Experimental Physics of Fundamental Interactions
Prerequisiti
Master’s degree course (4th or 5th year). Prerequisites: special relativity, quantum mechanics. Particle-matter interactions (principles of operation of particle detectors) – recommended but not compulsory.
Programma
- Historical and general Standard Model introduction
- Particle classification and fundamental interaction classification. Relativistic kinematics (reminders), fundamental interactions and Feynman diagrams.
- Particle detection methods, general principles. Particle beams, acelerator luminosity, cross-sections.
- Symmetries and conservation laws.
- Weak interactions and parity violation. CP violation.
- Electroweak parameters, radiative corrections, pseudo-observables. Electroweak global fits and indirect constraints on quark top mass, and the mass of the Higgs boson before its discovery.
- General-purpose 4-pi detector at LEP: ALEPH’s design and performances.
- Precision EW measurements at LEP: lineshape and width of the Z boson, width of the Z boson decaying to invisible, number of light neutrino families, forward-backward asymmetries, and weak mixing angle determination.
- Physics of the W boson at LEP2: mass determination, WW production cross-section.
- General-purpose 4-pi detector at LHC: CMS’s design and performances.
- Precision EW physics at LHC: Higgs discovery and properties determination; measurement of the W boson properties
- Tau physics (A. Lusiani)
- Muon g-2 measurement (A. Lusiani)
Obiettivi formativi
An introduction to experimental high-energy physics at e+e+ and hadronic colliders, focusing in particular on historical experiments in the electroweak sector – notably at LEP – and other experiments at hadronic colliders, such as the discovery of the top quark at the Tevatron and the Higgs boson at the LHC. Recent experiments will also be discussed, such as the measurement of the W mass at hadronic colliders and the measurement of the muon’s anomalous magnetic moment.
Riferimenti bibliografici
M. Thomson: Modern Particle Physics
Handouts and references therein