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COURSE INFORMATION (PHYS 557)

Lecture

Lecture Hall: Physics and Astronomy Building, Room B143
Class Schedule: Tu Th 1pm - 2:20 pm

Lecture notes will be posted in advance of lectures on the Calendar (and will also be available on the Files link)

 

Reading

You will get the most out of this course if you do the suggested reading before the lectures. This will be posted on the calendar along with the lecture notes.

Texts

There is no required text for this class, but there are several texts that you might consider buying, as described below. I will post lecture notes as well as useful LINKS. I will also post some notes created by Prof. Steve Ellis for the 2016 version of this course for additional reading as appropriate (these are available under Files/Ellis/).

Here are three recommended texts, along with brief comments.

  • "Modern Particle Physics", Mark Thomson, Cambridge Univ. Press (2013). This is probably the book that I will follow most closely. So far I like the discussion and the level. Available in paperback for about $35 online.
  • "Introduction to Elementary Particles", David Griffiths, Wiley (2nd Ed., 2008). No doubt a familiar author to most of you, and this is another good text. It is really an advanced undergraduate text, but looks also to be a good resource for this course. Slightly out of date compared to the other two books (e.g. it predates the Higgs discovery). Looks like its available used from about $35.
  • "Particle Physics", Duncan Carlsmith, Pearson (2013). Slightly more advanced and longer than the Thomson book, so may be a better option for a student doing particle physics research. Available for about $35 online.

There are lots of good older texts available, some of which I own, and I am happy to make suggestions if you ask.

A very recent book that will be of interest if you wish to dip your toes into Quantum Field Theory is:

  • "A Prelude to Quantum Field Theory", John Donoghue and Lorenzo Sorbo, Princeton University Press (2022). This is a short book (140 pages) that appears to provide a clear and pedagogical introduction to QFT, at a level that matches the discussions in this class. You can buy it for about $20 right now.

An even more recent book, that requires a little bit (one quarter or so) of QFT, but looks very good is:

  • "The Standard Model: From Fundamental Symmetries to Experimental Tests", Yuval Grossman and Yossi Nir, Princeton University Press (2023). Unfortunately this is available only in hardback for $70.

Homework

There will be almost weekly homework sets, probably 8 in total. The HW sets will be posted on this web site (under Assignments & also Files). You are encouraged to discuss the assignments with classmates, and to work in groups if that suits you, but the solutions you turn in must be your own work. You can replace the final HW with a paper on a topic of your choice by prior arrangement.

HWs should be scanned or photographed and uploaded onto Canvas. Late HWs will not be accepted except by prior arrangement.

Solutions will be posted after the due date. 

Exams

There will be no exams.

Course grade

The course grade is determined solely by the Homeworks. To obtain a 3.0 you should score on average 50% or higher, while a 90% or higher score will lead to a grade of 4.0, with linear interpolation in between.