Fundamental interactions and elementary particles

lphys2131  2019-2020  Louvain-la-Neuve

Fundamental interactions and elementary particles
Note from June 29, 2020
Although we do not yet know how long the social distancing related to the Covid-19 pandemic will last, and regardless of the changes that had to be made in the evaluation of the June 2020 session in relation to what is provided for in this learning unit description, new learnig unit evaluation methods may still be adopted by the teachers; details of these methods have been - or will be - communicated to the students by the teachers, as soon as possible.
10 credits
52.5 h + 7.5 h
Q1
Teacher(s)
Delaere Christophe; Gérard Jean-Marc; Lemaitre Vincent;
Language
English
Prerequisites
No prerequisites for students who have obtained a Bachelor's degree in physics and who therefore already have a basic knowledge of classical gravitation (GN), relativistic mechanics (c),quantum mechanics (h) and, ideally, relativistic gravitation (GN+ c).
Main themes


Introduction to the concept of unification based on gauge invariance and description of the sometimes surprising rules governing our universe both at the microscopic level (' 10-20 m) and at the macroscopic level (' 10+26 m), through the interactions of its content in matter and energy, namely: ordinary matter, antimatter, extraordinary matter, dark matter and dark energy.

Introduction to the major experiments that led not only to the construction of the Standard Model but also to its validation and discussion of the difficulties encountered in their achievements
Aims

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :

1 a.     Contribution of the teaching unit to the learning outcomes of the programme (PHYS2M and PHYS2M1)
AA1: A1.1, A1.4
AA3: A3.1
AA5: A5.3
AA7: A7.2
b.    Specific learning outcomes of the teaching unit
At the end of this teaching unit, the student will be able to:
1.     formulate the theoretical concepts associated with fundamental interactions (including gravitation) by highlighting a unifying principle, gauge invariance and a separating mechanism, symmetry breaking ;
2.     present the great experiments at the base of the Standard Model describing the fundamental interactions (strong, weak and electromagnetic) between the elementary particles (quarks, leptons and bosons of gauges, Higgs boson) ;
3.     integrate experimental and data analysis techniques used in modern experiments in particle physics.
 

The contribution of this Teaching Unit to the development and command of the skills and learning outcomes of the programme(s) can be accessed at the end of this sheet, in the section entitled “Programmes/courses offering this Teaching Unit”.
Content
1) Theoretical and experimental introduction to fundamental interactions
a) long-range (electromagnetism and gravitation) : from classical potentials to relativistic fields ;
b) short range (subnuclear) : from confinement (gluons) to spontaneous break (W, Z and h bosons) ;
and the properties distinguishing them in processes involving the constituents of matter (quarks and leptons) :
  • conservation of baryonic and leptonic numbers ;
  • Zweig rule in hadron transitions ;
  • preservation of flavor in neutral currents ;
  • violation of flavor in charged currents ;
  • violation of invariance under spatial and temporal inversion.
2) Description of these processes in terms of observables such as cross sections and life time using simple Feynman diagrams.
Teaching methods
Lectures (presentation on the blackboard and projection of transparencies).
Integrative project.
Practice sessions on analysis of LHC events.
Evaluation methods
  • Oral exam on the whole teaching unit during the exam session.
  • Preparation of a question of your choice to present orally (either during the examination or during presentation sessions that will eventually be scheduled at the end of the semester).
  • A "laboratory" report (on the observation of the W and Z bosons at the LHC) and / or a more theoretical project report, to be defended orally.
Bibliography
High Energy Physics, 4th Edition, D.H. Perkins.
Faculty or entity
PHYS


Programmes / formations proposant cette unité d'enseignement (UE)

Title of the programme
Sigle
Credits
Prerequisites
Aims
Master [60] in Physics

Master [120] in Physics