Particle Physics

(High Energy Physics)

What is Particle Physics?
It aims to know :
 What is the world made of ? ”

 Ultimate building blocks of matter.

 The fundamental forces exists in nature through

which elementary particles interact. Possibility
of combining these into single framework.

 Origin and evolution of the universe.

2
 What are the basic Particles?
 How long we can keep breaking matter into
smaller pieces ?

 ……………..forever?
 Elementary particles - Building blocks of
matter. 3
 Periodic Table
 In 1860’s Mendeleev arranged the
elements by property into Periodic Table

Surely too many elements !



 Soon an underlying structure was deduced –

Atoms.

4
 Is atom a Fundamental ?
 100 years ago (19th century) atoms thought
to be “indivisible balls”.
 Discovery of Electron (J.J.Thomson, 1897)
and subsequent discovery of Radioactive
decay (H. Becqueral) showed that atom can be
subdivided.

 J.J.Thomson was the first to open up the gate

leading to Elementary particle physics.
 So atoms could be broken up into bits and pieces.
5
 Discovery of nucleus, proton
 In 1906, E. Rutherford discovered the nucleus
through -particles scattering experiment, which
resulted in a new picture of the atom- nuclear
model of the atom (1911)-Atom is a
dense, positively charged nucleus
surrounded by cloud of electrons.
 Study of properties of positive rays

led to the discovery of proton in 1919.

6
 Discovery of neutron
 After this, proton and electron were considered as
basic particles.
 This model has serious drawback- such an atom
cannot be a stable configuration.
 Also with this model, physicists could not explain
many of the observed properties of nucleus but the
efforts were not stopped.
 In 1932, J. Chadwick discovered the neutron - a
neutral particle having the same size and almost
same mass as that of proton.
7
 Is the Nucleus Fundamental?
 With this new particle, W. Heisenberg suggested that
nucleus is made of smaller particles, protons and
neutrons.This explained most of the observed
properties of the nuclei.

 Then proton, neutron and electron are considered as

the building blocks of atoms and all matter in the
universe at this stage. 8
 There is antimatter too!
 In 1928, P. A. M. Dirac theoretically predicted the
existence of positron, which could resolve the problem
in understanding pair production & pair annihilation.
 In 1932, C. D. Anderson discovered the positron in
cosmic rays while studying the absorption of -rays in
matter. This is the first evidence for the existence of
antiparticle in nature.
 For every particle there is an antiparticle. Antimatter
is just like ordinary matter but with opposite charge.
 Electron - negative, Positron - positive !

9
 Is it over?
 Until 1934, only  decay was known. But soon after the
discovery of positron, Irene Curie & F. Joliot discovered +
decay. Very soon three modes of beta decay were understood.
 Beta decay faced – missing energy puzzle & violation
conservation of angular momentum!
 W. Pauli introduced a new particle - the neutrino - to account
for this.

10
 Yukawa’s particle !
 In 1935, H. Yukawa- (Japanese) predicted meson- the
exchange particle in strong interaction.
 In 1937, Neddermeyer and Anderson, and Street and
Stevenson (USA) independently reported the
presence of meson in cosmic rays.
 In 1947, Lattes, Muirhead, Occhialini and Powell (UK)
found the presence of two kinds of mesons - and 
(, +, -) mesons.

 Yukawa particle led to the discovery of  meson and

yet another family of mesons-K mesons (+, -, , K o).
11
 Hyperons ?
 In 1947, Rochester and Butler (Uk)
discovered an unstable heavier particle
called hyperon L - in cosmic rays.
 Following this, discovery of L and S, S+, S0
o

took place, whose masses are greater than

that of a proton.
 The hyperon family still has another group of
particles-  hyperons (-, ), also called
cascade particles as L+ p + + 

12
 Antiproton & antineutron?
 In 1955, E. Segre, O. Chamberlain et al produced and
identified anti proton - subatomic particle of the same mass
as a proton but having a negative electric charge and
oppositely directed magnetic moment.
 The energy needed to produce antiproton is ~ 5.6 GeV.
p+ p p+ p+ p+ p
 In 1956, a convincing experimental evidence was presented
for the existence of antineutron by Bruce Cork. It has same
mass as a neutron and no net electric charge. However, it is
different from a neutron in its internal charge distribution.
p+ p n +n n  p + e+ + e 13
 Is Proton Fundamental?
 With the advent of high energy particle accelerators, (after
1960s) physicists began to collide protons together.

 To their surprise, found LOTS & LOTS of new particles.

 List of the particles discovered is presented below. This list

includes the particle name, symbol, mass in terms of electronic
mass, charge, spin, mean life and the corresponding antiparticle.

