Particle Physics

Core modules:

The Development of Particle Physics

The module describes the development of several crucial concepts in particle physics, emphasising the role and significance of experiments. Students are encouraged to work from the original literature. The module focuses not only on the particle physics issues involved, but also on research methodology - the design of experiments, the critical interpretation of data, the role of theory, etc. Topics covered include the discoveries of the neutron, the positron and the neutrino, the parity and CP violations, experimental evidence for quarks and gluons, etc.

15 credits

Particle Physics

This 15-credit Physics module introduces students to the exciting field of modern particle physics. It provides the mathematical tools of relativistic kinematics, enabling them to study interactions and decays and evaluate scattering form factors. Particles are classified as fermions - the constituents of matter (quarks and leptons) - or as bosons, the propagators of field. The four fundamental interactions are outlined. Three are studied in detail: Feynman diagrams are introduced to describe higher order quantum electrodynamics; weak interactions are discussed from beta decay to high energy electroweak unification; strong interactions, binding quarks into hadrons, are presented with the experimental evidence for colour. The role symmetry plays in the allowed particles and their interactions is emphasised.

15 credits

Advanced Particle Physics

The module provides students with a comprehensive understanding of modern particle physics. Focusing on the standard model, it provides a theoretical underpinning of this model and discusses its predictions. Recent developments including the discovery of the Higgs Boson and neutrino oscillation studies are covered. A description of the experiments used to probe the standard model is provided. Finally the module looks at possible physics beyond the standard model.

15 credits

Research Project in Physics

This is a project based module that gives students an opportunity to apply their scientific knowledge to a research problem. Students will develop skills in time management, project planning, scientific record keeping, information retrieval and analysis of scientific information sources.

Students will choose a project of relevance to their programme of study and will work closely with an academic supervisor who is an expert in the field. The project will involve analysing the literature relevant to the problem and then developing skills relevant to tackling the problem. Projects maybe experimental, theoretical, analytical or computational in nature but will involve a substantial component of new work. The research will culminate with a written dissertation.

Teaching will be through weekly supervisions with academic staff and interactions with research group members. In the supervisions students will develop research plans, practise applying the scientific method by developing and testing hypotheses, discuss findings from both the literature and from laboratory or simulation based experiments, present results and discuss potential conclusions. Plans will be adapted based on these discussions. Specific experimental and/or simulation based skills will be learnt through a combination of supervised activities and self teaching - building on basic skills learnt in earlier modules in the programme.

Weekly seminars and workshops will teach students good practice in terms of searching the literature, research ethics and keeping research records.

90 credits

Optional modules - one from:

Dark Matter and the Universe

This course aims to provide students with an understanding of Dark Matter in the Universe from both the astrophysics and particle physics viewpoints. This course is split into two halves. The first half of the course is on the astrophysical evidence for Dark Matter, and the second half of the course is on the detection of candidate Dark Matter particles.

15 credits

An Introduction to General Relativity

A course on Einstein's theory of gravity. We start with the principle of equivalence, then move on to tensors. We motivate and then write down Einstein's equations. We use Schwarzschild black holes, Friedmann Robertson Walker cosmology and gravitational waves as examples. Einstein invented general relativity in 1915. The theory makes a link between geometry and the presence of energy and matter. This is expressed in the principle of equivalence, which we introduce and discuss. General relativity calls for a sophisticated mathematics called differential geometry, for which an important tool set is tensors and tensor components. We spend about the first half of the course learning about this, and using the formalism to write down Einstein's equations. We then study solutions that have been found to correspond to black holes without spin or charge, the Friedmann Robertson Walker cosmology thought to provide a useful description of the large-scale structure of the Universe, and gravitational waves that were first detected by the LIGO experiment in 2015. The course has no formal prerequisites, but it is very mathematical. Familiarity with special relativity will be helpful, but is not required.

15 credits

Advanced Quantum Mechanics

Quantum mechanics at an intermediate to advanced level, including the mathematical vector space formalism, approximate methods, angular momentum, and some contemporary topics such as entanglement, density matrices and open quantum systems. We will study topics in quantum mechanics at an intermediate to advanced level, bridging the gap between the physics core and graduate level material.   The syllabus includes a formal mathematical description in the language of vector spaces; the description of the quantum state in Schrodinger and Heisenberg pictures, and using density operators to represent mixed states; approximate methods: perturbation theory,  variational method and time-dependent perturbation theory;  the theory of angular momentum and spin; the treatment of identical particles; entanglement; open quantum systems and decoherence. The problem solving will provide a lot of practice at using vector and matrix methods and operator algebra techniques. The teaching will take the form of traditional lectures plus weekly problem classes where you will be provided with support and feedback on your attempts.

