PHY331

Instructor: Panos Razis


1.  Brief  Historical Background
Large Scale vs. Small Scale Physics, First Rational Attempts to Describe the Structure of Matter, Ancient Greek Philosophers, Chemical Elements, Unification of Electricity with Magnetism, Radioactivity, Atomic Model, Quantum Mechanics, Light: Particles or Waves? , Discovery of Particles.
2.  Particles of Matter and Fundamental Interactions
Strong-Electromagnetic-Weak-Gravitational Force, Fundamental Particles of Matter, Interaction Carriers, Uncertainty Principle, Vacuum Polarization, Screening and Antiscreening, Color, Asymptotic Freedom, Confinement.
3. Interactions of Particles and Radiation with Matter
Energy Loss Mechanism, Minimum Ionizing Particle, δ-Rays, Density Effect, Range, Multiple Scattering, Landau Distribution, Interactions of γ-Rays with Matter (Photoelectric Effect, Compton Scattering, Pair Production), Bremmstrahlung Radiation, Radiation Length, Electromagnetic Showers, Cerenkov Radiation.
4. Particle Detectors and Accelerator Systems
Operational Parameters of Detectors, Scintillation Counters, Cerenkov Detectors, Bubble Chambers, Spark Chambers, Streamer Chambers, Ionisation Chambers, Scattering and Mobility of Ions, Drifting of Electrons, Lorentz Angle, Signal Determination in an Ionization Chamber, Operational Modes of Ionization Chambers, Proportional Ionization Chambers, Geiger Mueller Counters, Drift Chambers,  Transition Radiation Detectors (TRD's),  Semiconductor Detectors,  Electromagnetic and  Hadronic  Calorimetry, Radiation and Interaction Length,  Homogeneous and Sampling Calorimeters, Linear and Circular Particle Accelerators.
5. Symmetries, Quantum Numbers and Conservation Laws
Euler-Lagrange Equations, Continuous and Discrete Symmetries, Noether's Theorem, Conserved Currents, Symmetry Generators, Spin, Isotopic Spin, Particle Multiplets, Supercharge, Conservation Rules, Parity(P), Parity Violation in Weak Interactions, Particle Helicities, Charge Conjugation(C), Time Reversal(T), CP and CPT Symmetry, Kaons, Strangeness Oscillations, CP Violation, Unitary Symmetry,  SU(2) and  SU(3) Representations, Quark Content of Composite Particles.
6. Quantum Electrodynamics
Basic Feynman Diagrams, Global and Local Gauge Transformations, Local Gauge Symmetry, General Properties of Quantum Electrodynamics.
7. Weak Interactions
Brief History of Weak Interactions at Low Energies, Fermi Theory of Beta Decay, V-A Theory, Selection Rules, Cabibbo Angle, CKM Matrix, Manifest vs. Hidden Gauge Symmetry, Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking, Higgs Mechanism, Intermediate Vector Bosons, Weinberg Angle, Charged and Neutral Currents, Glashow-Weinberg-Salam Electroweak Theory.
8. Quantum Chromodynamics
Local Gauge Transformations, Gluonic Fields, General Properties of Quantum Chromodynamics, Screening and Antiscreening, Color, Asymptotic Freedom, Confinement.
9. Unification Theories
Problems of the Standard Model, Grand Unification Theories, SU(5), Extrapolation of Coupling Constants, Proton's Lifetime, sin2θw , Supersymmetry and Supersymmetric Particles.
10. Applications
Classification of Areas of Applications arising from the Studies of Atoms, Nuclei and Fundamental Particles (Telecommunications, Electronics, Computers, Medicine, Archeometry, Energy Production, Industry, New Materials, Applications in other Natural Sciences).