Particle Physics Study Guide

This is a guide of what to revise for the exam. Other material we covered in the course may
appear in questions but in conjunction with what’s given below. Remember that, in an exam,
the masses of the particles are provided on the constant sheet.

At the end of this summary a list of the equations you need to remember, and a summary of
the forces and Feynman rules.

Quarks, Leptons and Quantum Numbers

• The quarks and leptons (a.k.a. the fermions) and their anti-particles. Which fermions
interact under which forces.
• That fermions are described, quantum mechanically, by ”spinors”. That a spinor is a
four-component object, a function of the fermion’s four-momentum.
• That for each flavour of fermion there are four possible spinors: e.g. for electrons - the four
solutions represent: left-handed electrons, right-handed electrons, left-handed positrons
and right-handed positrons.
• The definition of the following quantum numbers and charges, and the value of them for
the fundamental particles.
– Electric charge, Q.
– Total quark number, Nq .
– Lepton numbers: Le , Lµ , Lτ
– Spin: total spin S and third component: SZ .
– The individual quark flavour quantum numbers: Nu , Nd , Ns , Nc , Nb , Nt .
– Colour charge, in so far as the quarks always carry a colour charge, there are three
colour charges, and the net colour charge is conserved.
– Weak Hypercharge: total T and third component T3 .
– Weak Hypercharge Y = 2(Q − T3 ).
– The definition of helicity.
– The definition of left-handed and right-handed chirality.

Forces

There is a summary of the forces at the end of this guide. For the strong, electromagnetic and
weak forces:

• The boson(s) responsible for the force.

• The rough mass of each boson (remember exact masses of massive particles are on the
data sheets).
• The coupling constants, and what charge each of the forces couple to.
• The allowed flavour changes for W -boson interactions. (The flavour of the quarks and
leptons is conserved in interactions with the other bosons.)
• Running of α and αS as a function of the boson momentum transfer, q 2 .
• The vertex terms for bosons in Feynman diagrams.

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Scattering and Decay

These are the two main processes we can measure in particle physics to investigate the properties
of the fermions and the interactions. You should revise:

• Elastic collision and inelastic collisions.

• The definition of the Mandelstam variables, s, t and u.

• The definition of total width for a particle (equation (5)). The definition of partial width
and branching ratio for a decay (equations (7) and (6)).

• What conditions must be satisfied for decays to occur.

• Fermi’s Golden Rule.

Hadrons

• What hadrons, mesons and baryons are, and why quarks are confined to hadrons.

• What a parton is, the consequences of the parton model, and definition of the associated
quantity x.

• What jets are and how they are produced.

• The evidence for gluons.

Relativistic Dynamics

• Conservation of four-momentum! This is especially important for calculating the boson

four momentum, q, in the boson propagator terms, and in decays and scattering.

Natural Units

• We set h̄ = c = 1. The most important implication of this is that mass, momentum and
energy are all measured in units of energy, usually MeV or GeV.

Feynman Diagrams and Feynman Rules

• How to draw simple Feynman diagrams.

• How to write down the fermion spinors, vertex and boson propagator terms (including
CKM matrix elements) to calculate simple matrix elements M for simple diagrams with
just one boson.

• How to relate M to the cross sections, σ, (equation (9)) and partial decay widths, Γ
(equation (7)) through Fermi’s Golden Rule.

• That higher order diagrams (with more vertices and more boson exchange) are suppressed
by factors of the coupling constant, and are therefore less likely to happen.

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Important Experimental Results

• Muon decay measurements: what the muon decays to and how its lifetime can be used
to measure the Fermi coupling constant: GF ∝ gW
2 /m2 .
W

• The ratio, R:
σ(e+ e− → hadrons)
R(ECM ) =
σ(e+ e− → µ+ µ− )
• Higgs physics: How the Higgs boson behaves at the LHC: how it can be produced in
LHC collisions and how it decays and can be detected.

C, P and T

• The definition of the charge conjugation (C: changes the sign of all the charges), parity
(P: �x → −�x) and time reversal (T: t → −t) operators.

• When P, C, CP are conserved symmetries, when they are nearly conserved symmetries,
and when the are completely useless symmetries (”maximally violated”).

• How neutral matter–anti-matter pairs of mesons can ”mix” with each other.

• The CKM matrix and what this has to do with CP violation.

Equations

This is a list of equations you need to know! Note some of the equations use specific collisions
and decays as examples; the equations, however, apply to all types of collisions and decays.

