
ANSWER KEY
1_(i)(b) 1_(ii)(c) 2. (a) 3. (b) 4. (a) 5. (a)

6. (2.833) 7. (1.44) 8. (29.50 to 30.10)
1. The binding energy per nucleon for 235U is 7.6 MeV. The 235U nucleus undergoes fission to produce two
fragments, both having binding energy per nucleon 8.5 MeV. The energy released, in Joules, from the complete
fission of 1 kg of 235U is therefore, [TIFR 2010]
(a) 8000 (b) 10 35 (c) 450 (d) 20000
(e) 8.7 × 10 13 (f) 5.0 × 10 8
2. A fast-moving 14N nucleus collides with an  particle at rest in the laboratory frame, giving rise to the reaction
14N +   17O + p [TIFR 2011]
14 17
Given the masses 14.00307 a.m.u. and 16.99913 a.m.u. for N and O nuclei respectively, and 4.00260
a.m.u. and 1.00783 a.m.u. for  and p respectively, the minimum kinetic energy in the laboratory frame of
the 14N nucleus must be
3. What should be the minimum energy of a photon for it to split an  - particle at rest into a tritium and a proton?
(The masses of 42 He, 13H and 11H are 4.0026 amu, 3.0161 amu and 1.0073 amu, respectively, and 1 amu 
938 MeV). [NET Dec. 2016]
(a) 32.2 MeV (b) 3 MeV (c) 19.3 MeV (d) 931.5 MeV
232
4. If in a spontaneous -decay of 92 U at rest, the total energy released in the reaction is Q, then the energy
carried by the -particle is [NET June 2017]
57Q Q Q 23Q
(a) (b) (c) (d)
58 57 58 58
63
5. The reaction Cu 29  p  63 Zn 30  n is followed by a prompt  - decay of zinc
63
Zn 30  63Cu 29  e   e . If the maximum energy of the position is 2.4 MeV, the Q-value of the original
reaction in MeV is nearest to
[Take the masses of electrons, proton and neutron to be 0.5 MeV/c2, 938 MeV/c2 and 939.5 MeV/c2,
respectively]. [NET June 2018]
(a) –4.4 (b) –2.4 (c) –4.8 (d) –3.4
6. A beam of protons on a Li target produces two -particles through the reaction p  73 Li  2 42 He . The
atomic masses of 7 Li, 4 He and 1H are 7.0160u, 4.0026u and 1.0078u, respectively, where 1u is 930 MeV/
c2. The Q-value of the reaction is closest to [NET Dec. 2019]
2 2 2
(a) 15.2 MeV/c . (b) 16.0 MeV/c . (c) 18.6 MeV/c . (d) 17.3 MeV/c2.
ANSWER KEY
1. (e) 2. (c) 3. (c) 4. (a) 5. (a) 6. (d)
1. 239
In a nuclear reactor, Plutonium ( 94 Pu ) is used as fuel, releasing energy by its fission into isotopes of Barium
( 146 91
54 Ba ) and Strontium ( 38 Sr ) through the reaction [TIFR 2012]
239
 10 n 
94 Pu  146 91 1
56 Ba  38 Sr  3  0 n
The binding energy (B.E.) per nucleon of each of these nuclides is given in the table below:
239 146 91
Nuclide 94Pu 56Ba 38Sr
B.E. per nucleon (MeV) 7.6 8.2 8.6
Using this information, one can estimate the number of such fission reactions per second in a 100 MW
reactor as
(a) 3.9 × 1018 (b) 7.8 × 1018 (c) 5.2 × 1019 (d) 5.2 × 1018
(e) 8.9 × 10 17
2. The process of electron capture p  e  n  ve [TIFR 2013]

takes place at the quark level through the Feynman diagram
d ve u e–
(a) (b)
W Z
u e– d ve
time
u e– u e–
(c) (d) W
W
d ve ve d
226
3. Consider a process in which atoms of Actinium-226 (89 Ac ) get converted to atoms of Radium-226
226
(88 Ra ) and the yield of energy is 0.64 MeV per atom. This occurs through [TIFR 2016]
(a) Both p  n  e   ve and p  e   n  ve (b) Both p  n  e   ve and n  p  e   ve