15 credits

Optional modules - two from:

Physics in an Enterprise Culture

This is a seminar and workshop based course where students will create a proposal for a new business. Seminars will cover topics such as innovation, intellectual property, costing and business planning. Workshops will support students to develop ideas and communicate them effectively. Both a business proposal and a pitch to investors are assessed. This modules give students an opportunity to develop a business proposal, using their physics knowledge as a starting point. The module starts with a series of seminars and workshops designed to help students come up with possible new ideas for products or services that they are interested in developing further. Further seminars formalise how business ideas are tested to ensure that basic assumptions about customers and markets are sensible and also guidance is given in terms of how to estimate the costs and revenues associated with the idea. Finally seminars to support writing the idea into a proposal are given. Evaluation of ideas using peer feedback is a key part of the module and midway through, a review panel is organised to give an opportunity for students to formally evaluate other ideas to help them develop their own.

15 credits

Further Statistical Physics

Statistical mechanics at an intermediate to advanced level, including the concepts of micro and macro states, different ensembles, and mathematical formulation of calculating average values physical quantities that can be measured in experiments. Contemporary topics such as Quantum Statistical Mechanics, Phase transitions and critical phenomena and Mean field theory will be covered.Statistical physics is a probabilistic description of systems with many degrees of freedom and provides the microscopic basis of thermodynamics. The  course focuses on understanding the ergodic hypothesis, classification of micro and macro states and calculation of thermodynamic quantities e.g., pressure, volume, free energy etc. of a system in the micro-canonical, canonical and grand canonical ensemble, quantum statistical mechanics, including Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac statistics and Landau theory of phase transitions. Advanced topics such as mean field theory and critical phenomena will also be covered.

15 credits

Origin of the Chemical Elements

This course looks at the origin, distribution and evolution of the chemical elements, which are created in the early Universe, during the life cycles of stars and in the interstellar medium. The main teaching method is the standard 50-minute lecture, which is well suited to the delivery of the factual information in this course. The syllabus includes topics such as: Experimental evidence for elemental abundances; Observational evidence for elemental abundances; Primordial nucleosynthesis; Stellar nucleosynthesis; Neutron capture; Supernovae and kilonovae; Cosmic rays; Galactic chemical evolution.

15 credits

Introduction to Cosmology

The aim of this course is to provide students with an understanding of the Universe as its own entity. Students will learn how the contents of the Universe affect its dynamic evolution, and how we can use observations of Type 1a Supernovae and the Cosmic Microwave Background to constrain the properties of the Universe. Students will also learn about key epochs during the history of the Universe, from inflation through to nucleosynthesis, recombination, and reionisation, before learning how the first stars and galaxies started to form. Throughout a series of lectures, students will first learn that spacetime forms the fabric of the Universe, and how the contents of the Universe in the form of dark energy, dark and baryonic matter, and radiation dictate the dynamic evolution of the Universe. Students will next learn about modern precision cosmology, whereby cosmologists use observations of Type 1a Supernovae and the Cosmic Microwave Background to measure various cosmological parameters. This aspect of the course will form the basis of a computer programming-based assessment. Toward the end of the lecture course, students will learn about the epochs of inflation, nucleosynthesis, recombination and reionisation, before learning how today's stars and galaxies began to form. Finally, students will learn about current cosmological research via a literature review.

15 credits

History of Astronomy

Astronomy is at once the oldest of the exact sciences, having been practised by most ancient civilisations, and one of the youngest: modern astronomy, with its focus on the physics of astronomical objects, is only a century old. In this course we will study how astronomy developed from a simple awareness of the phases of the Moon and the existence of the planets to its present position as a major branch of physics. Although the heritage of modern astronomy is largely from the eastern Mediterranean and Mesopotamia, we will also look at astronomy as it was practised in other cultures, particularly India, China and Mesoamerica.

This unit aims to provide an introduction to the historical development of modern astronomy, with a focus on the nature of discovery in astronomy, the interplay between theory and observation, the role of technological advances, and the relationship between astronomy and physics. The course is divided into a series of thematic topics arranged in approximate chronological order, prefaced by a brief introduction to philosophy of science. In contrast to the BSc version, this unit also has a focus on non-Western astronomy, with students required to research and write a report on some aspect of the history of astronomy outside the Mediterranean/Mesopotamian area.

The unit is taught by a combination of lectures and written course resources for the main thread, with students expected to research their report on non-Western astronomy independently, in line with expectations for students at masters level ('holders will have the independent learning ability required for continuing professional development').

15 credits

Machine Learning

Machine learning lies at the interface between computer science and statistics. The aims of machine learning are to develop a set of tools for modelling and understanding complex data sets. It is an area developed recently in parallel between statistics and computer science. With the explosion of “Big Data”, statistical machine learning has become important in many fields, such as marketing, finance and business, as well as in science. The module focuses on the problem of training models to learn from training data to classify new examples of data.

15 credits