A BRIEF INTRODUCTION to PARTICLE PHYSICS Nari Mistry Laboratory for Elementary Particle Physics Cornell University
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The Five Common Particles
The Five Common Particles The world around you consists of only three particles: protons, neutrons, and electrons. Protons and neutrons form the nuclei of atoms, and electrons glue everything together and create chemicals and materials. Along with the photon and the neutrino, these particles are essentially the only ones that exist in our solar system, because all the other subatomic particles have half-lives of typically 10-9 second or less, and vanish almost the instant they are created by nuclear reactions in the Sun, etc. Particles interact via the four fundamental forces of nature. Some basic properties of these forces are summarized below. (Other aspects of the fundamental forces are also discussed in the Summary of Particle Physics document on this web site.) Force Range Common Particles It Affects Conserved Quantity gravity infinite neutron, proton, electron, neutrino, photon mass-energy electromagnetic infinite proton, electron, photon charge -14 strong nuclear force ≈ 10 m neutron, proton baryon number -15 weak nuclear force ≈ 10 m neutron, proton, electron, neutrino lepton number Every particle in nature has specific values of all four of the conserved quantities associated with each force. The values for the five common particles are: Particle Rest Mass1 Charge2 Baryon # Lepton # proton 938.3 MeV/c2 +1 e +1 0 neutron 939.6 MeV/c2 0 +1 0 electron 0.511 MeV/c2 -1 e 0 +1 neutrino ≈ 1 eV/c2 0 0 +1 photon 0 eV/c2 0 0 0 1) MeV = mega-electron-volt = 106 eV. It is customary in particle physics to measure the mass of a particle in terms of how much energy it would represent if it were converted via E = mc2. -
Fundamentals of Particle Physics
Fundamentals of Par0cle Physics Particle Physics Masterclass Emmanuel Olaiya 1 The Universe u The universe is 15 billion years old u Around 150 billion galaxies (150,000,000,000) u Each galaxy has around 300 billion stars (300,000,000,000) u 150 billion x 300 billion stars (that is a lot of stars!) u That is a huge amount of material u That is an unimaginable amount of particles u How do we even begin to understand all of matter? 2 How many elementary particles does it take to describe the matter around us? 3 We can describe the material around us using just 3 particles . 3 Matter Particles +2/3 U Point like elementary particles that protons and neutrons are made from. Quarks Hence we can construct all nuclei using these two particles -1/3 d -1 Electrons orbit the nuclei and are help to e form molecules. These are also point like elementary particles Leptons We can build the world around us with these 3 particles. But how do they interact. To understand their interactions we have to introduce forces! Force carriers g1 g2 g3 g4 g5 g6 g7 g8 The gluon, of which there are 8 is the force carrier for nuclear forces Consider 2 forces: nuclear forces, and electromagnetism The photon, ie light is the force carrier when experiencing forces such and electricity and magnetism γ SOME FAMILAR THE ATOM PARTICLES ≈10-10m electron (-) 0.511 MeV A Fundamental (“pointlike”) Particle THE NUCLEUS proton (+) 938.3 MeV neutron (0) 939.6 MeV E=mc2. Einstein’s equation tells us mass and energy are equivalent Wave/Particle Duality (Quantum Mechanics) Einstein E -
Interactions of Antiprotons with Atoms and Molecules
University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln US Department of Energy Publications U.S. Department of Energy 1988 INTERACTIONS OF ANTIPROTONS WITH ATOMS AND MOLECULES Mitio Inokuti Argonne National Laboratory Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/usdoepub Part of the Bioresource and Agricultural Engineering Commons Inokuti, Mitio, "INTERACTIONS OF ANTIPROTONS WITH ATOMS AND MOLECULES" (1988). US Department of Energy Publications. 89. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/usdoepub/89 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the U.S. Department of Energy at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in US Department of Energy Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. /'Iud Tracks Radial. Meas., Vol. 16, No. 2/3, pp. 115-123, 1989 0735-245X/89 $3.00 + 0.00 Inl. J. Radial. Appl .. Ins/rum., Part D Pergamon Press pic printed in Great Bntam INTERACTIONS OF ANTIPROTONS WITH ATOMS AND MOLECULES* Mmo INOKUTI Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, U.S.A. (Received 14 November 1988) Abstract-Antiproton beams of relatively low energies (below hundreds of MeV) have recently become available. The present article discusses the significance of those beams in the contexts of radiation physics and of atomic and molecular physics. Studies on individual collisions of antiprotons with atoms and molecules are valuable for a better understanding of collisions of protons or electrons, a subject with many applications. An antiproton is unique as' a stable, negative heavy particle without electronic structure, and it provides an excellent opportunity to study atomic collision theory. -
The Particle World