• The number of time a particular process �occurs, N , is related to the cross section of a
process, σ, and the integrated luminosity, Ldt:
�
N = σ · Ldt (1)

• The four momentum of a particle, in natural units is:

pµ = (E, px , py , pz ) = (E, p� ) (2)

where E is the energy, and p� is the three momentum.

• The square of the four momentum of any initial or final state particle is its mass squared:

p2 = E 2 − p� · p� = m2 (3)

This is not necessarily true for intermediate particles such as bosons propagating an in-
teraction: if q 2 �= m2boson we say the boson is virtual.
boson

• The Lorentz Transformations in natural units are:

γ = E/m ⇒ E = γm β = |�
p |/E γβ = |�
p |/m (4)

• The total width of a particle (Γ) and the lifetime of the particle (τ ) are related as:

Γ = h̄/τ (5)

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 • The branching ratios of a decay is, e.g.:
Γ(K 0 → π + π − )
BR(K 0 → π + π − ) = (6)
ΓK 0
where Γ(K 0 → π + π − ) is the width of individual decay K 0 → π + π − .
• The width of individual decay modes (called partial widths) are proportional to M2 , e.g.
2π � �2
Γ(K 0 → π + π − ) = M(K 0 → π + π − ) ρ (7)
h̄
where ρ is the phase space, which is completely determined by kinematics. The total width
of a particle is the sum of the partial width of all possible decay modes:
ΓK 0 = Γ(K 0 → π + π − ) + Γ(K 0 → π 0 π 0 ) (8)

• The cross section, σ, of a scattering is proportional to the matrix element squared: M2 ,

e.g.
2π � �2
σ(e+ e− → µ+ µ− ) = M(e+ e− → µ+ µ− ) ρ (9)
h̄
where again ρ is the phase space, which is completely determined by kinematics.
• The definition of the Mandelstam variables, for a decay 12 → 34:
s = (p1 + p2 )2 (10)
t = (p1 − p3 ) 2

s = (p1 − p4 )2
√
In a collision (at a collider or fixed target) the centre of mass energy is s.
• The CKM matrix:  
Vud Vus Vub
VCKM =  Vcd Vcs Vcb  (11)
Vtd Vts Vtb
and what it means!
• How to use the Dirac Equation which represents the wavefunctions of spin-1/2 particles.
� �
∂ � −m ψ =0
iγ 0 + i�γ · ∇ (iγ µ ∂µ − m) ψ = 0 (12)
∂t
In the final equation the repeated Lorentz index µ = 0, 1, 2, 3 is summed over; ∂µ = ∂/∂xµ .

What you don’t have to remember

If you need any of these, they will be given!

• The masses of all the particles; in an exam they are given on the constant sheet.
• The lifetimes of all the particles.
• The quark content of all the hadrons.
• The names of the accelerators and experiments, which particles and energies they use.
• Long and complicated or derived equations. However you may need to know how to use
them, or derive them again with guidance.

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 QED QCD Weak Neutral Current Weak Charged Current
6
quantum theory of quantum theory of
quantum
Summary theory of
of Standard weak
Model interactions
Vertices
EM interactions strong interactions
! At this point have discussed all fundamental fermions
mediated by mediated
and their interactions withby
the force carryingmediated
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mediated by ! Interactions characterized by SM vertices
exchange of virtual exchange of Z exchange of W
exchange of gluonsELECTROMAGNETIC (QED)
photons bosons -
bosons
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acts on all charged e Qe
acts on quarks only acts on
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-
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Does NOT
this change
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Summary of Standard Model Verticesnot change
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! At this point have discussed -
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to COLOUR
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FLAVOUR
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6
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Summary of Standard Model Vertices q Couples to CHARGE
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Changes vertex: gw q
FLAVOUR
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e change
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u For QUARKS: coupling Does NO
FLAVOUR q
and their interactions with the 2force carrying bosons.
photon propagator:
α=
e γgluon propagator: Z-boson
γ g 2 Wpropagator:
-
+ W-boson
g 2 propagator:
BETWEEN generations FLAVOU
αw
1/q 2 4πby SM vertices 1/q 2
! Interactions characterized = w W = s
4π1/(q 2 − m2 )
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ELECTROMAGNETIC STRONG
(QED) (QCD) WEAK Charged Current
WEAK Neutral Current
q Couples to CHARGE q
-
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e
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Does NOT Does NOT change eDoes NOT change u For QUAR
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FLAVOUR FLAVOUR FLAVOUR - BETWEEN
γ
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α=
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