(c) Only p  n  e   ve (d) Only p  e   n  ve
4. A deuteron of mass M and binding energy B is struck by a gamma ray photon of energy E , and is observed
to disintegrate into a neutron and a proton. If B  M c 2 , the minimum value of E must be [TIFR 2017]
B2 B2 1 B2  1 B2 
(a) 2 B  (b) B  (c)  3B   (d)  2 B  
2 M c2 M c2 2 M c 2  2 M c 2 
ANSWER KEY
1. (a) 2. (c) 3. (d) 4. (d)
1. Identify the reaction which has the same transition probability as    p     p [GATE 2000]
(a)    n     n (b)    p   0  n (c)   n    n (d)  0  p     n
2. Which of the following reactions violates lepton number conservation? [GATE 2001]
(a) e   e   ve  ve (b) e   p  ve  n (c) e   n  p  ve (d) µ  e  vµ  ve
3. The cross-sections of the reactions [GATE 2001]

      
p      K and p      K
at a given energy are the same due to
(a) baryon number conservation (b) time reversal invariance
(c) charge conjugation (d) parity conservation
4. A stationary particle in free space is oberved to spontaneously decay into two photons. This imples that
(a) the particle carries electric charge [GATE 2003]
(b) the spin of the particle must be greater than or equal to 2
(c) the particle is a boson
(d) the mass of the particle must be greater than or equal to the mass of the hydrogen atom
5. The nucleus of the atom 9Be4 consists of [GATE 2003]
(a) 13 up quarks and 13 down quarks (b) 13 up quarks and 14 down quarks
(c) 14 up quarks and 13 down quarks (d) 14 up quarks and 14 down quarks
6. Which one of the following nuclear reactions is possible? [GATE 2003]
14 13  13 13 
(a)  C6    ve
N 7  (b)  C6    ve
N 7 
 13C6   
(c) 13 N 7  (d) 13
 13C7     ve
N 7 
7. Which one of the following reactions is allowed? [GATE 2004]
  
(a) p  n  e (b) p  e  ve (c) p     (d) p  n      0
8. Which of the following decay is forbidden? [GATE 2005]
   
(a) µ 
 e  vµ  ve (b)  
 µ  vµ
(c)   
 e   ve (d) µ  
 e  e  e
54
9. By capturing an electron 25 Mn29 transforms into 24 Cr3054 releasing [GATE 2006]
(a) a neutrino (b) an anti neutrino (c) an  -particle (d) a positron
10. Which one of the following nuclear processes is forbidden? [GATE 2006]
  0
(a) v  p  n  e (b)   e  ve  
(c)    p  n  K   K  (d) µ  e  ve  vµ
11. A relativistic particle travels a length of 3 × 10–3 m in air before decaying. The decay process of the particle is
dominated by: [GATE 2007]
(a) strong interactions (b) electromagnetic interactions.
(c) weak interactions (d) gravitational interactions
12. Choose the correct statement from the following: [GATE 2008]
(a) The reaction K  K  
 p p  can proceed irrespective of the kinetic energies of K  and K  .
(b) The reaction K  K  

 pp  is forbidden by the Baryon number conservation.
(c) The reaction K  K  

 2 is forbidden by strangeness conservation.
   proceeds via weak interaction.

(d) The decay K 0 
13. A neutral pi meson  0  has a rest-mass of approximately 140 MeV/c2 and a lifetime of  sec. A  0
produced in the laboratory is found to decay after 1.25  sec into two photons. Which of the following
sets represents a possible set of energies of the two photons as seen in the laboratory?
(a) 70 MeV and 70 MeV (b) 35 MeV and 100 MeV [GATE 2008]
(c) 75 MeV and 100 MeV (d) 25 MeV and 150 MeV
1 1 1 1
14. Let n and p denote the isospin state with I  , I 3  and I  , I 3   of a nuclear respectively..
2 2 2 2
Which one of the following two nuclear state has I  0, I 3  0 ? [GATE 2009]
1 1 1 1
(a)  nn  pp  (b)  nn  pp  (c)  np  pn  (d)  np  pn 
2 2 2 2
15. The basic process underlying the neutron  -decay is [GATE 2010]
(a) d  u  e   ve (b) d  u  e  (c) s  u  e   ve (d) u  d  e   ve
16. Match the reactions on the left with the associated interactions on the right [GATE 2010]
 
(1)   µ  vµ (i) strong
0
(2)      (ii) electromagnetic
(3)  0  n     p (iii) weak
(a) 1-iii, 2-ii, 3-i (b) 1-i, 2-ii, 3-iii (c) 1-ii, 2-i, 3-iii (d) 1-iii, 2-i, 3-ii
 
17. Consider the operations P : r   r (parity) and T : t   t (time-reversal). For the electric and magnetic
 
fields E and B , which of the following set of transformations is correct ? [GATE 2010]
       
(a) P : E   E , B  B ; T : E  E , B   B
       
(b) P : E  E , B  B ; T : E  E , B  B
       
(c) P : E   E , B  B ; T : E   E , B   B
       
(d) P : E  E , B   B ; T : E   E , B  B
18. The quark content of   , K  ,   and p is indicated. [GATE 2010]
   uus ; K   su ;    du ; p  uud
In the process    p  K     ;
Considering strong interactions only, which of the following is true?
(a) the process is allowed because, S  0
(b) the process is allowed because, I 3  0
(c) the process is not allowed because, S  0 and I 3  0