The Particle World ² What is our Universe made of? This talk: ² Where does it come from? ² particles as we understand them now ² Why does it behave the way it does? (the Standard Model) Particle physics tries to answer these ² prepare you for the exercise questions. Later: future of particle physics. JMF Southampton Masterclass 22–23 Mar 2004 1/26 Beginning of the 20th century: atoms have a nucleus and a surrounding cloud of electrons. The electrons are responsible for almost all behaviour of matter: ² emission of light ² electricity and magnetism ² electronics ² chemistry ² mechanical properties . technology. JMF Southampton Masterclass 22–23 Mar 2004 2/26 Nucleus at the centre of the atom: tiny Subsequently, particle physicists have yet contains almost all the mass of the discovered four more types of quark, two atom. Yet, it’s composite, made up of more pairs of heavier copies of the up protons and neutrons (or nucleons). and down: Open up a nucleon . it contains ² c or charm quark, charge +2=3 quarks. ² s or strange quark, charge ¡1=3 Normal matter can be understood with ² t or top quark, charge +2=3 just two types of quark. ² b or bottom quark, charge ¡1=3 ² + u or up quark, charge 2=3 Existed only in the early stages of the ² ¡ d or down quark, charge 1=3 universe and nowadays created in high energy physics experiments. JMF Southampton Masterclass 22–23 Mar 2004 3/26 But this is not all. The electron has a friend the electron-neutrino, ºe. Needed to ensure energy and momentum are conserved in ¯-decay: ¡ n ! p + e + º¯e Neutrino: no electric charge, (almost) no mass, hardly interacts at all. -
Lepton Flavor and Number Conservation, and Physics Beyond the Standard Model
Lepton Flavor and Number Conservation, and Physics Beyond the Standard Model Andr´ede Gouv^ea1 and Petr Vogel2 1 Department of Physics and Astronomy, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, 60208, USA 2 Kellogg Radiation Laboratory, Caltech, Pasadena, California, 91125, USA April 1, 2013 Abstract The physics responsible for neutrino masses and lepton mixing remains unknown. More ex- perimental data are needed to constrain and guide possible generalizations of the standard model of particle physics, and reveal the mechanism behind nonzero neutrino masses. Here, the physics associated with searches for the violation of lepton-flavor conservation in charged-lepton processes and the violation of lepton-number conservation in nuclear physics processes is summarized. In the first part, several aspects of charged-lepton flavor violation are discussed, especially its sensitivity to new particles and interactions beyond the standard model of particle physics. The discussion concentrates mostly on rare processes involving muons and electrons. In the second part, the sta- tus of the conservation of total lepton number is discussed. The discussion here concentrates on current and future probes of this apparent law of Nature via searches for neutrinoless double beta decay, which is also the most sensitive probe of the potential Majorana nature of neutrinos. arXiv:1303.4097v2 [hep-ph] 29 Mar 2013 1 1 Introduction In the absence of interactions that lead to nonzero neutrino masses, the Standard Model Lagrangian is invariant under global U(1)e × U(1)µ × U(1)τ rotations of the lepton fields. In other words, if neutrinos are massless, individual lepton-flavor numbers { electron-number, muon-number, and tau-number { are expected to be conserved. -
A Discussion on Characteristics of the Quantum Vacuum
A Discussion on Characteristics of the Quantum Vacuum Harold \Sonny" White∗ NASA/Johnson Space Center, 2101 NASA Pkwy M/C EP411, Houston, TX (Dated: September 17, 2015) This paper will begin by considering the quantum vacuum at the cosmological scale to show that the gravitational coupling constant may be viewed as an emergent phenomenon, or rather a long wavelength consequence of the quantum vacuum. This cosmological viewpoint will be reconsidered on a microscopic scale in the presence of concentrations of \ordinary" matter to determine the impact on the energy state of the quantum vacuum. The derived relationship will be used to predict a radius of the hydrogen atom which will be compared to the Bohr radius for validation. The ramifications of this equation will be explored in the context of the predicted electron mass, the electrostatic force, and the energy density of the electric field around the hydrogen nucleus. It will finally be shown that this perturbed energy state of the quan- tum vacuum can be successfully modeled as a virtual electron-positron plasma, or the Dirac vacuum. PACS numbers: 95.30.Sf, 04.60.Bc, 95.30.Qd, 95.30.Cq, 95.36.+x I. BACKGROUND ON STANDARD MODEL OF COSMOLOGY Prior to developing the central theme of the paper, it will be useful to present the reader with an executive summary of the characteristics and mathematical relationships central to what is now commonly referred to as the standard model of Big Bang cosmology, the Friedmann-Lema^ıtre-Robertson-Walker metric. The Friedmann equations are analytic solutions of the Einstein field equations using the FLRW metric, and Equation(s) (1) show some commonly used forms that include the cosmological constant[1], Λ. -
