- This is a second-semester graduate course of a total of 52 teaching hours in class. It starts with a recap of basic particle physics concepts (transition matrix, phase space, decay rates, cross sections, Fermi’s rule) and a detailed presentation of Dirac’s theory of fermions. Then it describes systematically the three fundamental interactions: electromagnetic, strong (colour), and weak, based on Feynman rules and calculating many examples, such as elementary scattering processes, decays, oscillations in neutral meson systems, and CP violation. It develops the parton model, starting from the lepton-hadron scattering phenomenology, and introduces the concepts of the parton densities and fragmentation functions of hadrons, as well as a qualitative description of the phenomenology of hadronic reactions. It includes an introduction to higher order corrections of the scattering amplitudes and a qualitative discussion of the renormalisation procedure in the electromagnetic and strong interactions. It concludes with an introduction of the concept of spontaneous symmetry breaking and the construction of the standard model of particle physics, based on the Higgs mechanism. The last course is devoted to an introduction to neutrino oscillations. The students are given four sets of homework problems covering the four main topics (electromagnetic, strong, and weak interactions, standard model) and they are graded upon these.
Semester:
Spring
Offered:
2026