Course syllabus

Teoretisk partikelfysik
Theoretical Particle Physics

EXTP25, 7,5 credits, A (Second Cycle)

Valid for: 2013/14
Decided by: Education Board B
Date of Decision: 2013-04-10

General Information

Elective for: F4
Language of instruction: The course will be given in English on demand

Aim

The course objective is to give the students the theoretical basis of the Standard Model of
Particle Physics and its possible extensions.

Learning outcomes

Knowledge and understanding
For a passing grade the student must

• be able to give an account of all quarks, leptons and gauge bosons that are part of the Standard Model.
• be able to describe the most common hadrons, as well as the ordering in mass of the particles.
• understand the basis of group theory and how groups can be used to describe symmetries.
• understand how local gauge symmetry via covariant derivatives leads to interaction terms in the Lagrangian density, and be able to show how one with simple symmetry arguments can derive Maxwell's equations.
• understand how the Dirac equation is treated in a Lagrangian density.
• be able to explain the different terms in the Lagrangian density and which type of processes these lead to.
• understand and be able to explain the Higgs mechanism and how particle masses are introduced via it.
• understand how interaction terms in the Lagrangian density translate to Feynman diagrams and be able to use those to estimate cross-sections for various production, decay and scattering processes.
• understand the concept of asymptotic freedom and how it leads to the mechanism of confinement for quarks and gluons.
• be able to explain how quarks turn into hadrons in scattering experiments.
• understand how parton densities are measured and are used to calculate cross-sections in hadron collisions.
• be able to calculate lifetimes and decay widths for the electroweak vector bosons and for the Higgs particle, as well as estimate productions cross-sections for them.
• be able to explain how and why the coupling constants can be seen as varying with the energy involved in a process, as well why the strong coupling constant decreases with energy while the electromagnetic coupling increases.
• be able to derive how the mixing between quark families is described in the Standard Model Lagrangian density, as well as how the mixing between three quark families leads to the breaking of CP symmetry.
• be able to explain the most important experiments in particle physics since about 1980, understand which type of particles can be detected in those experiments and be able to describe the most common detector types.
• understand how the existence of neutrino masses can lead to neutrino oscillations and be able to estimate how large the oscillations become depending on the neutrino mass differences.
• be able to describe how, by adding terms to the Standard Model Lagrangian density, one can study possible extensions of the Standard Model, and also be able to describe the basic assumptions underlying Grand Unification and supersymmetry.
• be able to give examples of how astrophysical observations can limit possible extensions of the Standard Model and be able to estimate the proportion of dark matter which consists of neutrinos.

Contents

• Building blocks of the Standard Model
• Group theory
• Lagrangians
• Standard Model
• Cross-sections
• Strong interactions
• Electroweak interactions
• Scale breaking
• CP-violation
• Experiments
• Neutrino masses and oscillations
• Grand unification and supersymmetry
• Connection to astrophysics and cosmology

Examination details

Grading scale: TH
Assessment: Oral examination and hand-in exercises.

Admission

Required prior knowledge: Compulsory courses in mathematics and physics.
The number of participants is limited to: No

Reading list

• According to the official literature list which must be available at least five weeks before the course start.

Contact and other information

Course coordinator: Johan Bijnens, bijnens@thep.lu.se
Course homepage: http://www.thep.lu.se/english/education/courses/theoretical_particle_physics/
Further information: The course is given by the Faculty of Science (FYTN04) and does not follow the study period structure.