Individual course details
Study programme Physics
Chosen research area (module) Theoretical and Experimental Physics
Nature and level of studies Undergraduate study
Name of the course Theory of Elementary Particle Physics
Professor (lectures) Voja Radovanovic
Professor/associate (examples/practical) Biljana Nikolic
Professor/associate (additional)  
ECTS 6 Status (required/elective) elective
Access requirements Relativistic Quantum Mechanics and Mathematical Physics 2
  The aim of this course is that students understand the role of symmetry in description of particles and their interactions.  
Learning outcomes  
Contents of the course
Lectures 1. Space-time symmetry. Lorentz group. Topological properties. Commutation relations.  Representation of Lorentz group. Quantum fields.  2. Poincare symmetry. Irreducible representations. Mass and spin of particles. Wigner methods.  3. Internal symmetries. Classification of particles and interactions. SU(2) symmetry and  isospin. Wigner-Eckart theorem.  4.  Strangeness and hypercharge, lepton numbers. Conservation laws.   SU(3) classification of hadrons.  5. SU(n) tensors and Young tableaux. Quark model. Color.    6.  Classical field theory. Equations of motion. Noether theorem.    7. Gauge symmetry. Abelian and non-Abelian symmetries. 8.Spontaneous symmetry breaking. Goldstone theorem. Higgs mechanism.   9.Weak interaction. Weyl equations. Massive vector field. 11. Standard model of electroweak interactions. Lepton sector.  Higgs mechanism. Masses of leptons and gauge bosons. Interaction gauge bosons and leptons.  12. Electroweak interaction of quarks. Masses of quarks.   13.  Charge and neutral currents. 14.  Experimental tests of Standard model.  Decays of Z, W and Higss boson. Scatterings in Standard model.  15. Quantum Chromodynamics. Asymptotic freedom   16.   Physics beyond Standard Model:  SU(5) model, Supersymmetry, String Theory,  Extra dimensions.  
Examples/ practical classes Students solved homework problems under supervision of professor.
Recommended books
1 H.F. Jones, Groups, Representations and Physics, IOP (1998)
2 D. B. Lichtenberg, Unitary Symmetry and Elementary Particles, AP (1978)
3 T. Cheng and L. Li, Gauge Theory of Elementary Particle Physics, Oxford UP (1998)
4 C. Burgess and G. Moore, The Standard Model: A Primer, CUP (2006)
5 V. Radovanovic, Teorija elementarnih cestica, Beograd (2017)
Number of classes (weekly)
Lectures Examples&practicals   Student project Additional
3 2      
Teaching and learning methods  
Assessment (maximal 100)
assesed coursework mark examination mark
coursework 10 written examination 30
practicals   oral examination 40
papers 20    
presentations