Subatomic Physics

1. Overview of elementary particles and interactions

fundamental interactions and their properties; elementary particles and their properties: quarks, leptons, intermediate particles; antiparticles; electromagnetic and weak interaction properties, electroweak unification; strong interaction properties and quantum chromodynamics: color, asymptotic freedom, quark confinement; conservation laws; space-time symmetries: continuous and discreet

 

2. Hadron structurequark
model: structure of baryons and mesons; hadron properties: strange, charm and beauty particles; experiments exploring the structure of the nucleus and hadrons: Rutherford scattering, inelastic scattering, formfactor, Rosenbluth formula, deep inelastic scattering; parton model - partons, jets, Feynman diagrams

 

3. Equations of motion and kinematics
cross section, luminosity, resonances and Breit-Wigner formula; Schrodinger equation; Klein-Gordon equation; Dirac equation; two-particle decay, Dalitz plot; relativistic kinematics, laboratory and cms frame and transformations; high energy kinematical variables – Bjorken x, Feynman variable, rapidity, pseudorapidity

 

4. Accelerators
charged particle accelerators: types, working principles, limitations; synchrotron radiation; types of magnets used at accelerators, injection of particles to the accelerator; plasma accelerators; overview of current experimental centers and main experiments 

 

5. Basic characteristics of nuclei
basic characteristics of atomic nuclei and how to measure them; nucleon structure of atomic nuclei and nuclide card; binding energy and how to release the rest energy of nuclei; properties of nuclear forces and deuteron 

 

6. Models of atomic nuclei
liquid drop model; Fermi model and shell model; generalized model and collective states of nuclei

 

7. Transmutation of nuclei and nuclear reactions

kinetics of radioactive transmutations and decay chains; alpha decay; beta decay; gamma transitions; mechanisms and models of nuclear reactions 

 

8. Applications of nuclear physics and cosmic radiation
applications of nuclear physics; cosmic radiation

 

9. Interaction of radiation with matter
interaction of charged particles: energy loss, multiple Coulomb scattering, Cherenkov radiation and transition radiation; interaction of photons; interaction of neutrons; applications.

 

10. Detectors and principles of detection
general properties of detectors; detection principles; gaseous ionizing and proportional detectors, Geiger detector; semiconductor detectors; scintillating detectors, photomultipliers