Elementary Particle Physics I

Course Nr. 6780

Summer Semester 2000

Course Outline

1.

General Introduction

(a)

Lectures and questions

(b)

The role of the exercise sets

(c)

Literature

(d)

Remarks on the nature of particle physics research

(e)

Historical review of a Century of Particle Physics

i.

Natural units

ii.

Scales of energy, length, and time

2.

The Structure of Matter

(a)

Quarks and leptons

(b)

Baryons and mesons

(c)

Nuclei

(d)

Forces: coupling strengths and symmetries

3.

Scattering Experiments

(a)

Scattering cross sections

i.

Hard-sphere scattering

ii.

Classical Rutherford scattering

(b)

Relativistic kinematics

i.

Lorentz transformations

ii.

Four-vectors

iii.

The energy-momentum four-vector

(c)

Feynman diagrams

i.

Fermi's golden rule

ii.

Feynman rules for spin 0

iii.

Anti-particles

iv.

Electron-muon scattering

v.

Higher-order diagrams

(d)

Contemporary scattering experiments at accelerator laboratories

i.

Accelerator centers

ii.

Examples of large multi-purpose detectors

iii.

Particle detection techniques

4.

Spin Statistics and Wave Functions

(a)

Fermions and bosons

(b)

Elastic scattering of identical particles

(c)

Decay of the $\rho^0$ vector meson to two neutral pions

(d)

The quark model and color

(e)

The quark model and magnetic moments

5.

Symmetries and Conservation Laws

(a)

Noether's theorem

(b)

Rotational symmetry

i.

Orbital angular momentum

ii.

Spin angular momentum

iii.

Addition of angular momenta

(c)

Isospin symmetry

i.

Two-nucleon states

ii.

Nucleon-nucleon scattering

(d)

Gauge symmetry

(e)

Parity

(f)

Charge conjugation

(g)

CP symmetry

i.

Neutral kaon decays

ii.

Kaon oscillations

iii.

CP violation

(h)

Time reversal symmetry

(i)

CPT symmetry

6.

Quantum Chromodynamics

(a)

Introduction

(b)

Counting quark colors

i.

$R=\frac{\sigma(e^+e^-\rightarrow hadrons)}{\sigma(e^+e^-\rightarrow \mu^+ \mu^-)}$

ii.

$\pi^0$ decay

iii.

$\tau$ decay

(c)

Non-abelian gauge theory

i.

Gauge invariance

ii.

Covariant derivative

iii.

Gauge boson couplings

iv.

Running coupling constant

(d)

Examples of phenomenological successes

i.

Mesons and baryons

ii.

Deep inelastic scattering

iii.

Gluon jets

iv.

Running $\alpha_{\rm s}$

(e)

Open problems

i.

Non-perturbative calculations

ii.

Deconfinement

iii.

Unification

7.

Electroweak Unification

(a)

Introduction

(b)

Charged-current weak interactions

i.

Muon decay

ii.

$\nu_\mu + e \rightarrow \mu + \nu_e$ scattering

(c)

Neutral-current weak interactions

(d)

Weak interactions of quarks

i.

Cabibbo mixing

ii.

The Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix

iii.

$K^0 \rightarrow \mu^+ \mu^-$

(e)

Weak isospin and hypercharge

(f)

Gauge-boson mixing, the Weinberg angle

(g)

Spontaneous symmetry breaking and the Higgs mechanism

8.

Recent Developments and Open Questions

(a)

Neutrino masses and mixing

(b)

CP violation

(c)

Review of Standard Model parameters

(d)

The origin of mass

(e)

Grand unification