New Revolutions in Particle Physics: The Standard Model

(PHY 30)

Revolutionary new concepts about elementary particles, space and time, and the structure of matter began to emerge in the mid-1970s. Theory got far ahead of experiment with radical new ideas such as “grand unification” and “supersymmetry,” but the concepts have never been experimentally tested. Now all that is about to change. The LHC — the Large Hadron Collider — has finally been built and is about to confront theory with experiment. The next two quarters of our ongoing physics series with Leonard Susskind will be devoted to these theoretical ideas and how they will be tested.

This course is a continuation of the Fall quarter on particle physics. The material will focus on the “Standard Model” of particle physics, especially quantum chromodynamics (the theory of quarks) and the electroweak theory based on the existence of the Higgs boson. We will also explore the inadequacies of the Standard Model and why theorists are led to go beyond it.

There will be 10 sessions over an 11-week period. The off-session will determined at a later date. Any schedule changes will be announced in class.

Leonard Susskind, Felix Bloch Professor of Physics

Leonard Susskind received a PhD from Cornell University and has taught at Stanford since 1979. He has won both the Pregel Award from the New York Academy of Science and the J.J. Sakurai Prize in theoretical particle physics. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.