Nuclear and Particle Physics - UNIGRAZ

1 Nuclear and Particle PhysicsLecture in SS 2016 at the KFU GrazAxel Maas2 Contents1 Introduction12 Nuclear Natural units .. Atoms and nuclei .. Structure of nuclei .. The strong Nuclear force .. Model of the nuclei .. Nuclear transitions .. Decays .. decay .. decay .. Spontaneous fission and nucleon evaporation .. decay .. Stability islands .. Nuclear reactions .. Fission .. Fusion .. Exchange reactions .. Decay chains, networks, and chain reactions ..163 Particle Introduction .. Elementary particles .. Fermions and bosons .. particles and anti- particles .. Interactions .. 21iiiContents4 Scattering Transitions .. Non-relativistic .. Elastic scattering .. Cross section .. Luminosity.

2 Relativistic .. Repetition: Relativistic notation .. Inelastic scattering .. Formfactors .. Decays .. Cross-sections and particles .. Feynman diagrams .. 345 A role model: Quantum Electrons and photons .. The Dirac equation .. Formulation as a field theory .. Indistinguishable particles .. Gauge symmetry .. Bound states and the positronium .. Muons and Taus .. Radiative corrections and renormalization .. Fixing the inputs and running quantities .. Landau poles .. 486 Invariances and quantum Symmetries, groups, and algebras .. Noether s theorem .. Electric charge .. Implications of space-time symmetries .. Parity .. Time reversal .. Charge parity .. CPT .. Symmetry breaking.

3 Fermion number .. Flavor .. Chiral symmetry .. 597 Strong Nuclei and the Nuclear force .. Mesons .. Nucleons, isospin, and baryons .. The quark model .. Color and gluons .. Chiral symmetry breaking .. The Goldstone theorem .. Confinement and asymptotic freedom .. Glueballs, hybrids, tetraquarks, and pentaquarks .. Flavor symmetry and strangeness .. Charm, bottom and quarkonia .. Top .. Yang-Mills theory and QCD .. The QCD phase diagram .. 808 Weak decay and parity violation .. Neutrinos .. Flavor-changing currents .. W and Z bosons .. The Higgs effect and the Higgs boson .. Parity violation and fermion masses .. Weak isospin, hypercharge, and electroweak unification .. Constructing the gauge group.

4 Breaking the electroweak symmetry .. CP violation and the CKM matrix .. Particle oscillations and the PMNS matrix .. Anomalies .. Theoretical problems .. Baryon-number violation .. The early universe .. 104ivContents9 Beyond the standard Inconsistencies of the standard model .. Gravity .. Problems with quantization .. Asymptotic safety .. Observations from Particle Physics experiments .. Astronomical observations .. Direct observations .. Dark matter .. Inflation .. Curvature, cosmic expansion, and dark energy .. Matter-antimatter asymmetry .. How can new Physics be discovered? .. 11410 Candidate theories beyond the standard Supersymmetry .. Technicolor .. Other low-scale extensions of the standard model .. Grand unified theories.

5 At the Planck scale .. Large extra dimensions .. Quantum gravity .. String theory .. 129 Chapter 1 IntroductionNuclear and Particle Physics are essentially at the forefront of nowadays understandingof Physics . Except for the astrophysical sciences it is here whereone is at the edge ofconceptual knowledge. In contrast, for problems of solid or applied Physics we knownessentially what are the correct theories, and the focus is today on the study of emergentphenomena or on applications. Within this lecture , however, the emphasis is on Physics was essentially the paradigmatic example of understanding particlephysics. In itself, its basic description is nowadays also well understood. Still, nuclearphysics is a perfect example of how Particle Physics works, and therefore still of significantimportance.

6 It is also in itself quite important, as various aspects influence in manydifferent ways our everyday life, from medicine to the burning of Physics proper, on the other hand, is the science of the smallest constituentsof matter, and how they interact. In a sense, it evolved out of physical chemistry, whereit was first resolved that all chemical substances, like molecules, are made out of set ofchemical elements, of which we know currently roughly 120. At the turn of the 19th tothe 20th century, it was then found that the atoms themselves were not elementary, butrather had constituents - a single nuclei, which was characteristic for the element, and anumber of indistinguishable electrons. The latter number was in turnuniquely fixed bythe the early 20th century it was then found that the nuclei themselves are not elemen-tary, but were made up out of just two types of constituents, the protons and neutrons,commonly denoted as nucleons.

7 Again, and as will be described later indetail, these nu-cleons are not elementary, but are made up out of the quarks. At the current time, wedo not know, whether either quarks or electrons do have a substructure, but substantialeffort is invested to find is visible from this short historical remark, the study of elementary particles haschanged subject many times over the course of time. Today, elementary Particle Physics isconsidered to be the study of the most elementary particles knownto date, their interac-tions, and whether there could be even more elementary constituents. Today, such studiesare inseparable linked to quantum mechanics, as quantum effects dominate the world ofthe elementary particles . However, as will be seen, it is also linked to astrophysics: Thetheory of elementary particles is linked tightly to cosmology, and thebehavior of manycelestial is also this field which will be presented in this lecture .

8 After the treatment ofnuclear Physics and some more general remarks, the three knownfundamental interactions,as well as the known particles will be presented. Their theoretical description togetherconstitutes the standard model of Particle Physics . This theory iswell established, and hasbeen experimentally verified in the accessible range of there are severalreasons which prove that it can not be the final theory of Particle Physics . These will bebriefly summarized later in the lecture . After that, several candidates for extensions of thestandard model will be introduced, and briefly discussed. Given their enormous numbers,and each of them warranting an own specialized lecture , these expositions can give onlythe roughest idea. It must furthermore be noted that Particle Physics is a very dynamicaland living field, and the influx of new results, both experimentally and theoretically, islarge.

9 Hence, this lecture can only be taken as a snapshot of our current understanding ofparticle absent from these forces is gravity. The reason for this is twofold. Onthe one hand, so far nobody has found a reliable way how to quantizegravity, thoughthis is a very active area of research. This quantum gravity is usuallyalso considered tobe part of Particle Physics . However, because of the complicationsinvolved in formulat-ing it theoretically, there is not (yet) a standard model of quantumgravity, and just todescribe the more promising candidates in a fair way is a lecture of its own, and ratherspeculative. The other is that also experimentally no Particle has been yet observed whichcan be considered as the elementary Particle of gravitation, the hypothesized , quantum gravity is not yet part of the standard model of Particle Physics .

10 Thisis probably the most stringent evidence for the incompleteness of the standard model ofparticle Physics . Still, a few remarks on this topic will be given towardsthe end of the standard model of Particle Physics in its current form has been theoreticallyestablished at the turn of the 60ties and 70ties of the 20th century, with the final majortheoretical touches added in the early 80ies, there are many excellent textbooks on itsChapter 1. Introduction3concepts. Especially, there are many theoretical textbooks on its foundations. The presentlecture, however, is a more phenomenological introduction. For the concepts, this lecture isbased on a number of older textbooks, but also some books on quantum-field theory havebeen used. However, there are numerous textbooks on the topic, with very different therefore a reasonable recommendation, especially in a field evolving as quickly asparticle Physics , is of little value.