STRUCTURE OF MATTER

Fundamental particles and forces; Equivalence of mass and energy; Particle spin, Pauli
exclusion principle; Wave properties of particles, quantum properties of waves; Quantum
numbers, structure of electron shells in atoms; Ionization, excitation and emission,
spectrum of the hydrogen atom; Binding energy in atomic nucleus, nuclear fission and
fusion; Mass spectrometry; Gyromagnetic ratio of atomic nuclei; Physical principles of
nuclear magnetic resonance; Image formation in Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

Fundamental particles and forces

Fundamental particles

The fundamental particles that constitute matter are atoms. An atom is formed by a
nucleus surrounded by electrons.

An electron is a lepton with electric charge -1 and it’s responsible for electricity and
chemical reactions. However, an electron neutrino has electric charge 0 and rarely
interacts with other matter.

The nucleus is formed by neutrons and protons. They both are made by quarks. Quarks
can be up, which have electric charge +2/3, or down, which have electric charge -1/3.
Protons have 2 up quarks and one down quark (the sum is +1). On the other hand, neutrons
have 1 up quark and two down quarks (the sum is 0).

Each particle also has an antimatter counterpart.

Fundamental forces

The exchange of particles is responsible for the force. The fundamental types of forces
are:

- Strong nuclear force. The intensity of forces or decreasing order is 1. The

binding particle or field quantum is gluon (no mass). It occurs in atomic nucleus.
- Electro-magnetic force. The intensity of forces or decreasing order is 10-3. The
binding particle or field quantum is photon (no mass). It occurs in atomic shell
electrotechnique.
- Weak nuclear force. The intensity of forces or decreasing order is 10-5. The
binding particle or field quantum is boson Zo, W+, W- (heavy). It occurs in
radioactive beta disintegration.
- Gravitation. The intensity of forces or decreasing order is 10-38. The binding
particle or field quantum is graviton. It occurs in heavenly bodies.

Equivalence of mass and energy

The energy of a particle with mass m can be expressed as a sum of three terms:
 E = E0 + Ekin + Epot
1
- Ekin is kinetic energy. If the particle moves with velocity v, E𝑘𝑖𝑛 = 2 𝑚𝑣 2
- Epot is the potential energy in a conservative force field, such as the energy of an
electron in the electric field of the nucleus.
- E0 is the rest energy. If the rest mass is m0, 𝐸0 = 𝑚0 𝑐 2 . The mass m of the moving
particle is larger than m0 by a factor of 1/√1 − 𝑣 2 /𝑐 2 .

Particle spin, Pauli exclusion principle

A mechanical spinning top maintains its spatial orientation thanks to the conservation of
angular momentum. Similarly, elementary particles have intrinsic angular momentum
(spin) that influences their properties. The angular momentum cannot take an arbitrary
value – example of a quantum effect. The magnitude of angular momentum is restricted
to the values: 𝐿 = √𝑠(𝑠 + 1)ℏ , where ℏ = 1.05 · 10−14 𝐽𝑠 is the Dirac constant and the
spin number is an integer or half-integer.

The spin of an electron, proton, neutron is s = ½. However, of a photon is s = 0. Particles

with integer spin quantum number (s = 0,1,2…) are called bosons, while particles with
half-integer s are called fermions.

The Pauli exclusion principle states that two (identical) fermions cannot occupy the
same quantum state. This has crucial consequences for the electronic shell structure of
atoms (the electron is a fermion). No exclusion principle applies to bosons (such as
photons).

Wave properties of particles, quantum properties of waves

Even particles with nonzero mass have a wave-like character. Interference patterns
corresponds to waves with de Broglie wavelength. The wavelength sets the limit for
resolution in light and electron microscopy.

A wave is an interference pattern from double slit experiment: constructive and

destructive interference of wavefronts emitted from the two slits.

Quantum numbers, structure of electron shells in atoms

Quantum numbers are used to specify the sate of an electron. The properties of quantum
numbers are:

- Principal (n). Determines the energy and the possible values are 1,2,3…
- Angular momentum (). Contributes to angular dependence and to a lesser extent
energy and the possible values are from 0 to n-1.
 - Magnetic (m1) Determines the orientation in space and the possible values are 0,
±1, ±2,…, ±.
- Spin (ms). Describes the electron spin (magnetic moment) and the values are ±1/2.

Electron shells in atoms hold electrons. Furthermore, electrons are grouped in

subshells identified as s (can hold two e-), p (can hold 6 e-), d (can hold 10 e-) and f
(can hold 14 e-). There are seven electron shells in an atom.

Ionization, excitation and emission, spectrum of the hydrogen atom

The ionization occurs when an electron is freed from the hydrogen nucleus. In that case,
the binding energy, which how much the total energy is lowered by the attractive strong
force among nucleons, is 0. The levels get closer together as they approach the ionization
energy.

