Physics 772: Particle Physics
Spring 2009

Class schedule: T,Th 11:00-12:20, Small Hall, Room 152
Office hours: By arrangement or any time instructor is in office

Instructor - Josh Erlich
Small Hall, Room 223
Office Phone: 757-221-3763
Email: erlich@physics.wm.edu

Corequisite:   Physics 722 (Quantum Field Theory II) or equivalent. This course assumes comfort with tree-level calculations of cross sections in QED and decay rates in theories of scalars and fermions.

Syllabus

The course will cover formal aspects of the Standard Model, particle phenomenology and some experimental aspects of particle physics.

  • Quantization of nonabelian gauge theories
  • Defnition of the Standard Model
  • Electroweak phenomenology
  • The Higgs mechanism
  • Electroweak symmetry breaking
  • CKM matrix for quarks
  • CP violation
  • GIM mechanism
  • Neutrino oscillations
  • Majorana masses
  • PMNS matrix for leptons
  • Anomalous symmetries
  • The theta vacuum and the strong CP problem
  • Renormalization and the Renormalization Group
  • Asymptotic freedom
  • Grand unification
  • Topics beyond the Standard Model

    Course requirements:   Problem sets will be due roughly once every two weeks.

    Text:  T.P. Cheng and L.F. Li, Gauge Theory of Elementary Particle Physics

    Problem Sets

    Problem Set 1 (ps1.pdf), due Thursday, February 19.
    Problem Set 2 (ps2.pdf), due Tuesday, March 3.
    Problem Set 3 (ps3.pdf), due Tuesday, March 17.
    Problem Set 4 (ps4.pdf), due Tuesday, March 31.
    Problem Set 5 (ps5.pdf), due Tuesday, April 14.
    Problem Set 6 (ps6.pdf), due Tuesday, April 23.
    Problem Set 7 (ps7.pdf), due Tuesday, April 30.