8.811
Particle Physics
Modern review of particles, interactions, and recent experiments. Experimental and analytical methods. QED, electroweak theory, and the Standard Model as tested in recent key experiments at ee and pp colliders. Mass generation, W, Z, and Higgs physics. Weak decays of mesons, including heavy flavors with QCD corrections. Mixing phenomena for K, D, B mesons and neutrinos. CP violation with results from B-factories. Future physics expectations: Higgs, SUSY, sub-structure as addressed by new experiments at the LHC collider.
Fall 2005 · Particle Physics II
Topics
- Fundamental Building Blocks and their Interactions
- Symmetries and Quarks; Discoveries of the J, Upsilon
- Gluons, Particle-antiparticle, Gluons inside Nucleons
- Dirac Formalism, Chirality, Helicity, Why Higgs?
- Local Gauge Transformation
- Solutions to the Dirac Equation
- Matrix, Decays, Cross Sections and Radiative Corrections
- Polarization, Propagator, Interaction Matrix, Cross Sections and Unitarity Bounds
- Unitarity Bound Violation and “New” Particles
- Bottom-up Approach: Unitarity Bounds, “New” Particles and their Coupling Constants
- Unitarity Bounds, Higgs, its Coupling Constants and Limit on its Mass
- Electro-weak Interactions
- Mid-term
- Discussion on Research Topics
- Prelude to The Standard Model (SM)
- Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking and Higgs Top-down Approach
- Masses and Interactions of Weak Bosons and Fermions
- QCD, QED and EW Corrections within SM
- Divergence in SM and Plausible Solutions
- Technical Color
- Reading Assignments based on Lecture Notes on SM, and Models beyond SM
- Presentations of Research Papers
Readings
- Q&L = Halzen, F., and A. D. Martin. Quarks & Leptons: An Introductory Course in Modern Particle Physics . New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, 1984. ISBN: 9780471887416.
- CP = Barger, V. D., and R. J. N. Phillips. Collider Physics . Menlo Park, CA: Addison-Wesley, 1996. ISBN: 9780201149456.
- Lec #: 1 · Topics: Fundamental Building Blocks and their Interactions · READINGS: Q&L, Chapter 1
- CP, Chapter 1
- Lec #: 2 · Topics: Symmetries and Quarks; Discoveries of the J, Upsilon · READINGS: Q&L, Chapter 2
- Lec #: 3 · Topics: Gluons, Particle-antiparticle, Gluons inside Nucleons · READINGS: Q&L, Chapter 3/5
- Lec #: 4 · Topics: Dirac Formalism, Chirality, Helicity, Why Higgs? · READINGS: Q&L, Chapter 5
- Lec #: 5 · Topics: Local Gauge Transformation · READINGS: Q&L, Chapter 5
- Lec #: 6 · Topics: Solutions of the Dirac Equation · READINGS: Q&L, Sections 12.11-13
- Lec #: 8 · Topics: Polarization, Propagator, Interaction Matrix, Cross Sections and Unitarity Bounds · READINGS: Q&L, Chapter 6
- CP, Chapter 2
- Lec #: 9 · Topics: Unitarity Bound Violation and “New” Particles · READINGS: Q&L, Section 15.6 and references there
- Muirhead, H. Notes on Elementary Particle Physics . 1st ed. New York, NY: Pergamon Press, 1972, section 7.5. ISBN: 9780080165509.
- Lec #: 12 · Topics: Electro-weak Interactions · READINGS: Q&L, Chapter 13
- Lec #: 16 · Topics: Prelude to The Standard Model (SM) · READINGS: Q&L, Chapter 14
- Lec #: 18 · Topics: Masses and Interactions of Weak Bosons and Fermions · READINGS: Q&L, Chapter 15
- SUSY CP, Chapter 14
- Lec #: 21 · Topics: Technical Color · READINGS: CP, Section 12.8
- Halzen, F., and A. D. Martin. Quarks & Leptons: An Introductory Course in Modern Particle Physics . New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, 1984. ISBN: 9780471887416.
- Barger, V. D., and R. J. N. Phillips. Collider Physics . Menlo Park, CA: Addison-Wesley, 1996. ISBN: 9780201149456.
Prerequisites & course information
Prereq: 8.701 G (Fall) 3-0-9 units
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026–2027
- MIT OpenCourseWare ↗Fall 2005
- MIT OCW calendar ↗
- MIT OCW readings ↗
- MIT OCW syllabus ↗
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.