(d) the process is not allowed because the baryon number is violated.
19. Choose the CORRECT statement from the following [GATE 2012]
(a) Neutron interacts through electromagnetic interaction
(b) Electron does not interact through weak interaction
(c) Neutrino interacts through weak and electromagnetic interaction
(d) Quark interacts through strong interaction but not through weak interaction
20. Which one of the following sets corresponds to fundamental particles ? [GATE 2012]
(a) proton, electron and neutron (b) proton, electron and photon
(c) electron, photon and neutrino (d) quark, electron and meson
21. The decay process n  p   e   ve violates [GATE 2013]
(a) baryon number (b) lepton number (c) isospin (d) strangeness
22. Consider the decay of a pion into a muon and an anti-neutrino        in the pion rest frame.
m  139.6 MeV/c 2 , m  105.7 MeV/c 2 , mv  0 . The energy (in MeV) of the emitted neutrino, to the
nearest integer is _______. [GATE 2013]
23. Consider the process µ  µ       . The minimum kinetic energy of the muons (µ) in the centre of
mass frame required to produce the pion   pairs at rest is _________ MeV.. [GATE 2014]
(Given : mµ  105 MeV/c2 , m  140 MeV/c2 )

24. Which one of the following three-quark states (qqqq), denoted by X, CANNOT be a possible baryon? The
corresponding electric charge is indicated in the superscript [GATE 2014]
(a) X  (b) X  (c) X – (d) X 
25. Which one of the following high energy processes is allowed by conservation laws?
0 0  0
(a) p  p     (b)   p    n [GATE 2014]
  
(c) n  p  e  ve (d) µ  e  
26. Which one of the following is a fermion? [GATE 2014]
(a)  particle (b) 4 Be7 nucleus (c) hydrogen atom (d) deuteron
27. The decay    e   is forbidden, because it violates [GATE 2015]
(a) momentum and lepton number conservations
(b) baryon and lepton number conservations
(c) angular momentum conservation
(d) lepton number conservation
28. In the SU(3) quark model, the triplet of mesons   ,  0 ,    has [GATE 2016]
(a) Isospin = 0, Strangeness = 0 (b) Isospin = 1, Strangeness = 0
(c) Isospin = ½, Strangeness = +1 (d) Isospin = ½, Strangeness = –1
29. Electromagnetic interactions are : [GATE 2017]
(a) C conserving (b) C non-conserving but CP conserving
(c) CP non-conserving but CPT conserving (d) CPT non-conserving
30. Which one of the following conservation laws is violated in the decay        [GATE 2017]
(a) Angular momentum (b) Total Lepton number
(c) Electric charge (d) Tau number

31. Consider the reaction 54 54
25 Mn  e  24Cr  X . The particle X is [GATE 2016]
(a)  (b) ve (c) n (d)  0
13
32. In the nuclear reaction C6  ve  13 N 7  X , the particle X is [GATE 2017]
(a) an electron  (b) an anti-electron (c) a muon  (d) a pion 
33. Among electric field ( E ) , magnetic field ( B ) , angular momentum ( L ) , and vector potential ( A) , which is/are
odd under
 parity (space inversion)
 operation
 ?     [GATE 2018]
(a) E only (b) E and A only (c) E and B only (d) B and L only
34. The elementary particle  0 is placed in the baryon decuplet, shown below, at [GATE 2018]
+ +
Strangeness
P R
S
rd
3 component of isospin
(a) P (b) Q (c) R (d) S
35. In the decay,    e  ve  X , what is X ? [GATE 2018]
(a)  (b) ve (c) v (d) v

36. A massive particle X in free space decays spontaneously into two photons. Which of the following statements
is true for X ? [GATE 2019]
(a) X is charged (b) Spin of X must be greater than or equal to 2
(c) X is a boson (d) X must be a baryon
37. Considering baryon number and lepton number conservation laws, which of the following processes is/are
allowed ? [GATE 2019]
(i) p   0  e   e (ii) e    e      
(a) Both (i) and (ii) (b) Only (i) (c) Only (ii) (d) Neither (i) nor (ii)
38. Low energy collision (s-wave scattering) of pion (  ) with deuteron (d) results in the production of two

protons (   d  p  p ) . The relative orbital angular momentum (in units of ) of the resulting two-proton
system for this reaction is [GATE 2019]
(a) 0 (b) 1 (c) 2 (d) 3
39.  
A particle X is produced in the process   p  K  X via the strong interaction. If the quark content
of the K+ is us , the quark content of X is [GATE 2020]
(a) cs (b) uud (c) uus (d) ud
40. A particle Y undergoes strong decay Y       . The isospin of Y is ____________ [GATE 2020]
41. In the centre of mass frame, two protons each having energy 7000 GeV, collide to produce protons and anti-
protons. The maximum number of anti-protons produced is _____________ [GATE 2020]
(Assume the proton mass to be 1 GeV/c2)
ANSWER KEY
1. (c) 2. (c) 3. (c) 4. (c) 5. (b) 6. (b) 7. (d)
8. (d) 9. (a) 10. (b) 11. (c) 12. (d) 13. (d) 14. (c)
15. (a) 16. (a) 17. (a) 18. (c) 19. (a) 20. (c) 21. (c)
22. (30) 23. (35) 24. (d) 25. (b) 26. (b) 27. (d) 28. (b)
29. (a) 30. (d) 31. (b) 32. (a) 33. (b) 34. (c) 35. (d)
36. (c) 37. (c) 38. (b) 39. (c) 40. (2) 41. (6999)
1.

