Convenor: Kristin Lohwasser (Sheffield)

Module Code: PP1

Duration (Hours): 10 hourly sessions

Start Date and Commitments

start: 7/10/2024 – 10 lectures on Mon 12-13:30, Wed 12-13:30 for the first 2 weeks, then Mon 12-13, Wed 12-13 for the rest

Module Details

These lectures give a brief introduction to modern particle physics. Lectures will cover the properties and classification of forces and particles (e.g. leptons, bosons, hadrons, baryons, mesons). They will introduce the relativistic kinematics governing the particle production, decay and lifetime, which touch upon the concepts of reference frames, cross-sections, invariant masses, and Feynman diagrams. A brief introduction to the Standard Model will cover concepts such as weak interactions, QCD and QED. Final lectures revisit conservation laws and symmetries as applied to particle physics, presenting the concepts of angular momentum, spin, isospin and CPT.