Prof. S.

Mukherjee Fundamentals of Particle Physics: Lets

The M. S. University of
Baroda/Manipal Institute of
Explore Together
Technology
 Lecture contents

 Section-1: Basics of elementary particle physics

 Section-2: Fundamental interactions/forces
 Section-3: Conservation laws & Symmetries
 Section-4: Building blocks of matter
 Section-5: Conclusion with the Fundamental
Model of particles
2
 Section-1: Basics of elementary particle physics

Some open questions for students:

• What is Particle Physics and why do we study it?
• What are the Elementary particles?
• What are the basic building blocks of matter in the Universe?
• What are fundamental forces and how are they transmitted?
• What is the world made of?
• What is the origin of mass?
• What do the theories underlying particle physics look like?
• How much matter present in the universe?
• What does this tell us about the origins of the Universe?
3
Elementary Particle Physics:

 Elementary particle physics studies the fundamental building blocks of nature.

But what fundamental does mean? By fundamental we mean objects that are
simple and structureless, not made of anything smaller.
 During the past century the word “fundamental” was addressed firstly to the
atom. The word “atom” was introduced by Democritus (400 BC) who described
the matter as composed by small and indivisible particles (“atom” comes from
greek a-temno, which can not be divided).
 The internal structure of the atom was discovered and protons, neutrons and
electrons became the building blocks of matter.
 After 1960, scattering experiments of high energy particles on nucleons lead to
the discovery of the quarks, which are thought now as the fundamental
consituents of matter.
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6
Question: How can we classify all fundamental particles ?
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Baryons: Proton, neutron, hyperons Mesons: Pi-meson, K-meson, eta-meson

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In the Standard Model of elementary
particles, a scalar Higgs field is used to
give the leptons and 
massive vector bosons their mass, via a
combination of the Yukawa interaction
 and the spontaneous symmetry breaking.
This mechanism is known as the 
Higgs mechanism. A candidate for the 
Higgs boson was first detected at CERN
in 2012.
Particle classification according to acting
interactions :
 Leptons – interact weakly and charged also electromagnetically, they do not interact strongly
(e, μ, τ, νe, νμ, ντ) – in the present experiments they are point like

 Hadrons – interact in addition also strongly – they have structure and size ≈1 fm

Particle classification according to statistics:

 Bosons: Bose-Einstein statistic → arbitrary number of particles in given state – integral
spin Wave function – symmetric:
ΨB(x1,x2,x3, …,xn) = ΨB(x2,x1,x3, …,xn)
 Fermions: Fermi-Dirac statistic → Pauli exclusion principle → only one identical particle
in given state – half-integral spin. Wave function is antisymmetric:
ΨF(x1,x2,x3, …,xn) = -ΨF(x2,x1,x3, …,xn)
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 Section-2: Fundamental interactions/forces
What is the difference between a force and an interaction?

This is a hard distinction to make. Strictly speaking, a force is the effect on a

particle due to the presence of other particles. The interactions of a particle include
all the forces that affect it, but also include decays and annihilations that the particle
might go through.

The reason this gets confusing is that most people, even most physicists, usually
use "force" and "interaction" interchangeably, although "interaction" is more
correct.

You will usually be okay using the terms interchangeably, but you should know that
they are different.

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 Fundamental interactions/forces

 One of the main goals of particle physics is to unify these forces (to show that
they’re all just different aspects of the same force), just as Maxwell did for
the electric and magnetic forces many years earlier.
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Summary of fundamental forces in nature:

Question: How can we calculate the ‘Range’ of Only four fundamental forces?
forces? 18
 Range of forces:
 The range of forces is related to the mass of exchange particle M.
 An amount of energy ΔE=Mc2 borrowed for a time Δt is governed by the
Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle:
E t ~ ħ; E t≥ ħ
 The maximum distance the particle can travel is Δx = c Δt, where c is speed of
light.
x  ħc / E
x  ħc / M c 2

 Exp: The photon has M=0  Infinite range of EM force

W boson has a mass of 80 GeV/C2  Range of weak force is about 2x10-3 fm
Meson has a mass 135 MeV/c2  Range of Nuclear force ~ 1.2 fm
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 Yukawa’s Meson
Yukawa’s meson, called a pion (or pi-meson or p-meson), was identified in
1947 by C. F. Powell (1903–1969) and G. P. Occhialini (1907–1993)
Charged pions have masses of 140 MeV/c2, and a neutral pion p0 was later
discovered that has a mass of 135 MeV/c2, a neutron and a proton.

