X
Home > Courses >

Particle Physics and the Standard Model

By Prof. Nirmal Raj   |   IISc Bangalore
Learners enrolled: 481   |  Exam registration: 10
ABOUT THE COURSE:
Particle physics is the study of nature at the most fundamental level. Its aim is to discover new principles of physics in the form of symmetries, laws, and concepts: the program of reductionism inaugurated by Isaac Newton. The course will explore phenomena that arise from uniting quantum mechanics and special relativity, often expressed in the language of field theory. Emphasis will be on theoretical aspects in the first half, and experimental observables in the second half.

INTENDED AUDIENCE:4th year undergraduates, Masters, IntPhD, PhD students.

PREREQUISITES: Bachelor’s level quantum mechanics and special relativity must be completed.
Summary
Course Status : Upcoming
Course Type : Core
Language for course content : English
Duration : 12 weeks
Category :
  • Physics
Credit Points : 3
Level : Postgraduate
Start Date : 20 Jan 2025
End Date : 11 Apr 2025
Enrollment Ends : 27 Jan 2025
Exam Registration Ends : 14 Feb 2025
Exam Date : 04 May 2025 IST

Note: This exam date is subject to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.

Page Visits



Course layout

Week 1: 
  • What is a particle? Why particle physics? Noether's Theorem.
  • Standard Model at 3 scales: sub-Fermi, sub-QCD, above QCD. Flavour puzzle and eightfold way.
  • Long-lived and stable particles vis-a-vis symmetries/conservation laws, parity in electromagnetic and strong forces. Intrinsic parity. Parity, charge conjugation, CP and CP violation in weak forces.
Week 2: 
  • Strong CP problem. CPT Theorem & proof. Tests of CP and T violation. Angular momenta, spins, spinors in quantum mechanics. Spinor rotations. Introduction to group theory. Isospin. Epilogue: Introduction to Feynman diagrams.

Week 3: 
  • Relativistic field equations and quantization. Spin 0: Klein-Gordon equation, Lagrangian construction, the Hamiltonian, and the cosmological constant problem. Mass dimensions of fields.
  • Spin 1: Proca equation & Lagrangian, and Lorenz gauge; free photon Lagrangian, gauge-fixing in Coulomb gauge.
  • Spin 1/2: Dirac equation. Lagrangian in 4-spinor and 2-spinor forms.
Week 4: 
  • Lorentz group and generators in SO(1,3) representation. Spinor [SU(2)L x SU(2)R] representation. Chiral theory.Gauge invariance. Quantum electrodynamics. Yang-Mills theories. Gauge boson self interactions and asymptotic freedom.
Week 5: 
  • Field content and Yang-Mills Lagrangians of the Standard Model, gauge invariance and the masslessness of fermions & gauge bosons, Higgs Yukawa terms.
  • Electroweak symmetry breaking, round 1: dynamical breaking of chiral symmetry and explicit breaking of electroweak.
Week 6: 
  • Electroweak symmetry breaking, round 2: spontaneous breaking of electroweak symmetry. Goldstone's theorem and the Higgs mechanism.
  • Higgs boson and its mass. Fermions in the bases of Yukawa interactions, masses, and charged current interactions. CKM matrix, counting observable rotation angles and complex phases, CP violation.
Week 7: 
  • Flavour changing neutral currents. Unitarity triangles and Jarlskog invariant. PMNS matrix and neutrino oscillations: 2-flavour approximation. Baselines, oscillation lengths, and atmospheric neutrinos.
  • Fast oscillation regime, solar neutrinos and matter potential. Neutrino mass ordering and mass scale.
Week 8: 
  • Relativistic kinematics and particle collisions: fixed target and centre-of-momentum configurations.
  • Scattering cross sections: projectile in medium, beam on target. Generalization to 2 -> n scattering; S-matrix and transition amplitude. Decay rates and branching fractions.
Week 9: 
  • Muon and beta decays. Proton decay: Super-Kamiokande and Goldhaber's lethal radiation dose estimate.
  • QED cross section for e+e- --> \mu+\mu- with spinor helicity & photon polarization states. 
  • Forward-backward asymmetry, chronology of Z boson discovery.
Week 10: 
  • Deep inelastic scattering of protons. Bjorken x and infinite momentum frame. Quark parton model. Momentum sum rule. Effect of the gluon and DGLAP evolution. Bjorken scaling and scaling violations.
  • Quark number sum rules, PDF-fitting processes and colliders, Drell-Yan PDF factorization. Fifth-force searches in deep inelastic scattering.
Week 11: 
  • Dark matter: particle properties inferable from astronomy.
  • Epilogue 1: charged pion decay to the muon and helicity flip.
  • Epilogue 2: The dimensionality of time and particle decays to lighter daughters.
Week 12: 
  • Particle cosmology. Big Bang nucleosynthesis. Recombination and cosmic microwave background.

Books and references

1.David J. Griffiths, Introduction to Elementary Particles, 2nd Ed
2.Michael Peskin, Concepts of Elementary Particles,
3.Holstein, Golowich, Donoghue, Dynamics of the Standard Model,
4.Matthew D. Schwartz, Quantum Field Theory and the Standard Model,
5.Mark Srednicki, Quantum Field Theory.

Instructor bio

Prof. Nirmal Raj

IISc Bangalore
Particle theorist, Assistant Professor at IISc's Centre for High Energy Physics, and a science writer at ThePrint and The Hindu. Research focus: dark matter, and physics beyond the Standard Model.

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.
The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).
Date and Time of Exams: May 4, 2025 Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.
Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.
The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.
Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 8 assignments out of the total 12 assignments given in the course.
Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

Please note that assignments encompass all types (including quizzes, programming tasks, and essay submissions) available in the specific week.

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of NPTEL and IISc Bangalore .It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc.

Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.

Once again, thanks for your interest in our online courses and certification. Happy learning.

- NPTEL team


MHRD logo Swayam logo

DOWNLOAD APP

Goto google play store

FOLLOW US