Particle Physics Beginners Guide
Particle Physics Beginners Guide
Particle Physics Beginners Guide
Outline
Elementary Particles Huge machines for tiny particles B-mesons and CP violation
The Thinker
(you and me)
What is the world around us made of? Can we describe the world in terms of fundamental particles? It is these questions we try to answer
u d
2/3 -1/3
-1 0
quarks All matter around us is can be described using these two quarks and leptons above We believe these to be the fundamental particles of the universe
leptons
Hydrogen atom
A proton is not an elementary particle. It can be broken down further into quarks
Proton
u
u
e d
Quarks
u d
~0.003 GeV
c s
~1.2 GeV
t b
~175 GeV
+2/3
~0.006 GeV
~0.1 GeV
~4.5 GeV
-1/3
mass
mass
mass
Leptons
e e
~ 1.8 GeV
-1
~ 0.0 GeV
1st generation
2nd generation
3rd generation
ALBERT EINSTEIN
In 1928 Paul Dirac postulated that you can create matter from energy
PAUL DIRAC
But you could create an electron if you simultaneously created a particle with the opposite charge and angular momentum .. the positron, Antimatter!
Matter and antimatter particles created in a bubble chamber. The picture shows many bubble tracks created by charged particles passing through a superheated liquid. The tracks highlighted in pink are created by an electron and positron. They spiral in opposites directions in the magnetic field due to their opposite charges Photons hit atoms in the liquid and the energy released to create the particles and antiparticles So, all the quarks and leptons introduced earlier have antiparticle partners. Antiparticles have the same mass, but opposite charge and angular momentum when generated We denote antiparticles with a little hat. The antiparticle of a u-quark is _ written as u To make life confusing we dont do this with the e, , leptons, we just change the sign of the charge in the notation
Building particles
u u
PROTON
d
u
NEUTRON
Unstable particles Need to be created by high energy interactions Contain heavy 2nd and 3rd generation quarks. So heavy these particles do not live long. The B-meson lasts one trillionth of a second. Will talk about the B-meson later The t-quark is heavier still and so unstable it does not live long enough to join with another quark and form a particle t =h/E
c
J/
_
D-MESON
_
d
KAON
B-MESON
Particle Interactions
So what causes the particles to
interact with each other? Forces, of which we know of four These forces are part of the mechanism responsible for generating matter and antimatter (pair production) changing particles from one to another (e.g. beta decay) or even binding particles together We call the particles responsible for mediating forces BOSONS!
Force Electromag netic Strong Weak Particle gluon W+,W-,Z0 Graviton (still to be discovered) Where found? magnets Sun, nuclei Beta-decay
Gravity
Earth
Particle Interactions
Can quarks and leptons interact with all the forces?
W+,W-,Z0 Gluons
Leptons do not possess the strong charge we call colour so cannot interact with gluons
Consequently they are very hard to detect. They can pass through the earth without interacting
u
_
Z/gluon/
u
Weak, strong and electromagnetic forces interact with quarks
Z/
Beta Decay
(weak interaction)
Electron
Neutrino
u
d
u
NEUTRON
d
u
d
W Boson =
u u
+
NEUTRON
PROTON
Electron
Neutrino
Particle Interactions
Quark binding
d
u
PROTON
u
gluons
Pair Production
Z/g/
Neutral boson (Z gluon or ) changes to a quark and anti quark (pair production) Gluon holds the quarks together as they move further apart
_ _
u u
_
u
_
Gluon connection snaps and new quarks appear because quarks cannot exist in isolation
Particle Interactions
Forces can be explained as
Feynman diagram
e q
e Time
the exchange of particles (bosons) between two points The type of particle at the two points determines which force can possibly be mediated The calculation of particle interactions via the exchange of discrete bosons (quanta) is known as Quantum Field Theory
Electro weak
Super Symmetry?