1 Standard Model: Successes and Problems
Searching for new particles at the Large Hadron Collider James Hirschauer (Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory) Sambamurti Memorial Lecture : August 7, 2017 Our current theory of the most fundamental laws of physics, known as the standard model (SM), works very well to explain many aspects of nature. Most recently, the Higgs boson, predicted to exist in the late 1960s, was discovered by the CMS and ATLAS collaborations at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in 2012 [1] marking the first observation of the full spectrum of predicted SM particles. Despite the great success of this theory, there are several aspects of nature for which the SM description is completely lacking or unsatisfactory, including the identity of the astronomically observed dark matter and the mass of newly discovered Higgs boson. These and other apparent limitations of the SM motivate the search for new phenomena beyond the SM either directly at the LHC or indirectly with lower energy, high precision experiments. In these proceedings, the successes and some of the shortcomings of the SM are described, followed by a description of the methods and status of the search for new phenomena at the LHC, with some focus on supersymmetry (SUSY) [2], a specific theory of physics beyond the standard model (BSM). 1 Standard model: successes and problems The standard model of particle physics describes the interactions of fundamental matter particles (quarks and leptons) via the fundamental forces (mediated by the force carrying particles: the photon, gluon, and weak bosons). The Higgs boson, also a fundamental SM particle, plays a central role in the mechanism that determines the masses of the photon and weak bosons, as well as the rest of the standard model particles. -
Lesson 1: the Single Electron Atom: Hydrogen
Lesson 1: The Single Electron Atom: Hydrogen Irene K. Metz, Joseph W. Bennett, and Sara E. Mason (Dated: July 24, 2018) Learning Objectives: 1. Utilize quantum numbers and atomic radii information to create input files and run a single-electron calculation. 2. Learn how to read the log and report files to obtain atomic orbital information. 3. Plot the all-electron wavefunction to determine where the electron is likely to be posi- tioned relative to the nucleus. Before doing this exercise, be sure to read through the Ins and Outs of Operation document. So, what do we need to build an atom? Protons, neutrons, and electrons of course! But the mass of a proton is 1800 times greater than that of an electron. Therefore, based on de Broglie’s wave equation, the wavelength of an electron is larger when compared to that of a proton. In other words, the wave-like properties of an electron are important whereas we think of protons and neutrons as particle-like. The separation of the electron from the nucleus is called the Born-Oppenheimer approximation. So now we need the wave-like description of the Hydrogen electron. Hydrogen is the simplest atom on the periodic table and the most abundant element in the universe, and therefore the perfect starting point for atomic orbitals and energies. The compu- tational tool we are going to use is called OPIUM (silly name, right?). Before we get started, we should know what’s needed to create an input file, which OPIUM calls a parameter files. Each parameter file consist of a sequence of ”keyblocks”, containing sets of related parameters. -
Muon Decay 1
Muon Decay 1 LIFETIME OF THE MUON Introduction Muons are unstable particles; otherwise, they are rather like electrons but with much higher masses, approximately 105 MeV. Radioactive nuclear decays do not release enough energy to produce them; however, they are readily available in the laboratory as the dominant component of the cosmic ray flux at the earth’s surface. There are two types of muons, with opposite charge, and they decay into electrons or positrons and two neutrinos according to the rules + + µ → e νe ν¯µ − − µ → e ν¯e νµ . The muon decay is a radioactiveprocess which follows the usual exponential law for the probability of survival for a given time t. Be sure that you understand the basis for this law. The goal of the experiment is to measure the muon lifetime which is roughly 2 µs. With care you can make the measurement with an accuracy of a few percent or better. In order to achieve this goal in a conceptually simple way, we look only at those muons that happen to come to rest inside our detector. That is, we first capture a muon and then measure the elapsed time until it decays. Muons are rather penetrating particles, they can easily go through meters of concrete. Nevertheless, a small fraction of the muons will be slowed down and stopped in the detector. As shown in Figure 1, the apparatus consists of two types of detectors. There is a tank filled with liquid scintillator (a big metal box) viewed by two photomultiplier tubes (Left and Right) and two plastic scintillation counters (flat panels wrapped in black tape), each viewed by a photomul- tiplier tube (Top and Bottom). -
7. Gamma and X-Ray Interactions in Matter