 
A beam of pions  is incident on a proton target, giving rise to the process  p  n     
(A) Assuming that the decay proceeds through strong interactions, the total isospin I and its third component
I3 for the decay products, are [NET June 2011]
3 3 5 5 5 3 1 1
(a) I  , I3  (b) I  , I3  (c) I  , I3  (d) I  , I3  
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
(B) Using isospin symmetry, the cross-section for the above process can be related to that of the process
(a)   n  p    (b)   p  n  (c)   n  p  (d)   p  n  
2. Consider the decay process       in the rest frame of the  . The masses of  ,  and   are
M  , M  and zero repectively.. [NET June 2011]
(A) The energy of  is:
M 2
 
 M 2 c2 M 2
 
 M 2 c2
(a)
2M 
(b)
2M 

(c) M   M  c 
2
(d) M M  c2
(B) The velocity is  is:
M 2
 
 M 2 c M 2
 
 M 2 c M c M c
(a) (b) (c) M (d) M
M 2  M 2 M 2  M 2  
3. An electron of energy 27 GeV collides with a proton of energy 820 GeV. The heaviest particle which can be
produced in this collision has mass close to [NET Dec. 2011]
(a) 300 GeV (b) 821 GeV (c) 850 GeV (d) 1127 GeV
4. The dominant interactions underlying the following processes [NET June 2012]
   
A. K   p       B.     K  K C.    p  0 are
(a) A: strong, B: electromagnetic and C: weak (b) A: strong, B: weak and C: weak
(c) A: weak, B: electromagnetic and C: strong (d) A: weak, B: electromagnetic and C: weak
5. Consider the following particles: the proton p, the neutron n, the neutral pion 0 and the delta resonance +.
When ordered in terms of decreasing lifetime, the correct arrangement is as follows: [NET Dec. 2012]
 0 0 
(a) 0 , n, p,   (b) p, n,  ,  (c) p, n,  ,  (d)   , n, 0 , p
6. A spin-1/2 particle A undergoes the decay A  B + C + D where it is known that B and C are also spin-1/2
particles. The complete set of allowed values of the spin of the particle D is [NET June 2013]
1 3 5 1 1 3 5 7
(a) ,1, , 2, , 3,...... (b) 0, 1 (c) only (d) , , , ,...
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
7. Muons are produced through the annihilation of particle a and its antiparticle, namely the process
a  a     . A muon has a rest mass of 105 MeV/c2 and its proper life time is 2  s. If the center
of mass energy of the collision is 2.1 GeV in the laboratory frame that coincides with the center-of-mass
frame, then the fraction of muons that will decay before they reach a detector placed 6km away from the
interaction point is [NET June 2013]
(a) e–1 (b) 1 – e–1 (c) 1 – e–2 (d) e–10
(    0 )
8. Consider the following ratios of the partial decay widths R1  and
( –   –  0 )
(       p )
R2  . If the effects of electromagnetic and weak interactions are neglected, then R1 and
 (  –   –  n)
R2 are, respectively, [NET Dec. 2013]
(a) 1 and 2 (b) 1 and 2 (c) 2 and 1 (d) 1 and 1

