Physics 152/252 is a one-quarter course in Elementary Particle Physics given by Michael Peskin during the Spring 2016 term at Stanford University. The course meets T-TH, 9:00- 10:20 am, in Hewlett Teaching Center 103, starting on March 29.
The course reviews our knowledge of elementary particles and the basic laws of physics that operate at subnuclear distances. Particle physicists claim that there is a "Standard Model" that explains the known forces that act on elementary particles from a fundamental point of view. The main purpose of this course is to explain this model and to present the experimental data that justifies it. In the introductory part of the course, I discuss the spectrum of strongly interacting particles, the quark model, and some basics of accelerators and detectors. The second part of the course covers the evidence for quarks and the underlying structure of the strong interaction. The third part of the course covers the weak interaction, CP violation, and the Higgs boson.
Stanford has an odd arrangement that Physics 151, an undergraduate course, and Physics 252, a graduate course, are taught together with the same lectures. For this reason, the lectures will be elementary, in the sense that they will assume only undergraduate quantum mechanics (Physics 130/131). Students enrolled in Physics 252 will have an extra assignment each week involving reading and commenting on a paper from the literature of particle physics.
Quantum field theory is essential for a full understanding of elementary particle physics. However, as discussed above, this course will only present intuitive explanations of results of quantum field theory that are needed for the application to the elementary particle interactions. For pointers to derivations of these results, please ask the professor. Many of the relevant results are derived in the textbook by Peskin and Schroeder referenced below.
General course information for Physics 152/252.
Syllabus and lecture notes for Physics 152/252: The schedule of lectures and topics is given below. The material in this course has now been written up into a textbook -- Concepts of Elementary Particle Physics, by Michael E. Peskin -- published by Oxford University Press
Problem sets for Physics 152:
Additional reading and exercises for Physics 252:
Exam for Physics 152/252: Final Exam on Monday, June 6, 8:30 - 11:30am, in Hewlett Teaching Center 103.
Recommended reading for Physics 152:
The textbook for the course will be Modern Particle Physics, by Mark Thomson. The course will not follow the book directly, but the author's view of particle physics is close to that of the course, and most of the material is covered in the text. Some other useful references are: