Introduction to Particle Physics

The particle zoo, and the symmetries that order it

About this course

Particle physics from natural units and relativistic kinematics through symmetries, quantum numbers and conservation laws, the accelerators and detectors that produce the evidence, hadrons and the quark model, colour and QCD phenomenology, and deep inelastic scattering.

What you will be able to do

  • Work in natural units and compute invariant masses and thresholds
  • Use symmetries and quantum numbers to decide which reactions are allowed
  • Explain how accelerators and detectors turn collisions into measurements
  • Classify hadrons with the quark model and account for colour
  • Read deep inelastic scattering as evidence for partons

What this course covers

  • Proton Form Factors and Size Measurement
  • Deep Inelastic Scattering and Bjorken Scaling
  • Parton Spin and Fractional Charges: Quarks Identified
  • Gluons and the Missing Momentum
  • Scattering as Microscopy: Unifying Theme
  • Deep Inelastic Kinematics: Worked Example
  • The Eightfold Way and the Omega Minus Prediction
  • Quarks: Constituents, Charges, and Counting Patterns
  • Quark Model Magnetic Moments
  • Constituent vs. Current Quark Masses
  • Hadron Masses and the Spin-Spin Interaction
  • Pauli Principle Violation and the Need for Color
  • Natural Units and the H-bar C Exchange Rate
  • The Standard Model Particle Zoo
  • Yukawa Range: Carrier Mass Sets Force Reach
  • Width–Lifetime Duality
  • Cross Sections in Natural Units
  • Dimensional Analysis as a Predictive Tool
  • Cyclotron principle and synchrotron evolution
  • Magnetic rigidity and ring design
  • Synchrotron radiation and the electron-ring wall
  • Luminosity and event rates
  • Energy loss of charged particles in matter (Bethe-Bloch)
  • Electromagnetic and hadronic showers in calorimeters
  • Particle identification and the layered detector
  • Four-vectors, invariant mass, and time dilation
  • Threshold energy and the fixed-target penalty
  • Two-body decay kinematics and the fixed daughter momentum
  • Invariant mass reconstruction and the bump
  • Mandelstam invariants and the language of kinematics
  • Antiproton discovery as a capstone worked example
  • Color charge and counting colors
  • Asymptotic freedom and the running coupling
  • Confinement and the color flux tube
  • Jets and gluon color factors
  • The Conservation-Law Ledger
  • Strangeness: A Partial Conservation Law
  • Isospin Symmetry and Cross-Section Ratios
  • Parity Violation, Helicity Suppression, and Proton Stability

Syllabus

  1. Scales, Kinematics and Symmetry

    1. L1 · Natural Units, Scales and the Particle Zoo
    2. L2 · Relativistic Kinematics and Invariant Mass
    3. L3 · Symmetries, Quantum Numbers and Conservation Laws

  2. Making and Seeing Particles

    1. L4 · Accelerators and Detectors

  3. Hadrons and Colour

    1. L5 · Hadrons and the Quark Model
    2. L6 · Colour, Gluons and QCD Phenomenology

  4. Inside the Proton

    1. L7 · Deep Inelastic Scattering and Partons