Course syllabus

Course-PM

FUF080 / FIM485 Particle physics: The standard model and beyond lp1 HT19 (7.5 hp)

Course is offered by the department of Physics

NB: This year the information about the course has migrated to this new portal (Canvas). There may be some details that need to be ironed out...

First Homework! HW1.pdf

Second Homework! HW2.pdf

Third Homework! HW3.pdf

Last Homework! HW4.pdf

Deadline Oct. 17 (Last class)

Contact details

Student representatives: (Midterm meeting: tomorrow 24 Sept, after class)

osccarls@student.chalmers.se	Oscar Carlsson
bergurh@student.chalmers.se	Bergur Halldórsson
michog@student.chalmers.se	Michael Högberg
ollele@student.chalmers.se	Olle Lexell
seblund@student.chalmers.se	Sebastian Lundquist

Course purpose

The aim of the course is to present the Standard Model of particle physics, which is a relativistic quantum field theory describing how the known elementary particles interact via the electromagnetic, weak and strong force. A key element in this theory is the Higgs mechanism, and the associated Higgs particle recently discovered at the LHC experiments at CERN.
The purpose of the course is to provide the students with a working knowledge of the basic concepts and features of the Standard Model, including its predictions with focus on hadron colliders. The students will also gain insights on various proposals for what theory may lie beyond the Standard Model and how such proposals are currently being searched for experimentally.

Schedule

TimeEdit

Course literature

We will use my lecture notes (see below) and freely available on-line material listed below.

The list is OVERcomplete, we will narrow it down together after I discuss with you what you would like to focus mostly on.

The Standard Model:
Standard Model: An Introduction  by S.F. Novaes.  (Mostly chapters 1 (skip 1.1), 2 and 4)
You can think of this as the main reference, complemented by my notes.
 
The Standard Model by H. Osborn.
 
Practicalities on colliders and phenomenology:
 TASI Lectures on Collider Physics by Matthew D. Schwartz.
 QCD for collider experiments  by Z. Trócsányi
 
Group theory and Lie algebra: 
 
Beyond the Standard Model:
Supersymmetry primer by Stephen Martin.
 
Neutrinos:
by  G. Fantini, A. Gallo Rosso, F. Vissani and V. Zema.
 
ADDITIONAL MATERIAL:
 
Original references:
Yang-Mills theory  (where they construct the first example of non-abelian gauge symmetry)
A Model of Leptons by Steven Weinberg (where the Standard Model was born, Nobel Prize 1979 together with Abdus Salam and Sheldon Glashow).
Broken symmetry and the mass of gauge vector mesons by Robert Brout and François Englert (where the "Higgs" mechanism was born, Nobel prize 2013).
Broken symmetries and the masses of gauge bosons by Peter Higgs (where the Higgs mechanism was also born, independently, Nobel prize 2013).
The Higgs particle discovery paper by the ATLAS collaboration.
The Higgs particle discovery paper by the CMS collaboration.     
QFT Textbooks:
1) Srednicki's book Quantum Field Theory, (which is available for free online!),
2) Peskin & Schroeder's book An introduction to Quantum Field Theory,
4) Martin and Shaw's Particle Physics

Course design

NB: The content can be altered after we discuss what your main interests are!

- Units, the size of things.
- Types of colliders, advantages and disadvantages.
- Luminosity, CM energy
- Remedial group theory. Non abelian gauge invariance.  NOTES: GroupTheory.pdf
- Spontaneous symmetry breaking, Global vs. Gauge symmetry. NOTES: SymmetryBreaking.pdf
- Chiral spinors, Dirac, (Majorana),  Weyl and the Lorentz group. NOTES: Spinors.pdf
- The couplings of the Standard Model.
- The Higgs mechanism, Masses.
- The currents, coupling of vector bosons to fermions, CKM matrix, Neutral currents. NOTES: StandardModel.pdf
- Drell-Yan (as a prototype of hadron collision).  NOTES: DY.pdf
- Higgs physics. (ADVANCED: Computation of the Higgs production) my own sketchy notes: Higgs.pdf
- PDF, tau and Y, partons, parton luminosity.
- Beyond SM (Supersymmetry. GUT and proton decay.)

Changes made since the last occasion

1) The on-line platform has been changed. Hopefully this does not cause too much aggravation.

2) Every year the course is slightly different, following the students requests.

Learning objectives and syllabus

- Understand the underlying principles and structure of the Standard Model of particle physics, with particular emphasis on the Higgs mechanism and the properties of the Higgs boson. 

- Work out predictions of the Standard Model and compare them with experimental data.  

- Understand the key open questions in particle physics and the motivation for physics beyond the Standard Model.  

- Work out experimental consequences of some models of physics beyond the Standard Model. 

Examination form

The examination consists of homework sets and an oral examination. The homework sets will count for 1/2 of the final grade and the oral examination will count for the other half. The oral examination will be a 30-45 min discussion.
We will begin with you presenting a subject related to the course in 10 min. sharp. and then move on discussing the material of the course, taking the homework as a starting point.
 
If you are happy with just a passing grade you do not need to take the oral exam. If you take the exam, your grade will not go down, that is, you have a guaranteed "3 (CTH) or G (GU)" if you have done all homework.

 

Course summary:

Date Details Due