PHY466
Dr. Vitaly Kudryavtsev
E45,
tel.: 2224531; E-mail: v.kudryavtsev@sheffield.ac.uk
The course describes the development
of several crucial concepts in particle physics, emphasising the role and
significance of experiments. Students are encouraged to work from the original
literature (the recommended text includes reprints of key papers). The course
will focus not only on the particle physics issues involved, but also on
research methodology - the design of experiments, the critical interpretation
of data, the role of theory, etc. Topics covered include the discoveries of the
neutron, the positron and the neutrino, experimental evidence for quarks and
gluons, the neutral kaon system and CP violation, etc.
1. R. N. Cahn and G. Goldhaber.
The experimental foundations of particle physics, Cambridge University Press, 2nd
edition.
2. D. H. Perkins. Introduction
to high energy physics, Cambridge University Press.
3. G. D. Coughlan and J. E.
Dodd. The ideas of particle physics, Cambridge University Press.
4. B. R. Martin and G. Shaw. Particle physics, John Wiley & Sons.
5.
Other textbooks on Particle Physics.
Course structure
The
course follows Cahn and Goldhaber and will consist of a set of lectures by
myself and 40-minute presentations by
students. Students
will form
groups and each group will be assigned a topic that will be presented in class. The presentation should consist
of an introduction to the knowledge of
the time,
discuss experiments and their results and describe the impact of the results. Presentations will be followed by questions
and short discussions.
First lectures
02/10/19 Lecture 1. Introduction.
04/10/19 Lecture 2. Discovery of the
neutron and the positron.
10/10/19 Lecture 3. Discovery of the muon and the pion.
11/10/19 Lecture 4. Discovery of
strangeness.
16/10/19 Lecture 5. Resonances.
List
of topics covered in the course (those, which can be
chosen by students for their presentations are shown in red):
1.
Introduction.
2.
Discovery of the
neutron and the positron.
3.
Discovery of the muon
and the pion.
4.
Discovery of strangeness.
5.
Resonances.
6.
Antibaryons:
antiprotons.
7.
Antibaryons:
antineutrons.
8.
Weak
interactions: experimental evidence for neutrino and two neutrinos.
9.
Weak
interactions: parity violation.
10. Kaon system: discovery of the K0L.
11. Kaon system: CP violation.
12. Nucleon structure: ep elastic scattering.
13. Nucleon structure: ep inelastic scattering.
14. Nucleon structure:
neutrino-proton inelastic scattering.
15. Discovery of J/y and charmed mesons.
16. Tau-leptons.
17. The fifth quark: discovery of
upsilon
18. Discovery of B-mesons.
19. Quarks, gluons and jets:
quark jets.
20. Quarks, gluons and jets:
gluon jets.
21. Neutral currents and weak
vector bosons: neutral currents.
22. Neutral currents and weak
vector bosons: charged weak vector bosons.
23. Neutral currents and weak
vector bosons: Z-bosons.
24. Neutrino mass and oscillations.
25. Solar neutrinos.
26. Discovery of the top-quark.
27. Discovery of tau-neutrino.
28. LEP experiments.
29. LHC experiments.
More topics
for presentations can be offered if needed.
Topics for presentations and
preliminary time schedule can be found here.
The assessment
will consist of three elements:
1. 30% of
the mark for the presentation.
2. Four homeworks
contributing 10% each to the final mark.
3. Essay (about 4000 words) on a topic in particle
physics amounting to 30% of the final mark.
Topics
for essays
You have to
submit your essay to Turnitin prior to handing it in to the office.
Please, hand
in TWO hard copies to the office. It would also be good if you can send me an
electronic version by e-mail if possible. This may speed up marking but will break
the anonymity so is not a strict requirement. The deadline
for essay submission is Wednesday, 18 December 2019, 4:00 p.m.
Some notes on giving presentation for PHY466:
As a part of
PHY466 students will give presentations on some aspects on the Development of
Particle Physics. The presentation should last about 40 min followed by a 5-10 minute question/discussion period.
Step 1: Generate a draft of your talk (on a computer).
Step 2: Talk to me, we will go through your talk and check that you
have made the essential points. This should be done well in advance.
Step 3: Revise your talk.
You can
prepare your slides in the Microsoft Power Point and show them from a laptop
computer using data projector. If
you prepare your talk on Windows, your fonts, equations or pictures may not be
seen properly on my Mac. So, please, see me well in advance to check
compatibility. You can also use University computers, your own laptop or
convert your presentation into pdf file.
Some hints for good
presentation:
1. Use colour (if possible), bold,
italic, to make your presentation visually interesting;
2. Do not crowd a slide and make
sure your font is visible (14 pt is a small print
on a slide);
3. Make sure your figures are
clear;
4. You need no more than 1 slide
per 1 minute of your talk (better 1 slide for 2 minutes). It depends on how
fast you go and how dense your slides are. It is a good idea to go through your
talk and time.
5. Have a structure of your talk:
tell a story beginning, middle and end.
6. Do not exceed 40 minutesՠlimit.
7. Start your presentation with a
title and your name; include outline.
8. End your presentation with a
summary and the list of references (properly formatted).
You should
provide me with an electronic copy of your presentation and this will be used
in marking your presentation. I would also like to put your presentations on
the web-page to allow all students to use them in preparation for answering
homework questions and writing an essay.
You should
view this as opportunity to learn how to speak to people in a relatively small,
informal group.
Homework 1 can be found here.
Please, return it to F10 by 4:00 p.m., Monday, 21 October
2019.
Homework 2 can be found here.
Please, return it to F10 by 4:00 p.m., Monday, 4 November
2019.
Homework 3 can be found here.
Please, return it to F10 by 4:00 p.m., Monday, 18 November 2019.
View or download lecture slides:
Lecture 1
– Introduction to the course. Discovery of the neutron and the positron.
Lecture 2 – Discovery of the muon and the pion.
Lecture 3 – Strangeness.
Lecture 4 – Resonances.
Lecture 5 – Discovery of the antibaryons.
Lectures 8-9 – The structure of the nucleon.
Presentations
given by students:
Discovery of the
neutrino and parity violation – by Tom Shaw, Frederick Johnson, Mostafa Shagar.
Neutral kaon
system, discovery of the long-lived neutral kaon and CP violation – by Jothi Venkatesh, Michael Postill,
Faye Raybould, Kieran Needham.