4th Year Physics of the Standard Model Course 2007

This course is being given in second semester 2007. The lecturer is Dr Kevin Varvell.

syllabus - timetable - venue - assessment - resources - course material - more info?

Course Syllabus

The Standard Model of Particle Physics represents the best current description of the fundamental particles and interactions of nature (excluding gravity). The aim of this course is to gain a basic understanding of the Standard Model, including its limitations.

Introduction
Mathematical Methods, Kinematics
Gauge Invariance, Weinberg Salam Theory
Experimental Tests of the Standard Model
QCD
CP Violation
Neutrinos
Beyond the Standard Model

Also available is a statement of the goals of the course.

Course Timetable

Lecture times are 1pm-2pm on Mondays and 12pm-1pm on Thursdays. The following is a draft timetable for lectures (details may change and we may need to run into week 11 if it is necessary to postpone a lecture for any reason).

Week	Begins ...	Lectures	Subject
1	23rd July	1 (Mon 23rd July 13:00)	Overview of the Standard Model
"	"	2 (Thu 26th July 12:00)	Mathematical Methods
2	30th July	3 (Mon 30th July 13:00)	Mathematical Methods
"	"	4 (Thu 2nd August 12:00)	Mathematical Methods
3	6th August	5 (Mon 6th August 13:00)	Gauge Invariance, Dirac Equation
"	"	6 (Thu 9th August 12:00)	Gauge Invariance, Dirac Equation
4	13th August	7 (Mon 13th August 13:00)	Weinberg/Salam/Glashow
"	"	8 (Thu 16th August 12:00)	Weinberg/Salam/Glashow
5	20th August	9 (Mon 20th August 13:00)	Weinberg/Salam/Glashow
"	"	10 (Thu 23rd August 12:00)	Experimental Tests (1)
6	27th August	11 (Mon 27th August 13:00)	Quantum Chromodynamics
"	"	12 (Thu 30th August 12:00)	Quantum Chromodynamics
7	3rd September	13 (Mon 3rd September 13:00)	Quantum Chromodynamics
"	"	14 (Thu 6th September 12:00)	Quantum Chromodynamics
8	10th September	15 (Mon 10th September 13:00)	CP Violation
"	"	16 (Thu 13th September 12:00)	CP Violation
9	17th September	17 (Mon 17th September 13:00)	Neutrinos
"	"	18 (Thu 20th September 12:00)	Neutrinos
-	24th September	No Lecture (Mid-Semester Break)
"	"	No lecture (Mid-Semester Break)
10	1st October	No lecture (Public holiday)
"	"	19 (Thu 4th October 12:00)	Experimental Tests (2)
11	8th October	No lecture Mon 8th October (Kevin away)
"	"	20 (Thu 11th October 12:00)	Beyond the Standard Model
12	15th October	No lectures
"	"
13	22nd October	No lectures
"	"
14	29th October	Exam week
"	"

Venue

All lectures are held in Lecture Theatre 4 in the School of Physics.

Course Assessment

The course assessment is as follows:

Assignments (three), worth in total 45%, spaced throughout the semester. Students are encouraged to discuss these amongst themselves and with the lecturer. The final submission however should be the student's individual work and understanding. Students should be able to justify fully anything they put down in an assignment.
The timing of the assignments will appear here as they are settled.
```
 
           Assignment    Worth      Hand out        Due 
           --------------------------------------------------- 
                1         15%      01-Aug-2007   21-Aug-2007
                2         15%      30-Aug-2007   21-Sep-2007
                3         15%      24-Sep-2007   22-Oct-2007 (extended from 12-Oct-2007)
      
```
- Assignment 1. Download : Assignment (pdf) Solutions (pdf)

- Assignment 2. Download : Assignment (pdf) Solutions (pdf)

- Assignment 3. Download : Assignment (pdf) Solutions (pdf)
The remaining 55% of the course examined at the end of the semester in the form of a 3 hour supervised examination. (Note we have made the exam 3 hours to conform with other full Honours courses. The original version of this page said 2 hours.)
- 2000 Exam. Download : (pdf)

- 2002 Exam. Download : (pdf)

- 2004 Exam. Download : (pdf)

Resources

I have provided a set of reasonably detailed notes for the course (below). Copies of the lecture slides, which will be based on the notes, will also be available. Although there is not a single text that is ideal for this course, the notation and to some extent the material in the following book is followed:

W.N. Cottingham and D.A. Greenwood An Introduction to the Standard Model of Particle Physics. Cambridge University Press, 1998.
Madsen Library has one copy and I have a few copies of this book for loan.

A list of further useful books will be provided here in due course.

You may find the following useful also.

Particle Data Group. Review of Particle Physics.
This contains much that is required for a high energy physicist. It is not a text but contains a wealth of information on particle properties and also some review articles. Nowadays it is available online.

Here are some links to other Web sites that may be of interest:

The Particle Adventure. An online introduction to particle physics (we go much deeper into the subject in this course!).
SLAC Virtual Visitors Centre. Online information from the Stanford Linear Accelerator Centre.
CERN. The world's premier particle physics laboratory!
Fermilab. The US Particle Physics Lab on the outskirts of Chicago.

Course Material

Where a hyperlink exists below, clicking on that link will download a PDF file of the relevant notes.

Course Notes. Download : (pdf) (2.6MB)

Part 1 Overview (Lecture 1) Download : (pdf) (380kB)
Part 2 Mathematical Methods (Lectures 2-4) Download : (pdf) (128kB) (corrected, pp. 27,36)
Part 3 Gauge Invariance and Dirac Equation (Lectures 5-6) Download : (pdf) (128kB) (corrected, pp. 14,15)
Part 4 Weinberg-Salam-Glashow Model (Lectures 7-9) Download : (pdf) (128kB)
Part 5 Experimental Tests (Lecture 10) Download : (pdf) (2.4MB)
Part 6 Quantum Chromodynamics (Lecture 11-14) Download : (pdf) (640kB)
Part 7 CP Violation (Lectures 15-16) Download : (pdf) (464kB)
Part 8 Neutrinos (Lectures 17-18) Download : (pdf) (544kB)
Part 9 Experimental Tests (2) (Lecture 19) Download : (pdf) (536kB)
Part 10 Beyond the Standard Model (Lecture 20) Download : (pdf) (176kB)

Further Details

For any questions, please feel free to contact

Dr. Kevin Varvell - Room 355 - Extension 12539 -