ELEMENTS OF SUBNUCLEAR PHYSICS
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- Versione italiana
- Academic year
- 2022/2023
- Teacher
- LUCIANO LIBERO PAPPALARDO
- Credits
- 6
- Didactic period
- Secondo Semestre
- SSD
- FIS/02
Training objectives
- The course aims to provide the basic knowledge of the physics of elementary particles and fundamental interactions. Students will acquire familiarity with solving simple relativistic kinematic problems and calculating the cross-sections of some elementary processes. They will also understand the importance of symmetries and related conservation laws in defining the properties and the phenomenology of the fundamental interactions (electromagnetic, strong and weak) and will acquire the basic knowledge of the experimental and theoretical study of the internal structure of hadrons.
In the end, he will acquire an overview of the modern physics of elementary particles through the basic notions of the Standard Model (gauge invariance, electroweak unification and Higgs mechanism). Prerequisites
- For the full understanding of the subjects of the course, basic knowledge of quantum mechanics and special relativity is required.
Course programme
- The course lasts 54 hours and is divided into 10 modules. The main topics are:
1. Introduction and basics of relativity and quantum mechanics [6 hours]
- Introduction to the Standard Model
- Summary of relativistic kinematics
- Fermi golden rule, cross sections and decay rates
2. Dirac equation and basics of QFT [5 hours]
- Dirac equation
- Introduction to the Lagrangian formalism
- Symmetries and conservation laws
3. Quantum Electrodynamics (QED) [5 hours]
- The QED Lagrangian
- Perturbative approach and Feynman diagrams
- Cross sections of the main electromagnetic processes
- Basics of renormalization of QED
- Vacuum polarization and Lamb shift
4. Discrete symmetries [3 hours]
- Fermions and Bosons
- Parity
- Charge conjugation
- Time-reversal
- CPT theorem
- Basics of Electric Dipole Moment (EDM)
5. Hadrons [9 hours]
- Isospin, baryon number and strangeness
- SU(3) flavour symmetry and the Quark Model
- Mesonic and barionic multiplets
- Mass of mesons and baryons
- The proton magnetic moment
- Heavy quarks
- Hadronic resonances
6. Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) [4 hours]
- Local SU(3) transformations
- The QCD Lagrangian
- Quark-gluon interactions
- Colour factors
- Heavy mesons and the potential of strong interaction
- Confinement and asymptotic freedom (running coupling)
- Hadronization
- QCD in e+e- annihilations
- Quark-Gluon Plasma
7. Structure of nucleons [6 hours]
- Electron-proton elastic scattering and nucleon form factors
- Inelastic electron-proton scattering
- Deep Inelastic Scattering (DIS)
- Structure functions
- Parton model and Parton Distribution Functions (PDFs)
- Experiments at HERA and main results
- Spin of the proton
8. Weak interactions [8 hours]
- Beta decay and Fermi theory
- Lepton flavour number
- Parity violation
- Charged currents and the V-A theory
- The example of the weak decay of charged pions
- Leptonic universality
- Weak interactions of quarks, Cabibbo mixing and CKM matrix
- The GIM mechanism
- Neutral currents
- Discovery and properties of the W and Z vector bosons
- Oscillations and CP violation in the neutral kaons sector
- mention to CP violation in B and D meson sectors
9. Electroweak unification and the Higgs mechanism [5 hours]
- The Weinberg-Salam-Glashow model
- Couplings and decays of the Z boson
- The Lagrangian of Standard Model and gauge invariance
- Spontaneous symmetry breaking
- The Higgs mechanism
- Discovery and properties of the Higgs boson
10. Beyond Standard Model [3 hours]
- Neutrino oscillations and the PMNS matrix
- Limits of the Standard Model and open questions
- Dark Matter: observations and direct and indirect search
- Outline of models beyond SM (SUSY, GUT, Strings, Preons)
- Outline of the evolution of primordial Universe Didactic methods
- The course consists of theoretical lessons and exercises. The lessons take place partly on the blackboard and partly through projections of slides. The latter will be provided to the student as complementary material.
Learning assessment procedures
- The final exam consists of an oral exam. The student is invited to start the exam with a *topic of his choice*, to be discussed on the blackboard ("lesson" type), lasting no less than 10-15 minutes. This will be followed by some questions on the rest of the program, with the exception of modules 1, 2 and 10 and of some specific topics. The topics that can be asked at the exam (and that are eligible to be presented as the topic of choice) are indicated in the slides of the lessons with the title in blue (the parts marked with the title in black will not be requested nor will it be possible to bring them as topic at choice). The exam can be conducted both in Italian and in English (the choice of the Italian language does not imply any penalty).
Reference texts
- - Copy of the slides shown at lesson.
Main text of reference:
- M. Thomson, "Modern Particle Physics". Cambridge University Press.
Selected topics also from:
- A. De Angelis, Mario Pimenta, "Introduction to Particle and Astroparticle Physics", Second Edition. Springer. Edition 2015. ISBN 978-3-319-78181-5
- S. Braibant, G. Giacomelli, M. Spurio. "Particles and fundamental interactions". Springer. Edition 2012. ISBN 978-94-007-2463-1
- F. Halzen, A.D. Martin. "Quark & leptons". Wiley.
Additional readings
- A. Rubbia, "Phenomenology of Particle Physics", Cambridge University Press (2022)
