Particle Physics: an Introduction

During this first module, we will give an overview of the objects studied in particle physics, namely matter, forces and space-time. We will discuss how one characterizes the strength of an interaction between particles using the concept of cross section, which is central to our subject.

During this second module, we deal with nuclear physics and its applications. This is a rather self-contained module covering nuclear mass, binding energy, size, spin, structure, radioactivity, fission, fusion and practical applications.

In this module, we treat the basic facts about particle acceleration and detection. We introduce electromagnetic acceleration and focalisation of particle beams and show how they are used in the accelerator complex of CERN.

We go into more details about the properties of electromagnetic interactions. We discuss spin and how it intervenes in measurements. And we give a few examples of basic electromagnetic processes to point out common features.

In this module we discuss the structure of hadrons and the properties of strong interactions. We start out by explaining how one uses the scattering of electrons off nucleons to learn about the internal structure of these baryons.

In this module, we discuss weak interactions and the Higgs mechanism. We discuss the discrete transformations of charge, space and time reversal. Weak interactions are introduced, explaining the weak charge and examples of decays and interactions.

In this module we discuss searches for new phenomena, beyond the known ones described by the standard model. We explain how hadron collider data are rendered usable for searches.

This module covers the Big Bang and its consequences, focusing on dark matter and dark energy.