Entry requirements

120 credits including Particle Physics and Advanced Quantum Mechanics

Learning outcomes

After passed course the student should be able to

• give an account of the important experimental advances made in particle physics since the discovery of the electron around the previous turn of the century up to the discovery of neutrino oscillations during the last years and of the main lines in the hypotheses that are currently being made for different possible future experimental discoveries
• evaluate the experimental evidence for discoveries of new particles and particle physics phenomena
• analyse the measurement accuracy of experimental results with regard to statistical and systematical errors
• give an account of the function of the particle detectors and data analysis methods of modern particle physics
• criticize and take a stand on published particle physics papers containing accounts of experimental set-ups, measurements, data analysis and comparisons with phenomenological models
• propose experimental methods and strategies with the aim of making discoveries and measurements of different currently predicted phenomena in elementary particle physics

Content

The experimental discoveries of the electron, the muon and the pion, strangeness, antibaryons, resonances, weak interaction, the neutral kaon system, the structure of the nucleon, charmonium, tau and charm, quarks, gluons and jets, the b and t quarks, the vector bosons, the Standard Model, heavy quark mixing and CP violation and neutrino oscillations. Experimental strategies for future discoveries of Higgs bosons, of supersymmetric particles and of other predicted particles.

Instruction

The teaching will be carried out in seminar form with student presentations and discussions.

Assessment

To pass the course the student is required to make a presentation of a section of the course literature at least once and study and answer questions at least once and to participate actively in at least 80% of the seminars. Participation in the seminars at a distance via computer links will be made possible.