| Unit name | Particle Physics |
|---|---|
| Unit code | PHYS32012 |
| Credit points | 10 |
| Level of study | H/6 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Dr. Petridis |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
120 credit points of units at level I/5 in Physics, Physics with Astrophysics, Theoretical Physics, joint honours Mathematics and Physics or Physics and Philosophy, including PHYS22040. |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | School of Physics |
| Faculty | Faculty of Science |
Description:
This unit will provide students with a comprehensive understanding of the Standard Model of Particle Physics and experimental techniques of relevance to current and proposed particle detector facilities.
Aims:
1. To introduce the study of quark and gluon physics via measurements of hadrons and high-energy jets.
2. To develop the idea and formalism of quark mixing.
3. To introduce the discrete symmetries of parity, time reversal and charge conjugation; and their violation in weak interaction processes.
4. To describe the main processes of energy loss for high-energy particles.
5. To review the facilities and techniques used in experimentation at the energy frontier; and at the frontiers of precision and intensity.
Explain the term “asymptotic freedom”, and discuss the ways in which measurements of hadron interactions can be used to study quarks and gluons.
Explain the observed spectrum of short-lived hadron states in terms of their quark composition.
Compare rates of weak interaction processes taking into account the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa description of quark mixing.
Discuss the evidence for violation of parity in weak interactions; and the significance of measurements of charge conjugation-parity (CP) violation effects.
Explain the functions of different components of a general-purpose particle detection system for use with high-energy collisions
Describe the main processes by which high-energy, relativistic particles interact with matter, and their importance for particle detection.
Recognise the signatures of the production of high mass particles including W and Z bosons, Higgs bosons and top quarks in collider experiments.
The unit will be taught through a combination of
Written, timed, open-book examination (80%) Coursework (20%)
