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Physics 125 - Spring 2002

We meet Monday and Wednesday in 2019B Broida, 12:30pm-1:50pm. The first class is Monday, April 1 and the last class will be Wednesday, June 6. The midterm will be on Wednesday, May 9 and the final will be on Monday, June 10 from noon to 3pm in 2019B Broida.

The lecturer is Harry Nelson, and the TA is Ted Brookings.

This is a course about modern elementary particle physics. The textbook is Introduction to Elementary Particles by David Griffiths. An ancillary textbook will be the Particle Physics Booklet, available by registering at the Particle Data Group Order Form web page. As part of the first problem set for the course, students must order a copy of the Particle Physics Booklet. Some lecture notes will be handed out in class.

Roughly, the plan is to cover Chapters 1-7 of Griffiths, but with some important diversions, with handouts for those. An up-to-date syllabus will be kept here.

My plan is to count the problem sets 40%, The final 35%, and the midterm 25%, toward the final grade. Working together on solving problem set problems is OK, but to receive credit, each student must independently write up the work they turn in.


Finals are graded, final solutions up.... have a great summer.
News:
4/29/02 - An article on the Bell Inequalities (from the American Journal of Physics) By N.D. Mermin
4/25/02 - Victor Weisskopf Obituary: NYT
4/20/02 - Sensitive solar neutrino measurements by SNO: SNO PR Washington Post BBC NYT
4/10/02 - Strange Quark Stars Found? Chandra PR New York Times: [1(link now stale)][2]

Useful Particle Physics Links
PA The Particle Adventure, a starting point for a general overview of particle physics.
PDG The Particle Data Group at LBL in Berkeley. This group keeps track of the most up-to-date data and ideas concerning particle physics
Nuclides An interactive table of the nuclides. For example, information for the decay of Potassium-40 is easy to find here.
CERN The world's premier particle physics lab, based in Geneva in Switzerland
DESY DESY, the German particle physics lab.
FNAL Fermilab, the principal particle physics lab in the US.
KEK KEK, the principal particle physics lab in Japan.
SLAC SLAC, the center in the US for particle physics techniques derived from the acceleration of electrons.


Useful Science News Links
BBC British Broadcasting Corporation Science Page
DMN Dallas Morning News Science Page (free registration required)
LAT Los Angeles Times Science Page
NYT New York Times Science Page
PT Physics Today (Registration required to view articles)


hnn@hep.ucsb.edu 6/17/02

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