Feynman diagram indicating the

exchange of a pion (Yukawa’s meson)
between a neutron and a proton.
Yukawa’s Meson Model of Nuclear Force
Which forces act on which particles?
 The weak force acts between all quarks and leptons
 The electromagnetic force acts between all charged particles
 The strong force acts between all quarks (i.e. objects that have color
charge)
 Gravity does not play any role in particle physics (Plancks Scale)

Weak EM Strong

Quarks + + +
Charged leptons + + –
Neutral leptons + – –
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 Fifth fundamental forces: A scientific approach

 The characteristics of this fifth force is roughly having the strength of gravity (i.e., it is
much weaker than electromagnetism or the nuclear forces) with a range of anywhere
from less than a millimeter to cosmological scales.
 Another proposal is a new weak force mediated by W′ and Z′ bosons.
 The search for a fifth force has increased in recent decades due to two discoveries in 
cosmology which are not explained by current theories.
 It has been discovered that most of the mass of the universe is accounted for by an
unknown form of matter called dark matter.
 Most physicists believe that dark matter consists of new, undiscovered subatomic
particles, but some believe that it could be related to an unknown fundamental force.
 Second, it has also recently been discovered that the expansion of the universe is
accelerating, which has been attributed to a form of energy called dark energy.
 Some physicists speculate that a form of dark energy called quintessence could be a
fifth force.
 It is hypothetical force, not observed yet
 It require extra dimensions to formulate.
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In Quantum Field Theory, the sum over all possible time-orderings is represented by a Feynman diagram. The left-hand side of
the diagram represents the initial state, and the right-hand side represents the final state. Everything in between represents
the manner in which the interaction happened, regardless of the ordering in time. The Feynman diagram for the scattering
process a + b → c + d, shown in the figure, therefore represents the sum over the two possible time-orderings. The exchanged
particles which appear in the intermediate state of a Feynman diagram, are referred to as virtual particles. A virtual particle is a
mathematical construct representing the effect of summing over all possible time-ordered diagrams,
 Section-3: Conservation laws &
Symmetries
 Conservation laws are fundamental to our understanding of the physical world, in
that they describe which processes can or cannot occur in nature.
 Exact conservation laws include conservation of energy, conservation of linear
momentum, conservation of angular momentum, and conservation of electric
charge.
 There are also many approximate conservation laws in particle physics, which
apply to such quantities as parity, charge conjugation, time reversal, lepton
number, baryon number, strangeness, hypercharge, isospin etc.

 One particularly important result concerning conservation laws is Noether's

theorem, which states that there is a one-to-one correspondence between each
one of them and a differentiable symmetry of nature.

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 What actually the Noether's theorem means?

Respective Noether’s Meaning of invariance

Conservation Law
symmetry
invariance
Conservation of energy Time invariance translation about time axis

Conservation of linear momentum Translation symmetry Lorentz invariance translation about x,y,z position
Conservation of angular momentum Rotation invariance symmetry rotation about x,y,z axes
(charge inversion q → −q) +
CPT symmetry (combining charge (position inversion r → −r)
conjugation, parity and time reversal) Lorentz invariance
+ (time inversion t → −t)

scalar field (1D) in 4D spacetime

Conservation of electric charge Gauge invariance (x,y,z + time evolution)
Conservation of color charge SU(3) Gauge invariance r,g,b
Conservation of weak isospin SU(2)L Gauge invariance weak charge
total probability always = 1 in
Conservation of probability Probability invariance whole x,y,z space,
during time evolution

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 Symmetries:
 A symmetry is a physical or mathematical feature of the system that remains
unchanged under some transformation.
 Global or Local Symmetries (broadly classified): A global symmetry is one
that holds at all points of spacetime, whereas a local symmetry is one that has a
different symmetry transformation at different points of spacetime.
 Discrete and Continuous Symmetries: The quadratic one has a discrete
symmetry w.r.t. rotation along its axis, while the round one enjoys a continuous
symmetry.