Photon interactions in matter Gamma- and X-Ray • Compton effect • Photoelectric effect Interactions in Matter • Pair production • Rayleigh (coherent) scattering Chapter 7 • Photonuclear interactions F.A. Attix, Introduction to Radiological Kinematics Physics and Radiation Dosimetry Interaction cross sections Energy-transfer cross sections Mass attenuation coefficients 1 2 Compton interaction A.H. Compton • Inelastic photon scattering by an electron • Arthur Holly Compton (September 10, 1892 – March 15, 1962) • Main assumption: the electron struck by the • Received Nobel prize in physics 1927 for incoming photon is unbound and stationary his discovery of the Compton effect – The largest contribution from binding is under • Was a key figure in the Manhattan Project, condition of high Z, low energy and creation of first nuclear reactor, which went critical in December 1942 – Under these conditions photoelectric effect is dominant Born and buried in • Consider two aspects: kinematics and cross Wooster, OH http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Compton sections http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=22551 3 4 Compton interaction: Kinematics Compton interaction: Kinematics • An earlier theory of -ray scattering by Thomson, based on observations only at low energies, predicted that the scattered photon should always have the same energy as the incident one, regardless of h or • The failure of the Thomson theory to describe high-energy photon scattering necessitated the • Inelastic collision • After the collision the electron departs -
First Determination of the Electric Charge of the Top Quark
First Determination of the Electric Charge of the Top Quark PER HANSSON arXiv:hep-ex/0702004v1 1 Feb 2007 Licentiate Thesis Stockholm, Sweden 2006 Licentiate Thesis First Determination of the Electric Charge of the Top Quark Per Hansson Particle and Astroparticle Physics, Department of Physics Royal Institute of Technology, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden Stockholm, Sweden 2006 Cover illustration: View of a top quark pair event with an electron and four jets in the final state. Image by DØ Collaboration. Akademisk avhandling som med tillst˚and av Kungliga Tekniska H¨ogskolan i Stock- holm framl¨agges till offentlig granskning f¨or avl¨aggande av filosofie licentiatexamen fredagen den 24 november 2006 14.00 i sal FB54, AlbaNova Universitets Center, KTH Partikel- och Astropartikelfysik, Roslagstullsbacken 21, Stockholm. Avhandlingen f¨orsvaras p˚aengelska. ISBN 91-7178-493-4 TRITA-FYS 2006:69 ISSN 0280-316X ISRN KTH/FYS/--06:69--SE c Per Hansson, Oct 2006 Printed by Universitetsservice US AB 2006 Abstract In this thesis, the first determination of the electric charge of the top quark is presented using 370 pb−1 of data recorded by the DØ detector at the Fermilab Tevatron accelerator. tt¯ events are selected with one isolated electron or muon and at least four jets out of which two are b-tagged by reconstruction of a secondary decay vertex (SVT). The method is based on the discrimination between b- and ¯b-quark jets using a jet charge algorithm applied to SVT-tagged jets. A method to calibrate the jet charge algorithm with data is developed. A constrained kinematic fit is performed to associate the W bosons to the correct b-quark jets in the event and extract the top quark electric charge. -
ANTIPROTON and NEUTRINO PRODUCTION ACCELERATOR TIMELINE ISSUES Dave Mcginnis August 28, 2005
ANTIPROTON AND NEUTRINO PRODUCTION ACCELERATOR TIMELINE ISSUES Dave McGinnis August 28, 2005 INTRODUCTION Most of the accelerator operating period is devoted to making antiprotons for the Collider program and accelerating protons for the NUMI program. While stacking antiprotons, the same Main Injector 120 GeV acceleration cycle is used to accelerate protons bound for the antiproton production target and protons bound for the NUMI neutrino production target. This is designated as Mixed-Mode operations. The minimum cycle time is limited by the time it takes to fill the Main Injector with two Booster batches for antiproton production and five Booster batches for neutrino production (7 x 0.067 seconds) and the Main Injector ramp rate (~ 1.5 seconds). As the antiproton stack size grows, the Accumulator stochastic cooling systems slow down which requires the cycle time to be lengthened. The lengthening of the cycle time unfortunately reduces the NUMI neutrino flux. This paper will use a simple antiproton stacking model to explore some of the tradeoffs between antiproton stacking and neutrino production. ACCUMULATOR STACKTAIL SYSTEM After the target, antiprotons are injected into the Debuncher ring where they undergo a bunch rotation and are stochastically pre-cooled for injection into the Accumulator. A fresh beam pulse injected into the Accumulator from the Debuncher is merged with previous beam pulses with the Accumulator StackTail system. This system cools and decelerates the antiprotons until the antiprotons are captured by the core cooling systems as shown in Figure 1. The antiproton flux through the Stacktail system is described by the Fokker –Plank equation ∂ψ ∂φ = − (1) ∂t ∂E where φ the flux of particles passing through the energy E and ψ is the particle density of the beam at energy E.