14
 Particles & their Properties
Particle Symbol Mass Charge Spin Mean life Anti
(me) () (second) particle
Graviton(?) g 0 0 2 Stable self
Photon  0 0 1 Stable self
Neutrino  0 0 1/2 Stable 
Electron e- 1 -e 1/2 Stable e+
Mu minus - 206.77 -e 1/2 2.212x10-6 +
Tau minus - 3477.49 -e 1/2 2.96x10-13 +
Mesons
Pi zero  264.77 0 0 2.2x10-16 self
Pi plus + 273.2 +e 0 2.55x10-8 -
K plus + 966.6 +e 0 1.224x10-8 -
K zero  974 0 0 1 x10-8 K o 15
 continued………………..
Particle Symbol Mass Charge Spin Mean life Antiarticle
(me) () (seconds)
Eta zero 0 1073.97 0 0 < 10-18 Self
Rho plus + 1506.85 0 0 0.4x10-24 -
Rho zero 0 1506.85 +e 0 ….. Self
Omega zero 0 1530.33 0 0 ….. Self
Phi  1996.1 0 0 20x10-23 Self
D plus D+ 3658.18 +e 0 10x10-13 D-
D zero D0 3649.89 0 0 4.2x10-13 Do
Jepsi J/ 6060.47 0 0 0.2x10-20 Self
B minus B- 10330.4 -e 0 1.2x10-12 B+
B zero B0 10330.4 0 0 1.5x10-12 Bo
Upsilon  18513 0 0 1.3x10-20 Self
16
 continued (Baryons)……..
Particle Symbol Mass (me) Charge Spin Mean life (s) Antiarticle
()
Proton P 836.12 +e 1/2 Stable
P
n
Neutron n 1838.65 0 1/2 1x103
Lo
Lambda zero Lo 2182.8 0 1/2 2.51x10-10
S
Sigma plus S+ 2327.7 +e 1/2 0.81x10-10
So
Sigma zero So 2331.8 0 1/2 < 10-11
S+
Sigma minus S- 2340.5 -e 1/2 1.61x10-10
o
Xi zero o 2565 0 1/2 ~ 10-10
+
Xi minus - 2580 -e 1/2 1.3x10-10 
++

Delta + + ++ 2410.96 +2e 3/2 0.6x10-23 

+

Delta + + 2410.96 +e 3/2 0.6x10-23 

Delta – - 2410.96 -e 3/2 0.6x10-23 0

Delta zero 0 2410.96 0 3/2 0.6x10-23 

Omega minus - 3271 -e 3/2 0.82x10-10
Lambda + c L+ 4463.80 +e 1/2 2x10-13 L c+17
 Basic interactions !
The universe, which we know and love, exists because of the interaction
of fundamental particles.
These interactions include attractive and repulsive forces, decay, and
annihilation.
There are four fundamental interactions
between the particles, and all forces in the
world can be attributed to these four
Interactions !

Gravitational interaction
Electromagnetic interaction
Nuclear strong interaction
Nuclear weak interaction
18
 Fundamental forces in nature?
 Particles interact with each other via any of the
following forces.
 Namely: gravity, electromagnetism, strong and
weak nuclear forces.
 Each is described by the exchange of a force by
mediator particle between the interacting
particles.

19
How strong are these forces ?

20
 Classification
 As Mendeleev did, particle physicists grouped the particles with
similar properties together.
Based on interactions:
Leptons- Light mass and weakly interacting particles (See the
previous table).
Hadrons: Baryons & Mesons - Heavy and intermediate mass
and strongly interacting particles.
Originally the names referred to the relative masses of the two groups of particles.
The baryons (from the Greek word for “heavy”) included the proton and heavier
particles; the mesons (from the Greek word for “between”) were particles with
masses between those of the electron and the proton. Now, however, the name baryon
refers to any particle built from three quarks, such as the proton and the neutron.
Mesons, on the other hand, are particles built from a quark combined with an
antiquark. 21
 Based on spins:
 Bosons: The Particles with integral multiple of ħ spin. (odd parity)
Ex- Photon, Graviton and mesons

 Fermions: The particles with half integral multiple of ħ spin

(even parity)
Ex- Leptons and Baryons

22
 Conservation laws
 Conservation laws are extremely powerful and govern a huge
variety of processes in physics.
 Conservation law states that a particular measurable property
of an isolated physical system does not change as the system
evolves.
 Any particular conservation law is a mathematical identity to
certain symmetry of a physical system.
A partial listing of conservation laws is as below:
• Conservation of energy
• Conservation of linear momentum
• Conservation of angular momentum
23
 Conservation of electric charge

 The total charge in the system is conserved.