9. In a classical model, a scalar (spin-0) meson consists of a quark and an antiquark bound by a potential
b
V ( r )  ar  , where a  200 MeV fm 1 and b  100 MeV fm. If the masses of the quark and antiquark
r
are negligible, the mass of the meson can be estimated as approximately [NET June 2014]
(a) 141 MeV/c2 (b) 283 MeV/c2 (c) 353 MeV/c2 (d) 425 MeV/c2
10. The recently-discovered Higgs boson at the LHC experiment has a decay mode into a photon and a Z
boson. If the rest masses of the Higgs and Z boson are 125 GeV/c2 and 90 GeV/c2 respectively, and the
decaying Higgs particle is at rest, the energy of the photon will approximately be [NET June 2014]
(a) 35 3 GeV (b) 35 GeV (c) 30 GeV (d) 15 GeV
11. In deep inelastic scattering electrons are scattered off protons to determine if a proton has any internal
structure. The energy of the electron for this must be at least [NET Dec. 2014]
(a) 1.25 × 109 eV (b) 1.25 × 1012 eV (c) 1.25 × 106 eV (d) 1.25 × 108 eV
12. Consider the four processes [NET Dec. 2014]
  0  
(i) p  n  e  ve (ii)   p  e  ve
(iii)    e   ve (iv) 0    
Which of the above is/are forbidden for free particles?
(a) only (ii) (b) (ii) and (iv) (c) (i) and (iv) (d) (i) and (ii)
2 2 4
13. The reaction D + D  He + 0 cannot proceed via strong interactions because it violates the conserva-
1 1 2
tions of [NET June 2015]
(a) angular momentum (b) electric charge (c) baryon number (d) isospin
14. The charm quark is assigned a charm quantum number C = 1. How should the Gellmann-Nishijima formula for
electric charge be modified for four flavours of quarks? [NET June 2015]
1 1
(a) I 3  ( B  S  C ) (b) I 3  ( B  S  C )
2 2
1 1
(c) I 3  ( B  S  C ) (d) I 3  ( B  S  C )
2 2
15. Consider the following processes involving free particles [NET Dec. 2015]
  0 0 
(i) n  p  e   ve (ii) p  n   (iii) p  n       (iv) p  ve  n  e
Which of the following statements is true?
(a) Process (i) obeys all conservation laws
(b) Process (ii) conserves baryon number, but violates energy-momentum conservation
(c) Process (iii) is not allowed by strong interactions, but is allowed by weak interactions
(d) Process (iv) conserves baryon number, but violates lepton number conservation
16. In the large hadron collider (LHC), two equal energy proton beams traverse in opposite directions along a
circular path of length 27 km. If the total center of mass energy of a proton-proton pair is 14 TeV, which of the
following is the best approximation for the proper time taken by a proton to traverse the entire path ?
(a) 12 ns (b) 1.2 µs (c) 1.2 ns (d) 0.12 µs [NET June 2016]
17. Which of the following reaction(s) is/are allowed by the conservation laws ?
(i) +  n  0  K + [NET Dec. 2016]
 0 0
(ii)   p    K
(a) Both (i) and (ii) (b) Only (i) (c) Only (ii) (d) Neither (i) nor (ii)
18. A particle, which is a composite state of three quarks u, d and s , has electric charge, spin and strangeness
respectively, equal to [NET Dec. 2016]
1 1 1
(a) 1, ,  1 (b) 0, 0,  1 (c) 0, ,  1 (d) 1,  ,  1
2 2 2
19. A baryon X decays by strong interaction as X         0 , where   is a member of the isotriplet
(  ,  0 ,   ) . The third component I 3 of the isospin of X is [NET June 2017]
(a) 0 (b) 1/2 (c) 1 (d) 3/2
20. Which of the following processes is not allowed by the strong interaction but is allowed by the weak interac-
tion? [NET Dec. 2017]
(a) K 0  0  K 0      (b) p  n  d  p  p
(c)    K 0  p  n (d) p     n   
21. A deutron d captures a charged pion   in the l  1 state, and subsequently decays into a pair of neutrons (n)
via strong interaction. Given that the intrinsic parities of   , d and n are –1, + 1 and +1 respectively, the spin-
wavefunction of the final state neutrons is a
(a) linear combination of a singlet and a triplet (b) singlet [NET June 2018]
(c) triplet (d) doublet
22. Which of the following elementary particle processes does not conserve strangeness ?
(a)  0  p  K    0 (b)    p  K 0   0 [NET June 2018]
(c)  0   0  n (d) K 0      
23. Assume that pion-nucleon scattering at low energies, in which isospin is conserved, is described by the effec-
  
tive interaction potential Veff  F (r ) I  I N , where F (r ) is a function of the radial separation r and I and

I N denote, respectively, the isospin vectors of a pion and the nucleon. The ratio  I  3/2  I 1/2 of the scatter--
ing cross-sections corresponding to total isospins I  3/2 and 1/2, is [NET Dec. 2018]
(a) 3/2 (b) 1/4 (c) 5/4 (d) 1/2
24. Consider the decay A  B  C of a relativistic spin - 12 particle A. Which of the following statements is true in
the rest frame of the particle A ? [NET Dec. 2018]
(a) The spin of both B and C may be 1/2
(b) The sum of the masses of B and C is greater than the mass of A
(c) The energy of B is uniquely determined by the masses of the particles
(d) The spin of both B and C may be integral
25. The mean life-time of the following decays: [NET June 2019]
 0       ,  0     ,    e    e  u , are   ,  and   , respectively. They satisfy

(a)        (b)        (c)        (d)       
26. Which of the following decay processes is allowed ? [NET Dec. 2019]
(a) K 0       (b)    e    (c) n  p    (d) n      
27. The probability of the decay of         is much higher than that of    e   e because
(a) the decay to e   e does not conserve baryon number.. [NET Dec. 2019]
(b) pions have zero electron number but a non-zero muon number.
(c) the decay to e   e is suppressed by energy-momentum conservation.
(d) the decay to e   e is suppressed by helicity conservation.
ANSWER KEY
1_A(a) 1_B(b) 2_A(b) 2_B(a) 3. (a) 4. (a) 5. (c)

