ELEMENTARY PARTICLE PHENOMENOLOGY
Prerequisites:
Nuclear and subnuclear physics
Quantum physics (Mod. 1)
Quantum physics (Mod. 2)
Electromagnetism (Mod. 1)
Electromagnetism (Mod. 2)
Teaching objectives and expected learning outcomes
The aim of the course is to provide students with an introduction to the phenomenology of elementary particle physics, defined as the interaction between the two major spheres of activity, which are on the one hand the development of the theory describing the sub-nuclear physical world and the experimental work aimed at verifying the goodness of this description and at discovering new and as yet unknown aspects.
• Discrete Symmetries
o parity violation in weak interactions
o V-A formulation of weak currents
o Cabibbo theory
o GIM mechanism and the CKM Matrix
o CP violation in the Standard Model
o hadronic physics
o Gell-Mann's theory - SU(3)
o the strong interaction – QCD
o ep machines and DIS
o Feynman's quark-parton model
o asymptotic freedom
o The "new" particles
• cosmic rays and the first discoveries
o e+e– machines
o discovery of c and b quarks and the tau lepton
o p¯p machines
o the discovery of the W± and Z0 and t quarks
o The Standard Model
• fundamental particles and forces
o spontaneous symmetry breaking (Higgs)
o B-meson physics
o CP-violation measurement
o Proton decay
o Beyond the Standard Model
• general issues
o neutrino oscillation and mixing
o GUT
o SuSy
o beyond 4 dimensions
Type of didactic activities: Classroom lectures – 48 hours
On-line notes: http://scienze-como.uninsubria.it/phil/Corsi/
Suggested but not compulsory texts:
P.G. Ratcliffe "An Introduction to Elementary Particle Phenomenology" (IoP, 2014);
D. Perkins, "Introduction to High Energy Physics" (CUP, 2000);
F. Halzen & a. Martin, "Quarks and Leptons" (Wiley, 1984);
Povh et al., "Particles and Nuclei" (Springer, 1995).