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Physics 714: Intro to High Energy Physics

and

Physics 556: Nuclear and Elementary Particles

This page is almost always under construction.
Please pardon our mess.

Instructor:

Prof. Guy Blaylock

Office:

Lederle Grad Research Tower Rm 1034

Phone:

(413) 545-0993

blaylock@physics.umass.edu

Office hours:

by appointment or drop in

Course Description

Particle physicists (a.k.a. high energy physicists) always want to get to the bottom of things.

These scientists search for the smallest constituents of matter and the most fundamental laws that govern their interactions. In Mendeleev's day particle physicists were called "chemists". They strove to understand and classify the constituents of everyday matter. In the first half of the 20th century, they were often called nuclear physicists as they peered into the center of the atom. These days they are called simply "particle physicists" or "elemetary particle physicists". Now they are concerned with the substructure of nucleons (quarks and possible substructure to quarks), leptons (electrons and their elusive partners, the neutrinos) and the strong, weak, electromagnetic and gravitational forces that govern their behavior.

These studies lead to some of the most profound scientific questions of our time, including:.

What is the subtle difference between matter and antimatter and how did the universe become matter-dominated?(CP violation and the origin of matter problem)
How do particles acquire their mass and what is behind the pattern of elementary particle masses? (the origin of mass problem)
What is the connection between spin and statistics? (the origin of the Pauli exclusion principle, Fermi and Bose statistics)
What exotic new type of particle inhabits the massive galactic halos that have recently been measured? (the dark matter problem)
Why is the universe expanding at an ever accelerating rate? (the dark energy problem)
How does gravity unite with the other known force field theories for strong and electroweak interactions (quantum gravity, extra dimensions ...)

This course focuses on the theoretical groundwork of particle physics and develops the basic mathematical tools for understanding modern field theories. In the process, it touches very briefly (alas) on some of the questions listed above. It also provides a survey of the Standard Model of particle physics, including Quantum Electrodynamics, strong and electroweak field theories, group theory symmetries, renormalization, and the Higgs mechanism. An introduction to Feynman rules for field theory calculations provides the basis for much of the homework.

The course is intended for advanced undergraduate physics majors and beginning graduate students in physics. Some mathematical rigor is sacrificed (e.g. we do not do a complete derivation of the Feynman rules) in favor of more conceptual issues. In this approach we follow the textbook very closely, skipping only small portions in order to complete the material in one semester.

Course details

Text: "Introduction to Elementary Particles" by David Griffiths, John Wiley and Sons, Inc. (1987).
Exam Schedule:

Midterm Tuesday Oct. 28 6:30-8:30pm LGRT 1033
midterm solutions

Final Friday Dec. 19 1:30-3:30pm LGRC A201
Note that this is in the research CENTER east of the TOWER!

Lecture Notes
Homework
Grading Scheme: 70% homework 30% exams

Last updated Dec 3, 2003

| Physics Dept. Home Page | UMass Home Page |

Instructor:	Prof. Guy Blaylock
Office:	Lederle Grad Research Tower Rm 1034
Phone:	(413) 545-0993
	blaylock@physics.umass.edu
Office hours:	by appointment or drop in