TFNCF0001 Introduction to Particle Physics I

Institute of physics in Opava
winter 2024
Extent and Intensity
2/2/0. 6 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
RNDr. Josef Juráň, Ph.D. (lecturer)
prof. Ing. Peter Lichard, DrSc. (lecturer)
prof. Ing. Peter Lichard, DrSc. (seminar tutor)
Guaranteed by
RNDr. Josef Juráň, Ph.D.
Institute of physics in Opava
Timetable
Thu 12:15–13:50 SM-UF
  • Timetable of Seminar Groups:
TFNCF0001/A: Wed 14:45–16:20 309, P. Lichard
Prerequisites (in Czech)
(FAKULTA(FU) && TYP_STUDIA(N))
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
A goal of this course is to provide basic information about present knowledge of structure and interactions of subnuclear particles. The course is lectured from phenomenological and historical point of view. It is based on experimental results which led to present picture of nature.
Learning outcomes
Upon successful graduation from the subject, a student will be able to identify and summarize important milestones in history of particle physics; to describe and explain experimental methods in particle physics; to describe structure and interactions of subnuclear particles.
Syllabus
  • Main topics:
    • History and current state of particle physics. Key discoveries, experiments and ideas.
    • Structure and interaction of particles; leptons, quarks, gauge bosons, hadrons; mesons and baryons.
    • Stable and unstable particles, resonances. Antiparticles.
    • Kinematics of collisions and decays. Conservation laws, relativistic invariants; cross section; luminosity; longitudinal and transverse momentum, rapidity.
    • Mean lifetime, partial decay width, branching fraction and branching ratio, Dalitz plot.
    • Experimental methods of particle physics. Basic principles and types of particle accelerators. Linear accelerators electrostatic and high frequency; circular accelerators of electrons, protons and heavy ions.
    • Primary and secondary beams, targets; accumulators and colliders, accelerator complexes.
    • Physical principles and characteristics of detectors; the most important types of detectors; calorimeters and spectrometers, detector systems.
    • Properties of hadrons. Mass, charge, spin, baryon number, spatial (P) parity, isospin and its third component, charge (C) parity, G parity.
    • Flavor and its relation to quark structure.
    • Experimental determination of mass, spin and parity of pions.
    • Conservation laws connected with strong, electromagnetic and weak interactions.
    • Properties of leptons. Lepton numbers, experimental evidences of differentness of electron neutrino and antineutrino, and electron and muon antineutrinos; number of types of neutrinos; possible violations of lepton numbers; solar neutrinos.
Literature
    recommended literature
  • Davídek T., Leitner R. Elementární částice. Od prvních objevů po současné experimenty, Matfyzpress, 2014
  • Davídek T., Leitner R. Řešené příklady z fyziky elementárních částic, Matfyzpress, 2014
  • Žáček J. Úvod do fyziky elementárních částic. Nakladatelství Karolinum, 2005. ISBN 9788024611099. info
  • Nosek D. Jádra a částice, řešené příklady, Matfyzpress, 2005
  • Dosch, H.G. Za hranicemi nanosvěta. Leptony, kvarky, kalibrační bosony. Academia, 2011. ISBN 978-80-200-1871-7. info
  • Close F. Částicová fyzika. Praha, 2008. ISBN 978-80-7363-160-4. info
  • Close F. - Marten M. - Sutton C. The Particle Odyssey. Oxford University Press, 2002. ISBN 978-0198609438. info
  • Griffiths D. J. Introduction to Elementary Particles. Wiley, 2008
Teaching methods
Monological (lecture, briefing)
Tutorial
Students' self-study
One-to-One tutorial
Assessment methods
homework
random test
written test
oral and written exam
Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
The course can also be completed outside the examination period.
The course is taught annually.
The course is also listed under the following terms winter 2020, winter 2021, winter 2022, winter 2023.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.slu.cz/course/fu/winter2024/TFNCF0001