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 Class Invariance Conserved quantity

Lorentz symmetry translation in time energy

(homogeneity)
translation in space linear momentum
(homogeneity)
rotation in space angular momentum
(isotropy)
Discrete symmetry P, coordinate inversion spatial parity
C, charge conjugation charge parity
T, time reversal time parity
CPT product of parities
Internal symmetry U(1) gauge transformation electric charge
(independent of spacetime coordinates)
U(1) gauge transformation hypercharge

U(1)Y gauge transformation

weak hypercharge

SU(2) gauge transformation isospin

SU(2)L gauge transformation

weak isospin

SU(3) gauge transformation quark color

SU(3) (approximate) quark flavor
[ U(1) × SU(2) × SU(3) ] Standard Model
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 CPT-Theorem:
 Parity (P): The conservation of parity P describes the inversion symmetry of space,

 Charge conjugation (C): It has the effect of interchanging every particle with
its antiparticle.

 Time Reversal (T): Here time t is replaced with –t.

 CPT Theorem: Georg Ludens, Wolfgang Pauli and Julian Schwinger independently
showed that invariance under Lorentz transformations implies CPT invariance.

It states that if a quantum field theory is invariant under

Lorentz transformation, then C P T is an exact
symmetry !!

( Note that if, for example, CP is violated, then T must be 32

 Charge Conjugation (C)
 Charge conjugation operator is a discrete symmetry operator.

 In this operation, Particle is changed to its antiparticle and the dynamical variables
of the particles, namely the momentum, spin remain unchanged.

 If the original particle is positively charged, the charged conjugation operator (C)
would change into negatively charged particle.

Where bar denotes the quantities for antiparticle.

Notice that C-operation does not change p and .

 Both the electromagnetic and strong interactions are invariant under change
conjugation but weak interactions are not.
 Parity
 The operator, which describe the behavior of state vector under inversion of all
space coordinates, is called the parity operator P and the eigenvalue of P is called the
parity of the state.

 The inversion of all space coordinates namely is called the space inversion. The
parity operator changes with into , i.e.

 The sign changing scalars are called pseudoscalars.

 Weak interaction violate parity conservation. The pseudoscalar was where J an axial
vector was the nuclear spin of the parent (60Co) nucleus and p, a polar vector, was the
linear momentum of the emitted electron.

 The lack of symmetry in the angular distribution of electros with respect to the
nuclear spin direction gave a net (non-zero) value to pseudoscalar , which meant the
non-conservation of parity.
The strong and electromagnetic interactions are found to be invariant under the parity operation. The weak
interaction is not invariant under P.
In a theory where invariance of parity is observed, we can never add a vector to a pseudovector.
Polar Vectors/Vectors, like r, p (linear momentum) E (electric field) change sign, i.e., r>-r, P>-P under space
inversion.
Pseudo vectors /Axial Vectors like L=rxp, B (magnetic field) do not change sign, i.e., L --> L, B --> B under
space inversion.
Similarly, the scalar product of two polar vectors would be a scalar that will not change sign under space
inversion.
Dot product of a polar vector and an axial vector would change sign under space inversion.
The sign changing scalars are called pseudoscalars.
If the expectation value of the pseudoscalars is different from zero, implies, parity non-conservation.
The pseudoscalar J.p, where J is an axial vector was the nuclear spin of parent nucleus ( 60Co) and p is the
linear momentum of emitted electron. The lack of symmetry in the angular distribution of the emitted
electrons with respect to the spin of the 60Co nucluei gives a non-zero value of J.p, which meant the non-
conservation of the parity
 Helicity of Neutrino
 The parity violation also implies the violation of left-right symmetry.

 The behavior of left-right symmetry is revealed in the behavior of the neutrino and
antineutrino.

 All neutrinos are left-handed and all antineutrinos are right-handed. This also means
that the there is no right handed neutrino and left handed antineutrino.

 Helicity (H) is defined as,

Where s denotes spin vector and p is the linear momentum vector.

Therefore, the helicity of neutrino is (-1) and that of antineutrino is (+1).

 CP violation
 Most of the weak interactions are invariant under the combined operation of CP.

 However, in the case of the decay of neutral K-mesons i.e. mesons which too decay
through weak interactions, the CP invariance gets violated.

 One of the important consequences of CP violation in neutral kaon decay is that, we

have to consider a mixing state while dealing with weak interactions.

 All interactions are assumed to be invariant under CPT operation taken in any order.

