Module convenor: Paul Newman (Birmingham)

Module code: DIS

Start Date and Commitment:

Start : 4/11/2024

10 lectures on Mon11-12, Tues 11-12

Module Overview

Understanding the internal ('partonic') structure of hadrons is a vitally important ingredient in the physics of the Large Hadron Collider and many other facilities. It also relates to intrinsically important questions such as where the nucleon mass and spin come from. It is not something that can be calculated theoretically, because it is the realm of soft strong interactions, where perturbative quantum field theory breaks down. Most of what we know comes from the 'Deep Inelastic Scattering' (DIS) of leptons from protons and nuclei at the HERA electron-proton collider and elsewhere, though nowadays we also obtain important information from certain processes at the LHC itself.
This module provides an introduction to DIS and proton structure at both the experimental and theoretical levels, leading to an understanding of the current best constraints and their implications. Some time is also devoted to future facilities such as the Brookhaven Electron Ion Collider and the CERN Large Hadron electron Collider.

Draft Lecture Synopsis

Lecture 1: Introduction
Lecture 2: Deep inelastic scattering kinematics
Lecture 3: The quark parton model
Lecture 4: High Q2: weak gauge boson exchange and beyond the Standard Model
Lecture 5: Quantum chromodynamics and the improved Quark Parton Model
Lecture 6: DIS data and extracting parton densities
Lecture 7: Parton densities and proton-proton physics at the LHC
Lecture 8: Proton spin: Polarised Deep Inelastic Scattering
Lecture 9: Nuclear PDFs and low-x physics
Lecture 10: Future facilities