Physics 308
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PHYSICS 308
Introduction to High Energy Physics
Spring Semester 2004
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Instructor
Mark Kruse
email: mkruse@phy.duke.edu
Office: Physics 243, 660-2564
Office hours: by appointment
Lectures
Room: Physics 233A
Times: Mon/Wed: 9:00 - 10:15am
First meeting: Wednesday, Jan 7 2004, 9:10am
Audience and Prerequisites
The course is a graduate level elective.
Two semesters of graduate level quantum mechanics and a semester
of graduate level classical mechanics is required, or consent
of the instructor.
Course Description
This course is designed to give a broad overview of elementary particle
physics.
The material includes discussions of relativistic mechanics, accelerators,
particle detectors, the quark model of elementary particles and the Standard
Model of the weak, electromagnetic and strong interactions.
The course will include the phenomenology and experiments
of both the latest advances in particle physics, and some important
historical milestones. See the course synopsis below for a more detailed
breakdown of topics covered.
Textbooks and References
Text: Introduction to High Energy Physics, D. H. Perkins, 4th edition.
References:
Quarks and Leptons, F. Halzen and A. Martin
Introduction to Elementary Particles, D. Griffiths
The fundamental particles and their interactions, W. Rolnick
Collider Physics, V. Barger and R. Phillips
Grade calculation
Homework assignments: 40%
Midterm take-home exam: 20%
Project paper: 15%
Final exam: 25%
Course Synopsis
This is the synopsis from last year to give an idea
of topics covered. We may cover some things in more detail than previous
years, add new topics, or not cover some topics given here.
Introduction
Kinematics : Decay, Scattering
Particle Representations
Schrodinger, Klein-Gordon, Dirac equations
Class of Particles
Leptons, Quarks, Gauge Bosons, Hadrons
Symmetry
Conservation laws - continuous and discrete transformation
Parity violation, CP violation
Selected Topics from E&M Interactions
electron-positron annhilation
proton & neutron form factor, Rosenbluth formula
Deep inelastic scattering and structure function
Selected Topics from Weak Interactions
Deep inelastic Scattering
Selected Topics from Strong Interactions
Low transverse momentum interactions
High transverse momentum interactions
parton level sub-processes
Drell-Yan process, W, Z, top quark and Higgs particle production
Beyond the Standard Model
Homework and Exams
Assignment #1 : Due Monday Feb 2, 5:00pm
Assignment #2 : Due Monday Feb 16, 5:00pm
Assignment #3 : Due Monday Mar 1, 11:59pm
Assignment #4 : Due Monday Mar 15, 11:59pm
Midterm take-home exam:
Pick up 11:00am Wednesady, March 17; return 11:00am Friday March 19
Exam cover page with format and information
Assignment #5 : Due Wednesday Mar 31, 11:59pm
Assignment #6 : Due Monday Apr 12, 11:59pm
Assignment #7/8 : Due Monday Apr 26, 11:59pm
(not yet available)
Final exam (take-home): Date and time to be determined
Projects
The project paper will be worth 15% of your total grade. The goal is for you
to research a topic on your own and present your understanding, thoughts and
conclusions on the particular subject. You will find a lot of information
by doing web based searches, but as a start some useful links are
provided at the end of this page. Please take note
of the following guidelines:
The topic can be anything you choose related to particle physics,
however some suggestions are given below, with reading material and
links following that. I am not opposed to students choosing the
same or similar topics so long as they do not collaborate and take
somewhat different perspectives. To keep track of who is doing what,
I'll list everyones chosen topic below.
Please let me know of your project topic before Monday's lecture
on February 16. Papers should be handed in to me by 5:00pm on
Monday April 12 (2 weeks before finals week begins)
The length of the paper should be about 10 pages, including figures,
tables, etc. It should include an abstract (one paragraph), an
introduction outlining any background material and the motivation
for the particular experiment, theory or concept (about a page),
a conclusion, and a list of references.
Some project ideas are as follows, but feel free to choose something
else that you are interested in.
(1) Direct measurements of the neutrino mass.
Current experiments that measure neutrino mixing infer the neutrino has
mass but are unable to determine the absolute values. Future exepriments,
most notably the "Majorana project" propose to do this via "double-beta
decay".
(2) Searches for Dark matter and energy in the
universe. Summarise current experiments and future proposals.
(3) Searches for the Higgs boson.