6. (d) 7. (b) 8. (d) 9. (b) 10. (c) 11. (a) 12. (d)
13. (d) 14. (d) 15. (b) 16. (a) 17. (a) 18. (c) 19. (a)
20. (a) 21. (b) 22. (d) 23. (b) 24. (c) 25. (c) 26. (a)
27. (c)
1. A spin- 1 2 particle A decays to two other particles B and C. If B and C are of spin- 1 2 and spin-1 respectively,,
then a complete list of the possible values of the orbital angular momentum of the final state (i.e. B + C) is
[TIFR 2013]
1 3
(a) 0, 1 (b) , (c) 0, 1, 2 (d) 0, 1
2 2
2. Cosmic ray muons generated at the top of the Earth’s atmosphere decay according to the radioactive decay
law [TIFR 2014]
 0.693t 
N  t   N  0  exp   
 T1/ 2 
where N(t) is the number of muons at time t, and T1/2 = 1.52 µs is the proper half-life of the muon.
Immediately after generation, most of these muons shoot down towards the Eearth’s surface. Some of these
muons decay on the way, but their interaction with the atmosphere is negligible.
An observer on the top of a mountain of height 2.0 km above mean sea level detects muons with the speed
0.98c over a period of time and counts 1000 muons. The number of muons of the same speed detected
by an observer at mean sea level in the same period of time would be
(a) 232 (b) 539 (c) 839 (d) 983
3. A spin-2 nucleus absorbs a spin-½ electron and is then observed to decay to a stable nucleus in two stages,
recoiling against an emitted invisible particle in the first stage and against an emitted spin-1 photons in the
second stage. If the stable nucleus is spinless, then the set of all possible spin values of the invisible particle
is [TIFR 2014]
(a) {1/2, 5/2} (b) {3/2, 7/2} (c) {1/2, 3/2, 5/2} (d) {1/2, 3/2, 5/2, 7/2}
4. The interaction strength of the recently-discovered Higgs boson (mass approximately 125 GeV/c2) with any
other elementary particle is proportional to the mass of that particle. Which of the following decay processes
will have the greatest probability? [TIFR 2014]
(a) Higgs boson decaying to a top quark + a top anti-quark
(b) Higgs boson decaying to a bottom quark + a bottom anti-quark
(c) Higgs boson decaying to an electron and a positron
(d) Higgs boson decaying to a neutrino-antineutrino pair.
5. Consider the following reaction involving elementary particles: [TIFR 2015]
  
(A)   p  K  
(B) K   p  K    
Which of the following statements is true for strong interactions ?
(a) (A) and (B) are both forbidden (b) (B) is allowed but (A) is forbidden
(c) (A) is allowed but (B) is forbidden (d) (A) and (B) are both allowed
6. In a fixed target experiment, a proton of total energy 200 GeV is bombarded on a proton at rest and produces
a nucleus ZA N and its anti-nucleus ZA N
p  p  ZA N  ZA N  p  p
The heaviest nucleus ZA N that can be created has atomic mass number A =
(a) 15 (b) 9 (c) 5 (d) 4
7. Consider the hyperon decay (1)   n   0 followed by (2)  0   . If the isospin component, baryon
number and strangeness quantum numbers are denoted by IZ, B and S respectively, then which of the following
statements is completely correct ? [TIFR 2016]
(a) In (1) IZ is not conserved, B is conserved, S is not conserved;
In (2) IZ is conserved, B is conserved, S is conserved.
(b) In (1) IZ is conserved, B is not conserved, S is not conserved;
(c) In (1) IZ is not conserved, B is conserved, S is not conserved;
In (2) IZ is not conserved, B is conserved, S is conserved.
(d) In (1) IZ is not conserved, B is conserved, S is conserved;
8. A subatomic particle  and its excited state  have rest masses 3.1 GeV/c2 and 3.7 GeV/c2 respectively. A
table of its assigned quantum numbers is given below.
Angular Momentum Parity C - Parity Isospin Electric charge

J 1 P  1 C  1 I 0 Q0
If 0 is an excited state of 0 with a mass about 1.3 GeV/c2, which of the following reaction is possible when
the above quantum numbers are conserved ? [TIFR 2017]
(a)    (b)    +  (c)   0 0 (d)    0
9. The table below gives the properties of four unstable particles   ,   , n0 , 0 [TIFR 2019]
Mass
Particle (MeV / c 2 ) Spin Principal decay mode
muon   105.66 1/2    e  v  ve
pion   139.57 0       v
neutron n0 939.56 1/2 n 0  p   e   ve
Lambda hyperon  0 1,115.68 1/2 0  p   
If arranged in order of DECREASING decay lifetime, the above list will read
(a) n0 ,   ,   , 0 (b)   , n0 ,   , 0 (c)   ,  0 , n 0 ,   (d) n0 ,  0 ,   ,  
ANSWER KEY
1. (c) 2. (b) 3. (d) 4. (b) 5. (a) 6. (b) 7. (a)

