COURSE INFORMATION, PHYSICS 735, PARTICLE PHYSICS

COURSE INFORMATION

PHYSICS 735, PARTICLE PHYSICS

Instructor:

L. Durand, 4209 Chamberlin.

Email and World Wide Web: ldurand@theory2.physics.wisc.edu and www.

Telephone: 262--3996.

Office hours: Usually available after class, but flexible---check after class for a good time to come by my office.

Meets:

9:55-10:15 am TR, 5280 Chamberlin

Text:

F. Halzen and A. Martin, Quarks and Leptons , Wiley, 1984.

Structure of the course:

The lectures will cover and supplement the material in Halzen and Martin. We will not cover all subjects in detail, but you should read the material we skip anyway. Much of the theory in the course is developed heuristically. We will not worry about detailed derivations, for example, of Feynman rules. These are the subjects of Physics 831--832--835.

There will be problem sets most weeks. These are intended to acquaint you with the methods and phenomena of particle physics in the context of current research.

WORK TOGETHER ON THE PROBLEMS (but write out your own solutions). THE PROBLEM GRADE WILL BE 25% OF THE FINAL GRADE.

There will be a MIDTERM EXAM (probably Friday, March 13 in class) and a FINAL EXAM ( Monday, May 12 at 10:05 am), each counting 25% of the grade.

The final 25% of the grade will be based on a short (5-10 page) library research paper on a recent development (experimental or theoretical) in a subject covered in the text. TOPICS MUST BE APPROVED IN FINAL FORM BY APRIL 10. THE PAPER IS DUE ON MAY 1.

References on reserve in the Physics Library, 4220 Chamberlin

F. Halzen and A.D. Martin, Quarks and Leptons, the text for the course. You may want to supplement this with some reading elsewhere to fill in details.
I.J.R. Aitchison and A.J.G. Hey, Gauge Theories in Particle Physics. Good supplement to the text, especially on the parton model and weak interactions.
G. Kane, Modern Elementary Particle Physics . Another text on the subject of the course.
V. Barger and R.J.N. Phillips, Collider Physics . More advanced applications of the material developed in Halzen and Martin.
C. Quigg, Gauge Theories of the Strong, Weak, and Electromagnetic Interactions . Similar in content to Halzen and Martin, but assumes more background. Excellent lists of references on each topic.
O. Nachtmann, Elementary Particle Physics. Develops much of the same material using a field theoretic approach. Starts with introductions to relativity and field theory which you might find useful.
Data on particles and summaries of some basic ideas/formulas:
Review of Particle Properties , Physical Review D 54 , Part I, July 1, 1996.
The objective of the course can be thought of as learning to read the Review intelligently and with understanding! We will refer to it frequently.
If you are in or plan to go into particle physics, you should get a copy of the Particle Data Booklet (a condensed version of the Review) from: Particle Data Group, One Cyclotron Road 50-6008, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720 or see the Particle Data Group homepage.
Send comments or questions to: ldurand@theory2.physics.wisc.edu

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© 1997, Loyal Durand