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Standard Model of Particle Physics
Lecture course and tutorials for Master students
Lectures: Mondays and Wednesdays 09:15 - 11:00, online on zoom.
What you will learn:
In this course, we will discuss the fundamental building blocks of matter and their interactions. What we call the Standard Model is a precise description of these interactions, building on quantum electrodynamics, the electroweak theory and quantum chromodynamics. At its core is the Higgs mechanism of electroweak symmetry breaking that governs much of what we observe at particle experiments.
A big part of the course is devoted to the phenomenology of the Standard Model. You will learn how to use quantum field theory to make predictions for particle colliders like the LHC and how to test them. We will discuss each topic from a theoretical and an experimental point of view, so you will get a feeling for how theory and experiment play together in exploring the fundaments of Nature.
What you should know:
This course is a specialisation course for master students. It is assumed that you have successfully completed the PEP4 bachelor course (or equivalent). In addition you should have taken at least one (better both) of the follwoing courses: Particle Physics and Quantum Field Theory I.
Exam
The exam will be taken as an off-site exam during the last semester week.
Downloads:
Return: July 23 before midnight.
- The exam will be available for download on this website. You have one week to work on the problems at home.
- To be admitted to the exam, you need to have collected 60% of the credit points on the exercise sheets.
- Once you have completed the exam, please upload your solution via this website (as you did for the exercise sheets) in a single PDF file.
- To pass the exam you need to collect at least 50% of the total number of available points. For a passed exam you will receive 8 ECTS points.
- You need to take the exam by yourself without the help of any other person. You have to confirm this with your signature on the exam sheet. Without your signature the exam is invalid.
- You may use any resources you can find, including your lecture notes, books, and the internet.
- The results of the exam will become available in September at the latest. We will notify you by email. Once the results are available, you can review your exam by contacting your tutor if you wish to do this.
- In case you fail the exam, we will offer you an oral exam as a second chance. Attending the written exam is mandatory to be eligible to take the oral exam. Should you be ill during the week of the written exam, you need to bring a medical exam from your doctor in order to be eligible for the oral exam.
- In case you encounter any technical problems when downloading the exam or uploading your solution, please contact us by email.
Zoom connection and chat
Lectures: Mon & Wed, 9:15 - 11:00
Link: https://zoom.us/j/4752215323?pwd=Rk5ZYjRDZ1pyNm8xc2xWOWhXUUF5dz09
Meeting-ID: 475 221 5323
Code: 089259
Chat: https://uebungen.physik.uni-heidelberg.de/chat/group/ss21-standard-model
Tutorial 1 (Nele Volmer): Tue, 14:15 - 16:00
Link: https://zoom.us/j/4752215323?pwd=Rk5ZYjRDZ1pyNm8xc2xWOWhXUUF5dz09
Meeting-ID: 475 221 5323
Code: 089259
Chat: https://uebungen.physik.uni-heidelberg.de/chat/group/ss21-standard-model-1
Tutorial 2 (Sebastian Bruggisser): Wed, 14:15 - 16:00
Link: https://zoom.us/j/4752215323?pwd=Rk5ZYjRDZ1pyNm8xc2xWOWhXUUF5dz09
Meeting-ID: 475 221 5323
Code: 089259
Chat: https://uebungen.physik.uni-heidelberg.de/chat/group/ss21-standard-model-2
Tutorial 3 (Ting Cheng): Wed, 14:15 - 16:00
Link: https://zoom.us/j/3805850124?pwd=OEk1ZGhFd1JPdklIQXUvSWtoZ1Y3dz09
Meeting-ID: 380 585 0124
Code: 110808
Chat: https://uebungen.physik.uni-heidelberg.de/chat/group/ss21-standard-model-3
Tutorial 4 (Christof Sauer): Wed, 16:15 - 18:00
Link: https://zoom.us/j/3237162554?pwd=QjNTTksxWWVCU1ZFL0d6RjMzQjFYUT09
Meeting-ID: 323 716 2554
Code: 136946
Chat: https://uebungen.physik.uni-heidelberg.de/chat/group/ss21-standard-model-4
Schedule