Summarise the state of current searches and future prospects, particularly
at Fermilab Run 2 and the LHC.
(4) String theory. For the more theoretically
motivated, overview the the main points of string theory, its advantages,
disadvantages, and future prospects.
(5) Supersymmetry. This could be either
an experimental or theoretical based review.
(6) The philosophy of large scale particle
experiments. For the more philosophically minded, there is
an interested book called "Why experiments end" by Peter Gallison which
makes some intriging philosophical insights into experimental particle
physics. You would need to read this book (about 250 pages but not
difficult -- i have a copy which someone could borrow if you don't want to
buy your own), summarise the main points and ideas and/or those that
interest you the most, and offer your own opinion on these ideas.
(7) The search for extra dimensions.
Overview the ideas behind large extra spatial dimensions, and the
experimental consequences.
(8) Discovery of the top quark. Overview
the phenomenology of top quark production and decay at Fermilab and the
experimental evidence that led to its discovery in 1995.
(9) Discovery of the W and Z bosons.
As above for the vector bosons that were discovered at CERN in 1983.
(10) Search for gravitational waves.
We won't dealt with gravity much in this course, but there is an
interesting large scale experiment (LIGO) trying to detect gravitational
waves from large disturbances in the universe (like massive supernovae).
If you are interested in this topic, summarise the status and prospects
of this experiment, and the sources of such gravitational waves.
(11) The LHC. Summarise the experiments
that will be conducted at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN (scheduled to
come into operation in 2008), and how they might change our way of looking
at the universe. You could focus on a particular experiment (ATLAS, CMS, LHCb),
or give a more general overview.
(12) The Solar Neutrino puzzle and how it was
solved. Discuss the problem that existed prior to a few years
ago, and how through neutrino oscillation experiments it was solved.
(13) Historical foundations of particle physics.
You can pick any of the classic experiments that shaped the field,
starting with Rutherford's scattering experiment to deduce the structure
of the atom, Chadwick's expt to deduce the structure of the nucleus, the
discovery of the muon in cosmic-rays, etc. etc., giving both the experimental
details and the theoretical consequences of these observations.
(14) Accelerator physics and/or beam dynamics.
If you are interested in accelerator physics, discuss how particles are
accelerated, stabilised, focused, bunched, etc.,
for a particular accelerator (present or future) such as the Tevatron,
TESLA, LHC, muon collider, etc.. We covered the basics in class, but go
into more detail for a specific accelerator.....there is a lot of interesting
physics that goes into the design and operation of such accelerators.
(15) Search for the quark-gluon plasma.
Summarise what this state of matter is, and the quest to search for it
at RHIC (Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider) at Brookhaven, by colliding
gold nucleii together.
(16) Tracking Detectors in Particle Physics.
Describe how Multi-wire Drift Chambers, and Silicon Micro-strip Detectors
work (or describe in more detail just one of these), giving examples of
such detectors currently in use with their specifications and performance.
Project Assignments (due Feb 16)
Carolyn Berger:
The Big Bang and early evolution of the Universe
Matthew Blackston:
Dark Energy and Matter in the Universe
Bason Clancy:
Beam dynamics in HEP accelerators
Andrew Dawes:
Tracking Detectors in Particle Physics
Jianrong Deng:
The LHC
Dean Hidas: Neutrino oscillations
Jie Hu:
Historical foundations of particle physics
Matt Kiser:
The solar neutrino problem and its solution
Le Luo:
The search for gravitational waves
Ethan Neil:
String Theory
Ye Qiang:
The quest for direct measurements of the neutrino mass
Peidong Yu:
Search for the quark-gluon plasma
Useful links
SPIRES . A search
website for all publications (and preprints) on high-enerhy physics.
Fermilab . The main Fermilab website
from which you can get to all the experiments being conducted there. Also has
a lot of good educational material on partcile physics.
The
neutrino oscillation industry. Links to everything you need to know
about neutrino oscillation exepriments and phenomenology.
The official string theory web
site . Everything you need to know about string theory.
The Run 2 Higgs Working group
web page . Mostly relevant to searches for Higgs at Fermilab in "Run 2"
but also contains a lot of other material on the Higgs, particularly the
phenomenology of Higgs production and decay.
LIGO . The LIGO website.
Contains not only the details of the experiment to search for gravitational
waves but also some good background material.
The ATLAS experiment at the LHC
The US CMS home page
Mark Kruse, prepared for Spring 2004.
