Undergraduate Course: Gauge Theories in Particle Physics (PHYS11072)
Course Outline
| School | School of Physics and Astronomy |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Year 5 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course covers the field theoretical treatment of the standard model of particle physics. It consists of two threads taught in parallel. The primary focus of the Quantum Electrodynamics (QED) and Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) thread is perturbative QCD in collider physics, but it starts with QED renormalisation, building on the material taught in Quantum Field Theory (QFT). The other thread covers electroweak theory and flavour physics. |
| Course description |
This course provides a comprehensive treatment of the field theoretical approach to the Standard Model of particle physics; it is taught in two parallel threads.
The QED and QCD thread begins with path integral quantisation and renormalisation of Quantum Electrodynamics (QED). It then moves on to a detailed study of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), beginning with quantisation, Feynman rules and renormalisation, and then applying a wide range of topics in modern perturbative QCD to collider physics, including deep inelastic scattering and Higgs production.
The electroweak physics thread focuses on the field theoretical construction and application of the standard model of particle physics, including parity violation, spontaneously broken gauge theories, mass generation through the Higgs mechanism, the flavour sector of the SM, quark mixing, and CP violation. Further focus is on detailed calculations in perturbation theory and comparison with experiment.
Each thread will have two hours of lectures and two hours of tutorial workshops every week, giving a total of 40 lecture hours and 40 tutorial hours. Students are expected to engage with the material presented in lectures by working through and discussing weekly formative problem sheets in the tutorial sessions. There will be a total of 4 summative hand-ins, which will be marked and individual written will be feedback provided on each. Individual feedback will also be administered verbally during tutorial sessions.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | For whole-year visiting students, the prerequisites are the same as for UoE students.
For Semester 2 visiting the students: knowledge of perturbative relativistic quantum field theory using both operator and path-integral formalisms at the level of Quantum Field Theory, and knowledge of group theory and Lie algebras with applications in field theory at the level of Symmetries of Particles and Fields. |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2026/27, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 40,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 40,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
116 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
100 %,
Coursework
0 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
100% Examination |
| Feedback |
There will be a total of 4 summative hand-ins, which will be marked and individual written will be feedback provided on each. Individual feedback will also be administered verbally during tutorial sessions. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand the field theoretical formulation of the Standard Model of particle physics, namely QED, QCD and electroweak theory, including renormalization of these theories.
- Be familiar with the Standard Model (SM) Lagrangian and able to compute tree-level processes using Feynman diagram techniques.
- Be able to apply these methods to analyse scattering processes within QCD, including understanding of infrared-safety and collinear factorisation.
- Be familiar with parity violation, spontaneously broken gauge theories, mass generation through the Higgs mechanism, the flavour sector of the SM, quark mixing, CP violation, and neutrinos.
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Reading List
- Burgess and Moore: The Standard Model: A Primer
- Peskin and Schroeder: An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory
- Mark Srednicki, Quantum Field Theory, 2006
- John Collins, Foundations of Perturbative QCD, 2012
- Yuri V. Kovchegov, Eugene Levin, Quantum Chromodynamics at High Energy, 2012
- R. Keith Ellis, W. James Stirling, Bryan R. Webber, QCD and Collider Physics, 1996 |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | GTiPP,Quantum Field theory,QED,QCD,electroweak,Higgs,lattice |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Richard Ball
Tel: (0131 6)50 5248
Email: R.D.Ball@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Aisling McNulty
Tel:
Email: amcnulty@ed.ac.uk |
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