 CP violation in weak interactions implies their T violation as well because of the

CPT invariance theorem.
 Time Reversal (T)
 Classically, time reversal operator is expressed by,
Since entropy is the
only physical
With property, that is
dependent on the
direction of time, we
call entropy “The
and arrow of time”.

‘Don’t try to understand it. Feel it.’

where . TENET Movie
 However, time reversal operator does not mean that the time is running backwards
into past.

 At microscopic level, time reversal invariance appears natural. For example, we may
consider classically the collision between two molecules. This is know as the
principle of microscopic reversibility.
 CPT Theorem
 The CPT theorem states that the combined operation of charge conjugation, space
inversion and time reversal carried out in any order is an exact symmetry of any
interaction.

 The CPT theorem involves three operations. The C-operation changes particles into
antiparticles. The P-operation replaces the three vectors into their opposites and T-
operation inverts time. i.e., T makes us start from the end in reverse direction to
reach at the beginning.

 CPT invariance implies that if we have a process and another process CPT that is
obtained from by replacing particles by antiparticles, by inverting the spins and by
replacing final states by initial states, then the square of the matrix elements of the
process and CPT would be equal. From this equality it is concluded that,

(1) The masses and lifetime of particles and their antiparticles must be exactly same.
(2) The magnetic moments of particle and antiparticle must be equal. They should
differ in sign only.
(3) The violation of any one symmetry or a pair of symmetries in C,P and T would be
followed by a compensatory violation of remaining symmetry such that CPT
remains unviolated.
 Some conservation numbers:
 Baryon Conservation: The conservation of baryon number requires the same total
baryon number before and after the reaction. The value B = +1 for baryons and −1 for
antibaryons, and 0 for all other particles. (See: Neutron & anti-neutron?)
 Lepton Conservation: The number of leptons from each family is the same both
before and after a reaction. We let Le = +1 for the electron and the electron neutrino; Le
= −1 for their antiparticles; and Le = 0 for all other particles. We assign the quantum
numbers Lμ for the muon and its neutrino and Lτ for the tau and its neutrino similarly.
See beta decay: 𝑛 → 𝑝 + 𝑒 + 𝑣𝑒ҧ (Why anti-electron neutrino here?)
 Strangeness Conservation: The kaons have S = +1, lambda and sigmas have S = −1,
the xi has S = −2, and the omega has S = −3.

 Isospin Conservation: The isotropic spin, makes out that proton and neutron are two
charge states of a single particle nucleon. 𝐼 = 1/2 for nucleon and 𝐼3 = +1/2 for
proton and 𝐼3 = −1/2 for neutron. 43
 Strange Particles

 Produce through the strong interaction and decay through the

weak interaction.
 Production time is very fast and decay time is very slow
(it is very interacting property).
 Tp = less than 1 sec. Td = 3000 years (approx.)
 𝐾 −mesons, Λ, Σ, Ξ, Ω −hyperons are called strange particles.
 These particles have additional quantum number called
“Strangeness”.

44
46
Physical quantities for particle and antiparticle:
Quantity particle antiparticle
Mass m same same
Spin (magnitude) same same
Lifetime τ same same
Isospin (magnitude) same same
Electric charge Q -Q
Magnetic moment μ -μ
Baryon number B -B
Lepton number L -L

Strangeness S -S
z component of isospin Iz -Iz
Iz

Intrinsic parity P Same for bosons Opposite - fermions

47
 Example: In the following pairs of proposed reactions, determine which ones
are allowed and the relevant force at work
  + p  0 + 0   + p   0 + K0    + n    + p

Interaction: strong weak

charge: 1 + 1 = 0 + 0 1 + 1 = 0 + 0 1 = 1 + 0 1 = 1 + 1

lepton 0+0=0+0 0+0=0+0 0=0+0 0=0+0

number:

baryon 0+1=1+0 0+1=1+0 1=0+1 1=0+1

number:

0 + 0 = 1 + 0 0+0=1+1
strangeness:
1 + 1/2 = 0  1/2
1 + 1/2 = 0 + 0
Isospin

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(I ) :
Section-4: Building blocks of matter

What is the world made of?