8. (b) 9. (a)
1. A K-meson (with a rest mass of 494 MeV) at rest decays into a muon (with a rest mass of 106 MeV) and a
neutrino. The energy of the neutrino, which can be taken as massless, approximately
(a) 120 MeV (b) 236 MeV (c) 300 MeV (d) 388 MeV [JEST 2013]
 
2. The reaction e  e   is forbidden because, [JEST 2015]
(a) lepton number is not conserved (b) linear mementum is not conserved
(c) angular momentum is not conserved (d) charge is not conserved
ANSWER KEY
1. (b) 2. (b)
6. Miscellaneous 51
1. Pick the wrong statement [GATE 2009]
(a) the nuclear force is independent of electric charge
1 m 
(b) the Yukawa potential is proportinoal to r exp  r  . Where, r is the seperation between two
h 
nucleons.
(c) The range of nuclear force is of the order of 1015  1014 m
(d) the nucleons interact among each other by the exchange of mesons.
2. Deuteron has only one bound state with spin parity 1+, isospin 0 and electric quadrupole moment 0.286
efm2. These data suggest that the nuclear forces are having [GATE 2012]
(a) only spin and isospin dependence (b) no spin dependence and no tensor components
(c) spin dependence but no tensor components (d) spin dependence along with tensor components
3. The value of the magnetic field required to maintain non-relativistic protons of energy 1 MeV in a circular orbit
of radius 100 mm is ________ Tesla. [GATE 2014]
(Given: m p  1.67 10 27 kg, e  1.6 1019 C
4. Which of the following statements is NOT correct? [GATE 2016]
(a) A deuteron can be disintegrated by irradiating it with gamma rays of energy 4 MeV.
(b) A deuteron has no excited states
(c) A deuteron has no electric quadrupole moment
(d) The 1S0 state of deuteron cannot be formed
5. An alpha particle is accelerated in a cyclotron. It leaves the cyclotron with a kinetic energy of 16 MeV.
The potential difference between the D electrodes is 50 kilovolts. The number of revolutions the alpha
particle makes in its spiral path before it leaves the cyclotron is _______ [GATE 2016]
ANSWER KEY
1. (b) 2. (d) 3. (1.44) 4. (c) 5. (80)
6. Miscellaneous 52
1. An atom of mass M can be excited to a state of mass M   by photon capture. The frequency of a photon
which can cause this transition is: [NET Dec. 2011]
(a) c 2 / 2h (b) c 2 / h (c)  2 c 2 / 2Mh (d)     2M  c 2 / 2Mh
2. The elastic scattering of a neutrino ve by an electron e– , i.e. the reaction ve + e–  ve + e–, can be de-
1
scribed by the interaction Hamiltonian Hint = GF  d x  e ( x)  ve ( x)   ve ( x)  e ( x)  .
3 
2
The cross-section of the above process depends on the centre of mass energy E, as depends on the centre of
mass energy E, as
(a) 1/E2 (b) E2 (c) E (d) E [NET June 2019]
3. The strong nuclear force between a neutron and a proton in a zero orbital angular momentum state is denoted
by Fnp (r ) , where r is the separation between them. Similarly, Fnn ( r ) and Fpp ( r ) denote the forces between
a pair of neutrons and protons, respectively, in zero orbital momentum state. Which of the following is true on
average if the inter-nucleon distance is 0.2 fm  r  2 fm ? [NET Dec. 2019]
F F , F
(a) np is attractive for triplet spin state, and nn pp are always repulsive.
(b) Fnn and Fnp are always attractive and Fpp is repulsive in this triplet spin state.
(c) Fpp and Fnp are always attractive and Fnn is always repulsive.
(d) All three forces are always attractive.
ANSWER KEY
1. (d) 2. (b) 3. (b)
6. Miscellaneous 53
1. An atom is capable of existing in two states: a ground state of mass M and an excited state of mass M + .
If the transtion from the ground state to the excited state proceeds by the absorption of a photon, the photon
frequency in the laboratory frame (where the atom is initially at rest) is [TIFR 2010]
c 2 c 2    Mc 2 c 2   
(a) (b) 1   (c) (d) 1  
h h  2M  h h  2M 
Mc2    Mc2   
(e) 1   (f) 1  
h  2M  h  2M 
2. An electron enters a linear accelerator with a speed v = 10 m s–1. A vertical section of the accelerator tube
is shown in the figure, where the lengths of the successive sections are designed such that the electron takes
the same time  = 20 ms to traverse each section. [TIFR 2018]
If the momentum of the electron increases by 2 % every time it crosses the narrow gap between two sections,
what is the length (in km) of the collider which will be required to accelerate it to 100 km-s–1 ?
ANSWER KEY
1. (b) 2. (102)
1. A cyclotron can accelerate deutron to 16 MeV. If the cyclotron is used to accelerate -particles, what will be
their energy ? Take the mass of deuteron to be twice the mass of proton and mass of -particles to be four
times the mass of proton. [JEST 2019]
(a) 8 MeV (b) 16 MeV (c) 32 MeV (d) 64 MeV
ANSWER KEY
1. (c)
6. Miscellaneous 54
1. A proton moves in a circular orbit in a plane which is perpendicular to a uniform magnetic field of strength
B. When the kinetic energy of the proton changes from 0.25 m p c 2 to m p c 2 (where mp is the rest mass of
the proton) the freqency of rotation changes from 1 to 2 . The ratio 1 / 2 is
(a) 1 (b) 8 (c) 8/5 (d) 1/ 8 (e) 8
ANSWER KEY
1. (c)