The excitation occurs when the electron receives energy and gets a higher energy level,
which means that it moves away from the nucleus.

The emission is the liberation of an electron stimulated by radiation, temperature

elevation, etc.

Spectrum of the hydrogen atom is the emission of a hydrogen electron. The Rydberg
formula for energy of photon emitted during electronic transition between energy levels
k and n.

Binding energy in atomic nucleus, nuclear fission and fusion

𝐸 = Δ𝑚 ⋅ 𝑐 2 corresponds to the binding energy (how much the total energy is lowered by
the attractive strong force among nucleons).

Nuclear fission is a reaction in which the nucleus of an atom splits into two or more
smaller nuclei. It is able to release energy. The first observation of a nuclear fission
reaction was in 1938. It requires the critical mass.

Nuclear fusion is a reaction in which two or more atomic nuclei are combined to from
one or more different atomic nuclei and subatomic particles. The fusion of light nuclei
can release energy. However, the fusion of heavy nuclei is endothermic.

Mass spectrometry
Mass spectrometry is an analytical technique that separates ionized particles such as
atoms, molecules, and clusters by using differences in the ratios of their charges to their
respective masses. It can be used to determine the molecular weight of the particles. A
mass spectrometer can measure the mass of a molecule only after it converts the molecule
to a gas-phase ion. To do so, it imparts an electrical charge to molecules and converts the
resultant flux of electrically charged ions into a proportional electrical current that a data
system then reads.

Gyromagnetic ratio of atomic nuclei

The gyromagnetic ratio of atomic nuclei (denoted by gamma ) relates the magnetic
moment 𝜇⃗ and the particle momentum 𝐿 ⃗⃗. It’s SI units are the radian per second
−1 −1
per tesla (rad⋅s ⋅T ).
−𝑒 𝑒
The gyromagnetic ratio is comparable to for an electron or to for a neutron,
2𝑚𝑒 2𝑚𝑝
where e is the charge and m is the mass.

The sign of the gyromagnetic ratio, , is related to the spin and the magnetic moment.
Spin and magnetic moment are in the same direction for  > 0. When they aren’t in the
same direction,  < 0.

The gyromagnetic ratio of a nucleus plays a role in nuclear magnetic resonance and
magnetic resonance imaging. These procedures rely on the fact that most of the
magnetization due to nuclear spins change their direction at a rate called the Larmor
frequency. The Larmor frequency is the product of the gyromagnetic ratio with the
magnetic field strength. The sign of the gyromagnetic ratio determines the sense of
precession.

Physical principles of nuclear magnetic resonance

Nuclear magnetic resonance is a method based on the distribution and behaviour of the
magnetic moments of specific isotopes in a magnetic field. As the method is non-invasive
and provides information about biochemical processes in living tissue, it has become the
most important non-invasive radiological technique.

The principle of the magnetic resonance is the detection of the nucleus absorption of
frequency radiation. It’s based on nuclei with a spin angular momentum different to 0.
They have a non-zero magnetic moment.

When the nuclear spin quantum number is 0, there is no nuclear magnetic moment. When
it’s bigger than 1/2, nuclei possess quadrupole moment, which means is difficult to
measure because of the interaction with the electric field. However, when the nuclear spin
quantum number is equal to ½, it’s easily measurable.

The relaxation is a process that involve releasing of the absorbed energy. It depends on
phase, rotating, vibrating, or translation of molecules, their size, temperature… Two
independent relaxation processes are involved: spin-lattice (T1) and spin-spin (T2/T2*)
relaxation.
Relaxation times T1, T2 significantly changes due to the different viscosities in the
environment (tissue). Water molecules adjacent to the surface of the protein are not
mobile whereas in a volume greater distance x from the surface of the protein is
significantly lower viscosity. Therefore, I environments with slow fluctuations in the
short T2 and long T1, with increasing mobility of molecules, T2 is longer and T1 is
shorter. T1 corresponds to the Larmor frequency fluctuations.

Image formation in Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Magnetic Resonance images are described by signal intensity and contrast. They
determine and characterize different tissue. It has dependence on sequence type and
parameters, magnetic fields, etc. They provide anatomical or chemical information.

A different sequence of parameters means a different contrast. By post-processing we

calculate information about energy exchange, mobility of protons, diffusional motion of
water.

For practical application in biomedicine, only hydrogen nuclei are successfully used
because of their MR sensitivity. Hydrogen is present in all organic compounds and occurs
in water, a basic material of biological tissues, in very high concentration. The distribution
of water molecules reflects well the structural composition of a tissue and is a main reason
why MR imaging is so successful in medical applications. Changes in physico-chemical
properties of water correlate well with changes in biochemical processes in living tissue.

The contrast in MRI depends on the proton density and T1, T2 relaxation times.