FA020 Standard Model of Particle Physics

Lectures: None. Selfstudy.

Course Plan, Fall 2026:

Lecture 1
The particles of the standard model. Conventions. Clifford algebra. Gamma matrices. Weyl representation. Lorentz generators. Dirac spinor. Left & right Weyl spinors. Complex conjugation, Transposition & Hermitian conjugation. Lorentz invariant terms. Dirac Lagrangian. Majorana mass terms. Helicity. Second quantized fermion field. [Schw] 10. (video)

Lecture 2
Creation & annihilation of left/right-handed (anti)particles. Charge conjugation. Majorana fermions.
U(N) Yang-Mills theory. Gauge symmetry. Gauge transformation. Gauge-covariant derivative. Field strength. (video)

Lecture 3
Lagrangian for gauge fields, fermion fields and scalars fields. Kinetic terms + Yukawa + Higgs interaction terms. Standard model gauge group SU(3) x SU(2) x U(1). Representations of 1st generation of standard model. Higgs mechanism. (video)

Lecture 4
Kinetic terms for Higgs. Higgs mechanism. Spontaneous symmetry breaking SU(2)_L x U(1)_Y -> U(1)_EM. Massterms for W & Z. Weinberg angle. W^3 & B versus A & Z fields. Fluctuations of the Higgs field. (video)
Hw: Find the electric charge of all fermions. Are they chiral or not?

Lecture 5
Review of Higgs Lagrangian. Halflife of Neutron decay [G] 10.3. (video)
Hw: Check kinematic momentum factor.

Lecture 6
Propagator for massive vector boson. Dirac + Majorana mass terms for neutrino. Seesaw mechanism. Double neutrinoless beta decay. Furry's theorem for non-chiral and chiral fermions. Chiral anomaly. (video)

Lecture 7
Abelian Chiral anomaly [Schw] 30.2; (video)

Lecture 8
Non-Abelian chiral anomaly [Schw] 30.4; Gravity anomaly; 3 generations; (video)

Lecture 9
3 generations; Yukawa terms; flavor vs. mass basis; Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKW) matrix; Pontecorvo-Maki-Nakagawa-Sakata (PMNS) matrix; Kaon decay; CP-violation, Jarlskog invariant [Schw] 29.5; (video)

Lecture 10
CP-violation, Jarlskog invariant [Schw] 29.5; Renormalization; GUT SU(5) -> SU(3) x SU(2) x U(1) branching rules; (video)

Lecture 10.5
Group & representation theory; GUT SU(5) -> SU(3) x SU(2) x U(1) branching rules; (video) (NB: 47:30-48:45 is wrong.)

Lecture 11
GUT SU(5) -> SU(3) x SU(2) x U(1) branching rules; (video)

Course Material:

[Schw] M.D. Schwartz, "QFT & the standard model".
[Sred] M. Srednicki, "QFT".
[IZ] C. Itzykson & J-B. Zuber, "QFT".
[G] D. Griffiths, "Intro to elementary particles", 1987.
[U] R. von Unge, QED lecture notes.
[1001] S.J. Gates Jr, M.T. Grisaru, M. Rocek & W. Siegel, "Superspace, or One thousand and one lessons in supersymmetry", arXiv:hep-th/0108200.
[P] Problemsheets.