Particle Physics for Undergrads
Lecture notes and references for my lectures on the Standard Model via Feynman Diagrams presented to the LEPP undergrads at Cornell University in summer 2012. The group consisted of rising sophomores who had taken the honors freshman physics sequence and a one credit `research in particle physics' course in preparation for doing research with CMS.
Lecture notes
- Part 1: (Lecture 1) Feynman diagrams, quantum mechanics, QED and its cousins, QCD and strong coupling, loops, the summary of the `experimentalists' Standard Model.
- Part 2: (Lectures 2-4) The Higgs vacuum expectation value and its diagrams, mass and spin, fermions and CP, gauge bosons and Goldstone bosons, electroweak theory and electroweak symmetry breaking. The Hierarchy problem.
- Electroweak theory and the Higgs: (Lecture 3, revision to Part 2) Revised notes for the Higgs vacuum expectation value and its diagrams, mass and spin, fermions and CP, gauge bosons and Goldstone bosons, electroweak theory and electroweak symmetry breaking.
- Beyond the Standard Model: (Lecture 4, revision to Part 2) Problems of the Standard Model, the Hierarchy problem, introduction to models beyond the SM.
References
These are references that I think should be at the right level for the group. The goal is to have a presentation with real physics that isn't bogged down by relying on the technical tools which you'll develop in your coursework over the next few years.
