Academic Year 2018/2019
- Docente: Michele Cicoli
- Credits: 6
- SSD: FIS/02
- Language: English
- Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
- Campus: Bologna
- Corso: Second cycle degree programme (LM) in Physics (cod. 9245)
Learning outcomes
At the end of the course the student will have a comprehensive knowledge of the theoretical foundations of the Standard Model of fundamental interactions. All topics will be taught with a critical perspective that takes into account phenomenological implications. The student will be able to analyse, present and discuss both theoretical aspects and phenomenological features of model building techniques in relativistic quantum field theory.
Course contents
- Abelian and non-Abelian gauge theories
- Spontaneous breaking of global symmetries and Goldstone theorem
- Abelian and non-Abelian Higgs mechanism
- Discrete symmetries CPT
- Fermi theory of the weak interactions and intermediate vector boson model
- Electroweak interactions among leptons: the Glashow-Weinberg-Salam model
- Electroweak interactions among quarks: mixing and the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix
- The Glashow-Iliopoulos-Maiani mechanism
- Scattering theory and S matrix, Feynmann diagrams and ruels
- Decay rates and cross sections
- Renormalization and running of the couplings
- Strong interactions among quarks: asymptotic freedom and confinement
- Spontaneous breaking of chiral symmetry and CP violation
- Anomaly cancellation in the Standard Model
- Hints of physics beyond the Standard Model: neutrino masses, QCD axion, dark matter, hierarchy problem, grand unification, supersymmetry and cosmological constant.
Readings/Bibliography
1) L.H. Ryder, “Quantum Field Theory”, Cambridge University Press 2) C.P. Burgess, G. Moore, “The Standard Model: A Primer”, Cambridge University Press 3) W.N. Cottingham, D.A. Greenwood, "An Introduction to the Standard Model of Particle Physics", Cambridge University Press
Teaching methods
Blackboard lectures
Assessment methods
Oral interview
Office hours
See the website of Michele Cicoli