Professor Manuel Drees

Lectures

WS 26/27:

Collider Physics

Time and Place : Wednesday, 10:15 to 12:00, and Friday, 12:15 to 14:00, both times SR1, HISKP (i.e., the seminar room on the 2nd floor of the HISKP)

First Lecture: October 14, 2026.

Last Lecture: February 5, 2027.

Tutorials: Time and Place : Monday, 4:15 to 5:45 p.m., in the seminar room of the rotation building (ROT).
First session : Week starting October 19.
The homework problems can be downloaded here.
The figures shown in class can be found here.

This lecture deals with the physics at colliders; issues of how to design and operate a collider will not be covered. The lecture is aimed at students interested in experimental and/or theoretical particle physics. Prior knowledge of relativistic quantum mechanics, and the Standard Model of particle physics will be assumed. We will occasionally use results from Quantum Field Theory, but one should be able to follow this class without having taken lectures in Quantum Field Theory first. (Of course, everybody interested in particle theory should take the QFT classes, too!)

Only students who have done at least half the homework will be admitted to the final exam!

The following topics will be covered:
0) Why do we need colliders?
1) Relativistic kinematics
2) Brief Review of the Standard Model
3) Simple Reactions at e⁺e^- colliders
4) QCD and jets
5) Hadron colliders: parton distribution functions
6) Simple Reactions at hadron colliders
7) The hierarchy problem, or: what is special about the TeV scale?
8) Finding new partcles at lepton colliders
9) Finding new particles at hadron colliders

Literature:
Aitchison and Hey, Gauge theories in Particle Physics , vols. 1 and 2, is a modern, comprehensive treatment of the Standard Model that starts from scratch.
Peskin and Schroeder, An Introduction to Quantum Field Theory, treats the underlying formalism, but also contains many particle physics applications.
Drees, Godbole and Roy, Theory and Phenomenology of Sparticles, gives an in-depth treatment of supersymmetry, with emphasis on phenomenological aspects.
Baer and Tata, Weak-Scale Supersymmetry, covers similar ground.
Barger and Phillips, Collider Physics, remains the only book specifically dedicated to this topic.

************* End: Collider Physics ************************ -->

Weekly Theoretical High Energy Physics seminar

Master and Doctoral Theses