 Check this interaction of particles:
+ + +
p +n  p + p
0

1+ + 0 1+ + 1+
1  2.
This reaction cannot happen!

24
 Conservation of parity
 Parity is related to the invariance of the physical laws under
inversion of the space coordinates.
 This holds good for strong nuclear and electromagnetic
interactions, but is violated in weak interaction.
 In case of elementary particle physics, the concepts of parity is
given a broader definition. Every non zero mass particle has an
intrinsic parity , which can be either +1(even) or –1(odd).
 Thus the total parity of a system of n particles is the product of
their intrinsic parities and the orbital parity (-1)l and can be
written as
1 2 3……. n (-1)l
 The intrinsic parities of the neutron, protron and the electron are
taken to be even and of the pions (+, -, 0) is odd (see exptl
evidence for assigning the parity discussed in Ghoshal p922).
 Then the intrinsic parities of other elementary particles are fixed
relative to the intrinsic parities of the nucleons. 25
 Conservation of Isospin number

 Considering the fact nuclear force is charge independent and

neutron and proton have almost same mass, intrinsic spin,
Heisenberg proposed that neutron and proton are different charge
manifestation of the same entity called nucleon. Thus the
particles can be grouped like isotopic grouping of the elements.
The charge is treated as variable for different state of nucleon and
this variable is known with the help of a new quantum number
called Isotopic or Isospin quantum number, . This plays a
similar role as spin quantum number for a particle.
 Nucleon was assigned a value  = ½, for pions and hyperons  =
1. The different states of a particle is are differentiated in terms of
the component 3 of isospin vector in 1, 2, 3 coordinate system.

 For nucleons  = ½ and 2 +1 = 2, the possible values of 3 are

+1/2 for proton and –1/2 for neutron.
26
 For pions (+, -, 0),  = 1 and so there are 2 +1 = 3 charge
states. The values of 3 are +1, 0, -1 respectively for +, 0 and
-.

 For sigma hyperons (S+, S0, S-),  = 1 and so there are 2 +1 =

3charge states. The values of 3 are +1, 0, -1 respectively for S+,
S0, S-.
 For L0 hyperon and 0 meson,  = 0 and so there is 2 +1 = 1
state.
 The isospin is related to the electric charge Q and baryon
number B of a particle a follows:
Q =  3 + B/2
 All hadrons (mesons and baryons) will have isospin quantum
number, but not leptons. The isospin component 3 is conserved
in both strong and electromagnetic interactions but not in weak
interactions.
27
 Conservation of baryon number
The baryon family includes proton, neutron and the other particles
whose eventual decay products contain the proton.
The baryons p, n, S+, S-, So, -, o, o and - have baryon number B =
+1.
Anti baryons have baryon number B = – 1.
All the meson have baryon number B = 0.(All other particles)
The empirical law of baryon conservation states that in any reaction
the total number of baryons must remain constant. If any baryons are
created, then so must be an equal number of antibaryons, which in
principle negate the baryons.
Ex-  p +  and
o   
+ p  n +  
+  +

These are observed events as both electric charge and baryon number
is conserved. But op +   is forbidden. (charge & baryon) 28
 Conservation of lepton number
 There are six leptons: three have electric charge and three, called
neutrinos, do not. The electron is the best known lepton. The tau
and the muon are the other two charged leptons. Each neutrino
is associated with one of the charged leptons.
 Lepton number is also conserved in reactions. Again, leptons (e-,
-, -, e, , ) have lepton number of lp = +1, antileptons (e+,
+, +,  ,  , ) have lp = -1, and non-leptons have lp = 0.
e

e+ + e- p+ + p-
 This is an observed event that conserves both electric charge,
baryon and lepton number.
p- e- + 
 Charge is conserved, but lepton number is not. There are no
leptons on the left, but there is one on the right. This decay
cannot happen.

29
 Strange Particles
& Conservation of Strangeness quantum number
 Some particles discovered in the 1950’s were found to exhibit
unusual properties in their production and decay. And were
given the name strange particles
 Peculiar features include
 Always produced in pairs  + p   + K and   + p   + K 0
 0 0

 Although produced by the strong interaction, they do not

decay into particles that interact via the strong interaction,

but instead into particles that interact via weak interactions
 They decay much more slowly (10
-10-10-8 s) than

particles decaying via strong interactions (10-23 s)

K 0  2  and 0  p +  
30
Bubble Chamber example

 The dashed lines

represent neutral
particles
 At the bottom,

 - + p  Λ 0 + K0
 Then Λ0   - + p
and
 K0   + µ - + µ
31
 Strangeness

 To explain these unusual properties, a new law, the

conservation of strangeness was introduced
 Also needed a new quantum number, S

 The Law of Conservation of Strangeness states that the

sum of strangeness numbers before a reaction or a

decay must equal the sum of the strangeness numbers
after the process
 Strong and electromagnetic interactions obey the law of
conservation of strangeness, but the weak interaction does
not.

