INTRODUCTION TO PARTICLE PHYSICS

Prerequisites & course information

Requisites: PHYSICS 448 or concurrent enrollment, PHYSICS 531 or concurrent enrollment, or graduate/professional or special student standing Course Designation: Core GenEd - Natural Science & Wellness Breadth - Physical Science Level - Advanced L&S Credit - L&S Liberal Arts and Science Repeatable for Credit: No Last Taught: Spring 2026 Learning Outcomes: 1. Calculate all relevant kinematic quantities for particle scattering and decays. Audience: Undergraduate 2. Use conservation laws to identify allowed and disallowed interactions in the Standard Model. Audience: Undergraduate 3. Draw all possible allowed vertices and Feynman diagrams for various particle scattering and decays in the Standard Model. Audience: Undergraduate 4. Setup first order matrix elements for particle scattering and decays including scalar, vector and spinor fields. Audience: Undergraduate 5. Estimate order of magnitude of cross sections and decay rates for various particle scattering and decays. Audience: Undergraduate 6. Specify all possible interactions of stable particles with matter. Audience: Undergraduate 7. Explain how particle detectors and particle accelerators of various types work. Audience: Undergraduate Learning Outcomes: 1. Calculate all relevant kinematic quantities for particle scattering and decays. Audience: Undergraduate 2. Use conservation laws to identify allowed and disallowed interactions in the Standard Model. Audience: Undergraduate 3. Draw all possible allowed vertices and Feynman diagrams for various particle scattering and decays in the Standard Model. Audience: Undergraduate 4. Setup first order matrix elements for particle scattering and decays including scalar, vector and spinor fields. Audience: Undergraduate 5. Estimate order of magnitude of cross sections and decay rates for various particle scattering and decays. Audience: Undergraduate 6. Specify all possible interactions of stable particles with matter. Audience: Undergraduate 7. Explain how particle detectors and particle accelerators of various types work. Audience: Undergraduate