Prospectus

nl en

Origin and Structure of the Standard Model

Course
2023-2024

Admission Requirements

Bachelor of Physics with the course Physics of Elementary Particles or a clear equivalent. Recommended Effective Field Theory.

Description

This course will discuss the foundation and the structure of the Standard Model of the particle physics.
Content of the course:
1. From relativistic Quantum Mechanics to Quantum Field Theory
2. Weak and strong interactions
3. Model of Fermi and model of Yukawa
4. Internal inconsistencies of Fermi model. Ways to resolve them
5. Predictions of massive vector bosons
6. Non-Abelian gauge symmetries and their spontaneous breaking
7. Higgs field and Higgs boson
8. Electroweak theory
9. Sketchy overview of Quantum Chromodynamics and modern views on strong interactions
10. Main observational problems “beyond the Standard Model”

Course objectives

The course will give an historical approach for building the SM and discuss the different possibilities on the way of its establishing. The connection between Quantum Mechanics and Quantum Field Theory will be discussed, the examples of QFT calculation will be given. Then the SM will be derived using experimental observations.

Timetable

Physics Schedule
For detailed information go to Timetable in Brightspace

You will find the timetables for all courses and degree programmes of Leiden University in the tool MyTimetable (login). Any teaching activities that you have sucessfully registered for in MyStudyMap will automatically be displayed in MyTimeTable. Any timetables that you add manually, will be saved and automatically displayed the next time you sign in.

MyTimetable allows you to integrate your timetable with your calendar apps such as Outlook, Google Calendar, Apple Calendar and other calendar apps on your smartphone. Any timetable changes will be automatically synced with your calendar. If you wish, you can also receive an email notification of the change. You can turn notifications on in ‘Settings’ (after login).

For more information, watch the video or go the the 'help-page' in MyTimetable. Please note: Joint Degree students Leiden/Delft have to merge their two different timetables into one. This video explains how to do this.

Mode of instruction

Zie Brightspace

Assessment method

Homeworks – 40%
Written exam – 60%
Final grade is a sum of grades for the homeworks and exam.
Exam can be retaken

Reading list

  • “Introduction to Electroweak Unification: Standard Model from Tree Unitarity” by J. Horejsi

  • “Gauge Theory of elementary particle physics” (any edition) by Ta-Pei Cheng and Ling-Fong Li

  • As a general reference for Quantum Field theory

    • “An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory” (any edition) by M.E. Peskin and D.V.Schroeder or "Quantum Field Theory and the Standard Model" (any edition) by M.D. Schwartz

Registration

From the academic year 2022-2023 on every student has to register for courses with the new enrollment tool MyStudyMap. There are two registration periods per year: registration for the fall semester opens in July and registration for the spring semester opens in December. Please see this page for more information.

Please note that it is compulsory to both preregister and confirm your participation for every exam and retake. Not being registered for a course means that you are not allowed to participate in the final exam of the course. Confirming your exam participation is possible until ten days before the exam.

Extensive FAQ's on MyStudymap can be found here.

Contact

Lecturer: Dr. Alexey Boyarsky

Remarks