PHD in High Energy Physics

Nuclear and Particle Physics ---

Radioactive decay, subnuclear particles. Binding energies. Nuclear
forces, pion exchange, Yukawa potential. Isospin, neutron and proton.
Deuteron. Shell model, magic numbers. Nuclear transitions. Selection
rules. Liquid drop model. Collective excitations. Nuclear fission and
fusion. Beta decay. Neutrinos. Fermi theory, parity violation,
V-A theory. Mesons and baryons. Lifetimes and decay processes.
Discrete symmetries, C, P, T and G. Weak interaction transition rules.
Strangeness, K mesons and hyperons. Composition of mesons and baryons,
quarks and gluons.

(b) HE 391 3:0 (AUG): Quantum Mechanics III ---

Relativistic quantum mechanics, Klein-Gordon and Dirac equations.
Antiparticles and hole theory. Nonrelativistic reduction. Discrete
symmetries P, C and T. Lorentz and Poincare groups. Weyl and Majorana
fermions. Scalar fields. Canonical quantisation. Path integral
formulation. Propagators. Generating functional. Interactions and
Feynman diagrams. S-matrix. Scattering cross sections, decay rates
and non-relativistic potentials. Loop diagrams and renormalisation.
Power counting and renormalisability. Global and local symmetries.
Noether theorem. Spontaneous symmetry breaking, Goldstone bosons.

(c) HE 384 3:0 (AUG): Quantum Computation ---

Foundations of quantum theory. States, observables, measurement and
unitary evolution. Spin-half systems and photon polarisations, qubits
versus classical bits. Pure and mixed states, density matrices.
Extension to positive operator valued measures and superoperators.
Decoherence and master equation. Quantum entanglement and Bell's theorems.
Introduction to classical information theory and generalisation to quantum
information. Dense coding, teleportation and quantum cryptography.
Turing machines and computational complexity. Reversible computation.
Universal quantum logic gates and circuits. Quantum algorithms: database
search, FFT and prime factorisation. Quantum error correction and fault
tolerant computation. Physical implementations of quantum computers.

(d) HE 392 3:0 (AUG): The Standard Model ---

Quark model and quantum chromodynamics. Hadron multiplets, masses and
magnetic moments. Chiral symmetry breaking. Chiral Lagrangians and
heavy quark effective field theories. K meson system and CP violation.
Parton model, deep inelastic scattering and operator product expansion.
Weak interactions of quarks and leptons. Salam-Weinberg model. Higgs
mechanism, charged and neutral currents. Introduction to supersymmetry.

(e) HE 399 3:0 (AUG): Special Topics ---

To be decided by the provisional supervisor.

(f) HE 315 3:0 (JAN): Advanced Mathematical Physics ---

Introduction to topology, Manifolds and homotopy. Tensor analysis.
Introduction to differential geometry, Calculus on manifolds.
Connection and covariant derivative. Riemannian geometry, curvature
and torsion. Fibre bundles, Gauge theories. Finite and continuous
groups and their representations. Rotation and Poincare groups.
Lie algebras and Lie groups and their applications to physics.

(g) HE 396 3:0 (JAN): Gauge Field Theories ---

Dirac fields and Grassmann path integrals. Yukawa theory. Abelian
gauge theories. QED processes and Ward identities. Loop diagrams and
renormalisation. Lamb shift and anomalous magnetic moment. Nonabelian
gauge theories. Faddeev-Popov ghosts. Callan-Symanzik equation, beta
function. Asymptotic freedom. Lattice gauge theory, strong coupling
expansion and the area law. Composite operators and the operator
product expansion. Elements of conformal field theory.