April 12 L01 (E): Introduction and key experiments
April 14 L02 (E): Relativistic kinematics and phase space
April 19 L03 (T): From the Lagrangian to observables -- annotated slides
April 21 L04 (T): Bosons and fermions -- annotated slides
April 26 L05 (T): Abelian gauge theory and quantum electrodynamics -- annotated slides
April 28 L06 (E): Tests of quantum electrodynamics (1)
May 03 L07 (E): Tests of quantum electrodynamics (2)
May 05 L08 (T): Symmetries -- annotated slides
May 10 L09 (E): Tests of discrete symmetries
May 12 L10 (T): Non-abelian gauge theory and weak interactions -- annotated slides
May 17 L11 (T): Electroweak symmetry breaking -- annotated slides
May 19 L13 (E): Electroweak precision tests (1)
May 24 Pentecost - no lecture
May 26 L14 (E): Electroweak precision tests (2)
May 31 L12 (T): Electroweak physics at high energies -- annotated slides
June 02 L15 (T): Higgs production at the Large Hadron Collider -- annotated slides
June 07 L16 (E): Higgs phenomenology (1)
June 09 L17 (E): Higgs phenomenology (2)
June 14 L18 (T): Quark flavor physics -- annotated slides
June 16 L19 (E): Tests of flavor mixing and CP violation
June 21 L20 (T): Lepton flavor physics -- annotated slides
June 23 L21 (E): Neutrinos and lepton flavor violation
June 28 L22 (T): Quantum chromodynamics (1) -- annotated slides
June 30 L23 (T): Quantum chromodynamics (2) -- annotated slides
July 05 L24 (T): Quantum chromodynamics (3) -- annotated slides
July 07 L25 (E): Quantum chromodynamics at colliders (1)
July 12 L26 (E): Quantum chromodynamics at colliders (2)
July 14 L27 (T): Beyond the standard model -- annotated slides
July 19 & 21 exam week - no lectures
Literature
Bjorken, Drell: Relativistische Quantenmechanik (in German)
Peskin, Schröder: An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory
Itzykson, Zuber: Quantum Field Theory
Schwartz: Quantum Field Theory and the Standard Model
Langacker: The Standard Model and Beyond
Cottingham, Greenwood: An Introduction to the Standard Model of Particle Physics
Willenbrock: Symmetries of the Standard Model
Barger, Philips: Collider Physics
Halzen, Martin: Quarks and Leptons
Grossman: Introduction to flavor physics
Georgi: Lie algebras in particle physics
Ch. Berger: Elementary Particle Physics
P.Schmüser: Feynman Graphen und Eichtheorien (German)
Tutorials
Registration for the tutorials will open on Monday, April 12.
Each Monday you will find a new exercise sheet on this website, starting on April 19. You have one week to solve the exercises. Please upload your solution in one single PDF file until 12:00 am (noon) on the following Monday via the website. In case this does not work for you, please send your solution to your tutor by email:
Nele Volmer: volmer@mpi-hd.mpg.de
Sebastian Bruggisser: bruggisser@thphys.uni-heidelberg.de
Ting Cheng: ting.cheng@mpi-hd.mpg.de
Christof Sauer: csauer@physi.uni-heidelberg.de
You do not need to hand in sheet 00.
Each student needs to hand in their own solution, even if you have solved the exercises in a team. We encourage and expect you to actively take part in the tutorials. Each week your tutor will select a few of you to present their solutions to the other students.
To be admitted to the exam you need to try and solve at least 60% of the exercises.
The first tutorials will take place on Tuesday, April 20 and Wednesday, April 21. Your tutor will give you an introduction to important general concepts you will need for the lectures. There will also be time to discuss any questions your might have.
To connect among yourselves and work on the exercise sheets, check out these free online tools that the university provides for you:
https://urz.uni-heidelberg.de/en/2020-03-16-digital-tools
Exercise sheets
Practice groups
- Group 1 (Nele Volmer)
18 participants
Philos.-weg 12 / R 070, Tue 14:15 - 16:00 - Group 2 (Sebastian Bruggisser)
15 participants
Philos.-weg 12 / R 056, Wed 14:15 - 16:00 - Group 3 (Ting Cheng)
11 participants
Philos.-weg 12 / R 060, Wed 14:15 - 16:00 - Group 4 (Christof Sauer)
12 participants
online only, Wed 16:15 - 18:00
