Course Material/Syllabus

This course will divide into two parts. The first portion will cover some general introductory material relevant for the study of particle (and to a lesser extent nuclear) physics. The second portion and bulk of the course will focus on a number of topics in recent and current research in nuclear and particle physics.

This class is by no means intended as a systematic introduction to the subject; if you chose to pursue graduate studies, you will get this as part of your standard graduate curriculum. Rather, I want to leave you with a broad understand of the interesting questions and topics in high-energy nuclear and particle physics today.

• Introduction to Nuclear and Particle Physics
  • Ingredients
    • Relativity and Kinematics
    • Rutherford Scattering from the nucleus to quarks and beyond - a lens through which to examine progress in particle physics
    • Elements of the ``Standard Model'' of particle physics
      • Fermions: Quarks and Leptons
      • Gauge Bosons and Forces
      • Combinations of Fundamental Particles
  • Tools of the Trade
    • Symmetries: Discrete and Continuous
    • Accelerators and Detectors
• Topics in Nuclear and Particle Physics
  • Generations in the Standard Model
    • Discovering the second generation
    • Discovering the third generation
    • Current understanding of generational structure
  • CP Violation
    • Neutral Kaon System
    • Weak Interactions and CP Violation
    • Bottom Mesons
    • CP Violation and the Early Universe
  • Neutrino Physics
    • Neutrino Production and Detector
    • Neutrino Astrophysics
    • Neutrino mass and oscillation
    • The evolving picture today
  • QCD and Nucleon Structure
    • Properties of QCD
    • Separation of Target and Probe
    • Probes of Structure
    • QCD and the De-confinement Transition
  • Electroweak Unification
    • Low energy weak interactions
    • Phenomenology of electroweak unifications
    • W and Z boson physics
    • Symmetry breaking and the Higgs mechanism
  • Additional Topics may be added, according to student interest and time