Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Notation and Constants
- 1 Particle Physics Landscape
- 2 Preliminary Concepts: Special Relativity and Quantum Mechanics
- 3 Collisions and Decays
- 4 Conservation Rules and Symmetries
- 5 FromWave Functions to Quantum Fields
- 6 A Brief Overview of Quantum Electrodynamics
- 7 From Hadrons to Partons
- 8 Quantum Chromodynamics
- 9 Weak Interaction
- 10 Electroweak Interaction
- 11 Electroweak Symmetry Breaking
- 12 The Standard Model and Beyond
- Appendix A Elements of Group Theory for Particle Physics
- Appendix B Special Unitary Group SU(2)
- Appendix C Special Unitary Group SU(3) and SU(N)
- Appendix D Lorentz and Poincaré Groups
- Appendix E Calculating with the Dirac Delta Distribution
- Appendix F Contour Integration in the Complex Plane
- Appendix G Useful Formulas with γ Matrices
- Appendix H Fermi’s Golden Rule and Time-Dependent Perturbation
- References
- Index
1 - Particle Physics Landscape
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 August 2023
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Notation and Constants
- 1 Particle Physics Landscape
- 2 Preliminary Concepts: Special Relativity and Quantum Mechanics
- 3 Collisions and Decays
- 4 Conservation Rules and Symmetries
- 5 FromWave Functions to Quantum Fields
- 6 A Brief Overview of Quantum Electrodynamics
- 7 From Hadrons to Partons
- 8 Quantum Chromodynamics
- 9 Weak Interaction
- 10 Electroweak Interaction
- 11 Electroweak Symmetry Breaking
- 12 The Standard Model and Beyond
- Appendix A Elements of Group Theory for Particle Physics
- Appendix B Special Unitary Group SU(2)
- Appendix C Special Unitary Group SU(3) and SU(N)
- Appendix D Lorentz and Poincaré Groups
- Appendix E Calculating with the Dirac Delta Distribution
- Appendix F Contour Integration in the Complex Plane
- Appendix G Useful Formulas with γ Matrices
- Appendix H Fermi’s Golden Rule and Time-Dependent Perturbation
- References
- Index
Summary
A quick introduction to the standard model of particle physics is given. The general concepts of elementary particles, interactions and fields are outlined. The experimental side of particle physics is also briefly discussed: how elementary particles are produced with accelerators or from cosmic rays and how to observe them with detectors via the interactions of particles with matter. The various detector technologies leading to particle identification are briefly presented. The way in which the data collected by the sensors is analysed is also presented: the most frequent probability density functions encountered in particle physics are outlined. How measurements can be used to estimate a quantity from some data and the question of the best estimate of that quantity and its uncertainty are explained. As measurements can also be used to test a hypothesis based on a particular model, the hypothesis testing procedure is explained.
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- Fundamentals of Particle PhysicsUnderstanding the Standard Model, pp. 1 - 55Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023