+
15 8O Nucleus 15 7N Nucleus
positron +
Detector readout
positron
electron
2 Photons (energy)
Healthy brain Alzheimer sufferer
Bunches of electrons
or charged particles are accelerated along in much the same way as surfers are on a wave. In the case of electrons/charged particles, the wave is an electromagnetic wave Where the electromagnetic wave is a changing electric and magnetic field
Accelerators
Linear
Pros
Cons
Loose less energy than a circular accelerator Longer accelerators are required to get particles up to high energy Particles that fail to collide cannot be reused Less accelerator length is required (particles keep accelerating as
they go round and round) Particles can be reused
Circular
Pros
Cons
26Km circumference
e+
Electrons and positron were accelerated around and brought into collision at 4 interaction regions surrounded by detectors to creating new matter and antimatter. The accelerator is now being modified to accelerate protons
e-
e+e-Z0 +
Ru n : e v e n t 4 0 9 3 :
Ru n : e v e n t 4 0 9 3 : Eb e am 4 5 . 6 5 8 Ev i s Bz =4 . 3 5 0 4556 Da t e 9 3 0 5 2 7 T i me 0.6 Vt x ( 2 2 4 3 9 C t r k ( N= - 0 . 05 , 2 Sump= 8 6 . 8 ) Ec a l ( N= 0 . 3 6 ) Mu o n ( N= 5 SumE= 1 . 6 ) Hc a l ( N= 4 SumE= 4.0) 0.0)
e+e-Z0qq
1000 Da t e 9 3 0 5 2 7 T i me -8.6 Vt x ( 2 0 7 1 6 C t r k ( N= 3 9 Sump= 7 3 . 3 ) Ec a l ( N= 2 5 SumE= 3 2 . 6 ) Hc a l ( N=2 2 SumE= 2 2 . 6 ) - 0 . 07 , 0 . 06 , - 0 . 8 0 ) Mu o n ( N= 0 ) Se c V t x ( N= 3 ) Fd e t ( N= 0 SumE= 0.0) Eb e am 4 5 . 6 5 8 Ev i s Bz =4 . 3 5 0 9 9 . 9 Em i s s Th r u s t =0 . 9 8 7 3 Ap l a n=0 . 0 0 1 7 Ob l a t =0 . 0 2 4 8 Sp h e r =0 . 0 0 7 3
9 0 . 8 Em i s s
0 . 08 ,
2 ) Se c V t x ( N= 0 ) Fd e t ( N= 0 SumE=
Th r u s t =0 . 9 9 9 9 Ap l a n=0 . 0 0 0 0 Ob l a t =0 . 0 1 1 0 Sp h e r =0 . 0 0 0 3
cm .
5 10
20
5 0 GeV
cm .
5 10
20
5 0 GeV
As quarks move apart more quarks are appear, seen as jets above
My office at SLAC
The Stanford Linear Accelerator Center located in Menlo Park, California uses both a linear and circular accelerator for electrons and positrons
There is an interaction point at the BaBar detector. The energy of the electron and positron combined is just enough to generate B and anti-B mesons. That is why we also refer to BaBar as the B-factory The electron and positron annihilate to energy which in turn forms a b quark and an anti b quark. As the two quarks move further apart their gluonic connection is broken and new d quarks are formed. Quarks cannot exist alone! So we end up with two B-mesons!
e+ /Z0 e-
b d
_ _ d b
antimatter
Where has all the antimatter gone? Are the laws of physics different for antimatter?
equal amounts
Maybe we can start to answer these questions by studying matter and antimatter asymmetries
asymmetries The BaBar experiment was built to measure Charge Parity (CP) violation in B-mesons What is CP?
CP is the following operation
Any difference between particles and anti-particles will result in CP violation (CP)
When the CP symmetry is different between initial and final states this is CP violation
e-
e+
b b
time
upsilon
Nearly at rest in the center of mass frame
Anti-B0
b d
d b
B0
Observe these
has produced 227 million B and anti-B meson pairs which have been recorded for analysis
First B decays
e+
Second B decays
Can measure the decay length to calculate the B lifetime You will do this in your practical
t1
e-
t2
) ( A= N (B K ) + N (B K )
N B0 K + N (B0 K + )
0 + 0 +
CP violation if A 0
Difference between two B decay distributions is a sine wave. A non-zero sine amplitude is a measurement of CP violation. The amplitude is given by sin2
B K B 0 K +
0 +
True B events peak at the B mass. Clearly see different number of reconstructed events for the B and anti-B events
Summary
Elementary particles and their interactions are
well understood. Though not perfectly!
What about incorporating gravity? Can we come up with a theory to unify all the forces? What about the Higgs Boson (Dr Bruce Kennedys talk) ?