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NUCLEAR & PARTICLE PHYSICS

LEVEL-1 (Solve Yourself)

1. (d) 2. (d) 3. (a) 4. (d)

1. The angular momentum and parity of 17

5. According to shell model, the ground state of 15

1. (d) 2. (c) 3. (a) 4. (a) 5. (d) 6. (b) 7. (a)

Other Examinations Previous Years’ Questions

Consider the following reactions:

(a) v 1 (b) v (c) v1/2 (d) v 1/ 2

1. (d) 2. (a) 3. (a) 4. (a)

1. If hydrogen atom is bombarded by energetic electrons, it will emit [JEST 2014]

1. (b) 2. (c) 3. (d) 4. (a) 5. (c) 6. (c) 7. (d)

1. (d) 2. (b) 3. (d) 4. (b) 5. (a) 6. (d) 7. (d)

1. (b) 2. (b) 3. (c) 4. (c) 5. (–0.66 to –0.67) 6. (a)

CSIR-UGC-NET Previous Years’ Questions

2. The intrinsic electrric dipole moment of a nucleus AZ X [NET Dec. 2013]

1_A(c) 1_B(d) 2. (c) 3. (c)

TIFR Previous Years’ Questions

nucleon (BE/A) (MeV) 9

1. (c) 2. (d) 3. (d) 4. (b) 5. (b)

4. The following gives a list of pairs containing [GATE 2008]

(c) 1.86 MeV / c2 (d) 1.6   0.78  MeV / c2

Here, f  A  is a function of A. [GATE 2009]

Statement for Linked Answer Q. 09 and Q.10:

15. The nuclear spin and parity of 40

(a) 0+ (b) 0– (c) 1+ (d) 1–

1. (a) 2. (d) 3. (a) 4. (c) 5. (b) 6. (c) 7. (a)

CSIR-UGC-NET Previous Years’ Questions

1. The difference in the Coulomb energy between the mirror nuclei 49

[NET Dec. 2011]

1. (b) 2. (c) 3. (b) 4. (a) 5. (a) 6. (b) 7. (a)

(a)  3 (b)  4 (c)  4   3 (d) 1   2

log At [GATE 2005]

8. In the  -decay process, the transition 2   3 , is [GATE 2013]

1. (b) 2. (c) 3. (c) 4. (d) 5. (d) 6. (b) 7. (a)

CSIR-UGC-NET Previous Years’ Questions

1. (c) 2. (a) 3. (b)

7. In an experiment, 197 198

stable. The half-life of 198

9 days is [TIFR 2015]

1. (b) 2. (d) 3. (a) 4. (d) 5. (d) 6. (b) 7. (b)

1. (a) 2. (a) 3. (d)

Other Examinations Previous Years’ Questions

1. (d) 2. (b) 3. (b) 4. (d) 5. (b)

6. The atomic masses of 152 152 1

1_(i)(b) 1_(ii)(c) 2. (a) 3. (b) 4. (a) 5. (a)

1. (e) 2. (c) 3. (c) 4. (a) 5. (a) 6. (d)

2. The process of electron capture p  e  n  ve [TIFR 2013]

(a) Both p  n  e   ve and p  e   n  ve (b) Both p  n  e   ve and n  p  e   ve

(a)    n     n (b)    p   0  n (c)   n    n (d)  0  p     n

3. The cross-sections of the reactions [GATE 2001]

(b) The reaction K  K  

(c) The reaction K  K  

   proceeds via weak interaction.

18. The quark content of   , K  ,   and p is indicated. [GATE 2010]

(b) the process is allowed because, I 3  0

(c) the process is not allowed because, S  0 and I 3  0

(Given : mµ  105 MeV/c2 , m  140 MeV/c2 )

(a)  (b) ve (c) v (d) v