Elements of Nuclear Physics and its Applications to Medical Imaging and Treatments

Catalog description

Introduction to the theory of nuclei, interactions with fast particles, and applications to medical imaging and radiation oncology. PHYS 472 Elements of Nuclear Physics and its Applications to Medical Imaging and Treatments (3) Modern physics tools are used now in numerous medical diagnostic methods, for various treatments of tumors, and so on. The class will focus several aspects of modern physics relevant to medical applications: (i) mechanisms of interaction of high energy particles, i.e. photons, electrons, protons, neutrons, and nuclei, with materials and methods of generating beams of such particles, (ii) applications of such beams for obtaining images of the body, (iii) radioactive decays of nuclei and use of the nuclear decays for imaging of dynamical processes in the body, (iv) shell structure of nuclei and applications of nuclear magnetic resonance in imaging. The course will allow students to understand the physics underlying the medical application of modern physics and physics of a wide range of new tools used in medicine, including computer tomography, positron emission tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging, as well as use of photon, proton and nuclear beams for tumor treatments.