Linder Research Group - Partphys

Linder Research Group

FY3403/FY8913 Particle Physics Autumn 2026

Breaking news

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2026 was awarded to Francis Halzen "for decisive contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin."

On this occasion, our local experts Prof. Foteini Oikonomou and Prof. Michael Kachelriess will give a Friday Colloquium and explain the physics behind these discoveries.

Time: Friday, October 30th, 14:15-15:15

Place: E5-103

Timetable & practical info

Lectures

Wednesdays: 1215-1400 in E5-101

Thursdays: 1415-1600 in E5-101

The lectures are video-recorded and available in Canvas under "Panopto".

Exercise guidance

Wednesdays: 0815-1000 in C4-118

The teaching assistant in the course is Jesper Pedersen Vogt.

Reference group

Hedda Karine Andersen-Nerby (heddakn at stud ntnu no)
Håvard Trageton (h.trageton99 at gmail com)
Daniel James Regan (daniejre at stud ntnu no)
Ruben Gonzalez Gomez (rubengo at stud ntnu no)

A summary from the first reference group meeting is found here. A summary from the second reference group meeting is found here.

Exam

The exam takes place on December 8th, 09:00-13:00.

Question hour

Tba

Curriculum

Description and notes

The curriculum is defined by the lectures, based on corresponding chapters in the Griffiths book "Introduction to Elementary Particles" (2nd edition), and selected extra notes for each chapter (will be posted below).

Chapters in Griffiths that are part of the curriculum:

1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11.1+11.2

The vast majority of the curriculum will be covered in the lectures, but some material might be assigned to self-study.

Complementary books/material

Modern Particle Physics, M. Thomson (1st edition)

Extra notes

Neutrino oscillations (curriculum)
Energy-time uncertainty principle and its relation to measuring particle lifetimes
Example showing how co- and contravariant vectors transform differently
Introduction to classical differential scattering cross section
Explanation for the form of the spin-rotation operator
How to deduct the intrinsic parity of a particle experimentally (see page 3)
Feynman rule for fermion loop in QED (curriculum)
Derivation of conserved current in relativistic field theories
Details on Higgs boson discovery (last part of course) (curriculum)
Lecture on weak interactions by Foteini Oikonomou (curriculum)

Lecture plan

Rough plan for the semester - deviations may occur. Numbers in parentheses refers to section in Griffiths 2nd edition.

Week 34
Introduction

Week 35
Elementary particle dynamics

Week 36
Relativistic kinematics

Week 37
Symmetries part I

Week 38
Symmetries part II + Feynman rules part I

Week 39
Feynman rules part II + QED part I

Week 40
QED part II

Week 41
QED part III

Week 42
QCD part I

Week 43
QCD part II

Week 44
Weak interactions part I

Week 45
Weak interactions part II

Week 46: Relativistic field and gauge theories part I
Higgs mechanism (10.9), Yang-Mills theory (10.4)

Week 47: Relativistic field and gauge theories part II
Discovery of Higgs boson (see note on webpage)

Exercises and useful links

Exercises

The exercises are not mandatory, but highly recommended. Complete collection problems + solutions found here.

August 26th - Exercise #1

Problem text #1 | Solution #1

September 2nd - Exercise #2

Problem text #2 | Solution #2

September 9th - Exercise #3

Problem text #3 | Solution #3

September 16th - Exercise #4

Problem text #4 | Solution #4

September 23rd - Exercise #5

Problem text #5 | Solution #5

September 30th - Exercise #6

Problem text #6 | Solution #6

October 6th - Exercise #7

Problem text #7 | Solution #7

October 13th - Exercise #8

Problem text #8 | Solution #8

October 20th - Exercise #9

Problem text #9 | Solution #9

October 27th - Catch-up session

November 3rd - Exercise #10

Problem text #10 | Solution #10

November 10th - Exercise #11

Problem text #11 | Solution #11

Exams from previous years

Here are some older exams for this course. The ones made by Jacob Linder (2012-2015) are representative of what this year's exam could look like.

The solution for the 2025 exam is here.

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