• Real world is not done by single
quarks
• Quarks exist only in groups, to
form the so-called hadrons
(protons and neutrons are hadrons)
• Example: a proton is made of two
quarks of up type and one quark of
type down.
• The matter around, and even each
of us, is made of quarks and of
leptons.
49
50
51
52
53
 Protons and neutrons in the quark model
Question: Why proton has positive and neutron has neutral charge?
Quarks have fractional electric charge!
u electric charge + 2/3
d electric charge 1/3
proton (charge +1) neutron (charge 0)

u u d
u d d
2 2 1
u   u  d    2 1 1
u    d    d   
 3   3   3  3   3  3
p1 n 0 
54
Quark-anti-quark creation

Quarks cannot be observed. They

can exist only within the Hadrons.
This is called Confinement.
This occurs because the force
between the Quarks increases
rapidly with distance, and the
energy supplied to separate them
creates new Quarks
Eightfold Way
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Eightfold Way cont…

58
Baryonic Octet and Decuplet

59
Color Quarks

60
 Colour in QCD
The theory of the strong interaction, Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), is very similar
to
QED but with 3 conserved “colour” charges
In QED:
• the electron carries one unit of charge
• the anti-electron carries one unit of anti-charge
• the force is mediated by a massless
“gauge boson” – the photon
In QCD:
• quarks carry colour charge:
• anti-quarks carry anti-charge:
• The force is mediated by massless gluons
In QCD, the strong interaction is invariant under
rotations in colour space
SU(3) colour symmetry
i.e. the same for all three colours
This is an exact symmetry, unlike the approximate uds flavour symmetry discussed previously.
61
 Colour Confinement
 It is believed (although not yet proven) that all observed free particles are
“colourless”
• i.e. never observe a free quark (which would carry colour charge)
• consequently quarks are always found in bound states colourless
hadrons
 Colour Confinement Hypothesis:
only colour singlet states
can exist as free
particles
 All hadrons must be “colourless” i.e. colour singlets
 To construct colour wave-functions for hadrons,
replace SU(3) flavour symmetry into SU(3) colour
symmetry g r

 Just as for uds flavour symmetry can

define colour ladder operators b
62
 Section-5: Conclusion with the fundamental model of particles

• Physicists have found hundreds of new particles.

• Today we know that most of them are not fundamental.

Now, question arises :

What is the Fundamental Model in particle physics?

A theory has been developed that seems to explain quite well what we
do observe in nature: the theory is called Standard Model (SM).

63
The Standard Model
Framework which includes:

Matter:
• 6 quarks
• 6 leptons
Grouped in three
generations

Forces:
• Electroweak:
- g (photon)
-

Z 0 , W±
• Strong
- g (gluon)

Not gravity! No quantum

field theory of gravity. 64
Why do we need the Higgs field?
A massless electron would therefore be at infinity from the proton, not allowing atoms to form at all. ...
Now, without the Higgs field, the W− particle would have a much smaller mass, protons would
spontaneously and almost instantly decay into neutrons — we would have a Universe without protons.

What is Higgs boson Why is it called the God particle?

The media calls the Higgs boson the God particle because, according to the theory laid out by Scottish
physicist Peter Higgs and others in 1964, it's the physical proof of an invisible, universe-wide field
that gave mass to all matter right after the Big Bang, forcing particles to coalesce into stars,
planets, and ...

Why is the God particle so important?

The Higgs boson particle is so important to the Standard Model because it signals the existence of
the Higgs field, an invisible energy field present throughout the universe that imbues other particles
with mass.
I was fortunate to meet Prof. Abdus Salaam during his visit to Department of Physics, BHU in 1984
Composition of the Universe

Graphics courtesy: NASA

68
 Mysteries, failures and new approach
 The SM is a theory of the Universe.
It gives a good description of the phenomena which we observe
experimentally.
 But under many respects it is incomplete model to explain:
• What is the dark matter and dark matter?
• What about gravity? Advance problems
• How can we unify all fundamental forces? in Particle Physics

• Existence of anti-matter in the universe?

• Origin of Big-Bang? Etc…

Physics Beyond the Standard Model

The String Theory

69
70
 Suggested books

 “Introduction to Elementary Particles”, By D. Griffiths

 “Quarks & Leptons”, By F. Halzen & A. Martin
 “The Experimental Foundations of Particle Physics”, By R. Cahn &
G. Goldhaber
 “Gauge Theories in Particle Physics”, By I.J.R. Aitchison & A.J.G.
Hey
 “Introduction to High Energy Phyics”, By D.H. Perkins

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Thank you for the attention!
For any queries or questions, students
can contact me on the given email id:

E-mail Id: [email protected]

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