32
 According to Gell-mann and Nishijima, a new quantum
number S known as the strangeness quantum number is to be
associated with the different strange particles, to distinguish
them from the non-strange particles, such as the nucleons and
the pions for which S = 0. The value of S for the different
strange particles are given in the Table 1.
 Pais proposed that strangeness is conserved during the
production of the strange particles by strong interaction:
  + p  0 + K 0 and   + p    + K 0
 (S = 0 0 -1 +1) (S = 0 0 -1 +1)
 However, in their decay (by weak interaction, as revealed by
their mean lives), S is not conserved. Thus
K 0  2  and 0  p +  
 (S = +1 0) (S = -1 0 0)
33
 For kaons (K+, K0), S =1
 For S+, S-, So, o, S = -1
 For -, o, S = -2
 For - , S = -3.
 For the particles which do not show this behaviour, S = 0
 The relation holds between the charge Q, baryon number and
its strangeness quantum number Q = 3 + (B+S)/2
 Since non-conservation of strangeness in weak interactions
suppresses the decay rates relative to production rates, the
selection rules can be assigned to express the decay rate. The
selection rule S = 0, ±1 is obeyed in the weak decay of
semistable strange particles.
 Ex- So o +  ( S = 0) Allowed
 - o + K- ( S = 1) Allowed
 But the decay S- n + - ( S = 2) is not allowed 34
 QUICK QUIZ !

Which of the following reactions cannot occur?

( b) n  p + e  + v e

(c)   e + v e + v
 
(d)      + v 

35
 ANSWER

(a). This reaction fails to conserve charge and

cannot occur.

36
 Quarks !

 In 1964, Gell-Mann and Zweig proposed

independently that Hadrons are complex particles
with size and structure.
 Hadrons decay into other hadrons.
 There are several different hadrons.
 Hadrons are made of the further elementary particles
called Quarks having fractional charges, fractional
baryon numbers and spin ½ each.

37
 Original Quark Model
 Three types
 u – up
 d – down
 s – originally sideways, now strange
 Associated with each quark is an antiquark
 The antiquark has opposite charge, baryon
number and strangeness
 Quarks have fractional electrical charges
 +1/3 e and –2/3 e
 All ordinary matter consists of just u and d
quarks
38
 Original Quark Model – Rules

 All the hadrons at the time of the original proposal

were explained by three rules
 Mesons consist of one quark and one antiquark

 This gives them a baryon number of 0

 Baryons consist of three quarks

 Antibaryons consist of three antiquarks

39
 Additions to the Original Quark Model –
Charm

 Another quark was needed to account for some

discrepancies between predictions of the model and
experimental results
 Charm would be conserved in strong and
electromagnetic interactions, but not in weak
interactions
 In 1974, a new meson, the J/Ψ was discovered that
was shown to be a charm quark and charm
antiquark pair
40
 More Additions – Top and Bottom
 Discovery led to the need for a more elaborate
quark model
 This need led to the proposal of two new quarks
 t – top (or truth)
 b – bottom (or beauty)
 Added quantum numbers of topness and bottomness
 Verification
 b quark was found in a  meson in 1977.
 t quark was found in 1995 at Fermi lab.

41
Quark ! Quark !………

42
 Properties of Quarks
Spin Baryon Mass*
Quark Symbol Charge S C B T
() Number
Up u 1/2 +2/3 1/3 0 0 0 0 360 MeV
Down d 1/2 -1/3 1/3 0 0 0 0 360 MeV
Charm c 1/2 +2/3 1/3 0 +1 0 0 1500 MeV
Strange s 1/2 -1/3 1/3 -1 0 0 0 540 MeV
Top t 1/2 +2/3 1/3 0 0 0 +1 174 GeV

Bottom b 1/2 -1/3 1/3 0 0 +1 0 5 GeV

*The masses should not be taken too seriously, because the confinement
of quarks implies that we cannot isolate them to measure their masses in
a direct way.
43
 Colored Quarks
 Isolated quarks
 Physicist now believe that quarks are permanently

confined inside ordinary particles

 No isolated quarks have been observed experimentally
 The force between quarks is called the color force,
which increases with increasing distance
 This prevents the quarks from becoming isolated

particles

 Color “charge” occurs in red, blue, or green

 Antiquarks have colors of antired, antiblue, or antigreen
 Color obeys the Exclusion Principle
 A combination of quarks of each color produces white (or
colorless)
 Baryons and mesons are always colorless
44
 Quark Structure of a Meson

 A red quark is attracted to an

antired quark.
 The quark – antiquark pair
forms a meson.
 The resulting meson is
colorless.

