PHY2405

Experimental Methods in Particle Physics

Topics | Textbook | Class Times | Grading | Lecture Notes

Topics

This course is a survey of the techniques of modern particle physics experiments; accelerators, low background laboratories and the detectors deployed there to study fundamental particles. The emphasis is on how these technologies allow us to probe new areas of particle physics. Several modern particle physics experiments will be used as examples to highlight these techniques. The basics of charged particle accelerators will be covered along with the limitations on energy and luminosity both from the point of view of accelerator technology, and the experiments. The design of low-background, underground laboratories will also be discussed and how they make it possible to study rare particle physics phenomena and search for possible dark matter candidates. The physics and technology of solid state, gas and liquid ionisation and scintillation detectors are covered, along with the practical application to identify long lived particles at accelerators or rare processes in underground labs. The physics of calorimeters and bolometers will be discussed along with the practical realization of these devices in present experiments, such as SuperCDMS and ATLAS. Innovative devices such as Cerenkov detectors will also be discussed along with their application in LHCb and the SNO+ experiment.

Textbook

Class Times

Grading Scheme

Lecture Notes

What follows is the outline for the course. We will post notes a few days before each class meeting. You should read through them and be prepared to discuss them when we meet. We will not be giving traditional lectures in this course. Instead we will discuss the notes and try to expand/explain areas where there may have been confusion. If you haven't read the notes before coming these discussions will be much shorter and less useful.

Similarly problem sets will be posted on the day they are assigned. You will be expected to work through them and submit solutions by the 'due date'. We can, of course, discuss generalities around the problems assigned in class, but will not be working through the solutions with you in class.

	Lecture Date	Topic	Instructor	Problem Sets	Additional Materials
	January 8	Course Overview + Intro to Particle Physics Experiments + non-collider part	ZH, WT		Extra Slides
	January 11	Basic Accelerator formalism: emittance, and luminosity	WT		Figures
	January 15	Linear Accelerators, Colliders, Future machines	WT	Problem Set #1 (Due Jan 29) [WT]
	January 22	Intro to underground/low background laboratories , Cryogenics	ZH
	January 29	Interactions of Charged Particles with Matter, Ionization Yield	ZH	Problem Set #2 (Due Feb 15) [ZH]	WT's old notes
	February 5	Wire Chambers, MWPCs, Drift Chambers, Tracking systems	WT
	February 12	Bolometers and Scintillators	ZH	Problem Set #3 (Due March 4) [WT/ZH]	TES modeling
	February 26	TES modeling II, Other rare event detection techniques	ZH		(Presentation/Term paper otline, planned refereces, scope)
	March 4	Solid State trackers: Silicon, ...	WT	Problem Set #4 (Due March 21) [ZH/WT]	ATLAS Silicon tracker
	March 11	Calorimeters in HEP experiments and Calorimeter systems	WT		Additional Calorimeter material
	March 18	Electronics Digital signal processing and noise reduction	ZH
	March 28	Detector Simulation (and high-level data acquisition)	WT
	April 1	Student Presentations

Additional policies and procedures, as they relate to this course can be found here .

Web Site: on www.physics.utoronto.ca/~phy2405

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Last Updated: March 27, 2024