45
Mesons made of Quarks
Particle combinations

K+
K0
K-

+
-
0
0

46
 Quark Structure of a Baryon
 Quarks of different colors
attract each other
 The quark triplet forms a
baryon
 The baryon is colorless

47
Baryons made of Quarks (partial list)

48
Fermions

49
Bosons

50
 Ultimate Fundamental Particles !
 At last there are only 12 fundamental particles of
matter (also 12 antiparticles) + 4 exchange particles

51
 Today’s understanding of an atom

 Quarks and electrons are

fundamental

 There is no further
substructure until now.

52
Structure within the atom

53
 How small is a Particle?

 Molecule 10-9 m
 Atom 10-10 m
 Nucleus 10-14 m
 Proton 10-15 m
 Quark < 10-18 m

54
 Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD)
 QCD gave a new theory of how quarks interact with
each other by means of color charge.
 The strong force between quarks is often called the
color force.
 The strong force between quarks is carried by gluons.
 Gluons are massless particles.

 There are 8 gluons, all with color charge.

 When a quark emits or absorbs a gluon, its color

changes.
55
 More about Color Charge

 Like colors repel and unlike colors attract

 Different colors attract, but not as strongly as a color
and its opposite colors of quark and antiquark
 The color force between color-neutral hadrons (like a
proton and a neutron) is negligible at large separations
 The strong color force between the constituent quarks
does not exactly cancel at small separations
 This residual strong force is the nuclear force that
binds the protons and neutrons to form nuclei

56
 QCD Explanation of a Neutron-Proton
Interaction
 Each quark within the proton
and neutron is continually
emitting and absorbing virtual
gluons.

 Also creating and annihilating

virtual quark-antiquark pairs

 When close enough, these

virtual gluons and quarks can
be exchanged, producing the
strong force
57
 Weak Interaction
 The weak interaction is an extremely short-ranged force (10-
18 m)

 This short range implies the mediating particles are very

massive
 The weak interaction is responsible for the decay of c, s, b,
and t quarks into lighter, more stable u and d quarks
 Also responsible for the decay of  and  leptons into
electrons
 The weak interaction is very important because it governs the
stability of the basic matter particles

 The weak interaction is not symmetrical

 Not symmetrical under mirror reflection

 Not symmetrical under charge exchange 58

Electroweak Theory
 The electroweak theory (S. Glashow, Abdus
Salam and J. C. Ward) unifies electromagnetic and
weak interactions.
 The theory postulates that the weak and
electromagnetic interactions have the same
strength at very high particle energies
 Viewed as two different manifestations of a

single unifying electroweak interaction

59
 The Standard Model
 Combination of the electroweak theory and
QCD forms the standard model
 Essential ingredients of the standard model
 The strong force, mediated by gluons, holds the
quarks together to form composite particles
 Leptons participate only in electromagnetic and
weak interactions
 The electromagnetic force is mediated by photons
 The weak force is mediated by W+, W- and Z0
bosons
60
 Mediator Masses
 Why does the photon have no mass while
the W and Z bosons do have mass?
 Not answered by the Standard Model

 The Higgs boson has been proposed to account

for the masses

 Large hadron collider is trying look for the Higgs

boson

61
 Conclusion

 There are 12 fundamental matter particles, the 6-

Quarks and 6-Leptons, 4 exchange particles

 There are 4 forces in nature transmitted by

messenger particles.

 Accelerators and Detectors have been used to study

and see the fundamental particles.
63
 References
1. Griffiths D., Introduction to Elementary Particles, John
Wiley and Sons, New York, 1987.
2. Coughlan G. D., Dodd J. E. and Gripaias B. M., The ideas of
particle physics: An introduction to Scientists, 3rd Edn.,
Cambridge University Press, 2006.
3. Povh B., Rith K., Scholz C. and Zetsche F., Particles and
Nuclei- An Introduction to Physical Concepts, 2nd Edn.,
Springer, 1999.
4. Perkins D. H., Introduction to High Energy Physics, 3rd
Edn., Addison-Wesley, 1987.

64