Nuclear and Particle Physics

By Prof. Poulose Poulose | IIT Guwahati

Learners enrolled: 4812

The first part of the course will discuss nuclear physics. Properties of nuclei and details of popular nuclear models, properties of nuclear decays and nuclear reactions will be discussed in brief, but in a self-consistent manner. The second part will discuss the basics of particle physics. In this part, the fundamental forces and the dynamics of elementary particles under these forces will be considered. After introducing relativistic quantum mechanics, relativistic formulation of Maxwell’s Equations and quantum electrodynamics will be discussed. This will be developed into the weak and strong nuclear forces based on the principle of gauge symmetry. The course will also introduce the physical principles of particle accelerators and detectors, including a very brief picture of the modern day complex detectors.

INTENDED AUDIENCE: UG and PG students of Engineering Physics/Physics

PREREQUISITES: Basic Quantum Mechanics
INDUSTRY SUPPORT: Nil

Summary

Course Status :	Completed
Course Type :	Elective
Duration :	12 weeks
Category :	Physics
Credit Points :	3
Level :	Undergraduate/Postgraduate
Start Date :	14 Sep 2020
End Date :	04 Dec 2020
Enrollment Ends :	25 Sep 2020
Exam Date :	20 Dec 2020 IST

Note: This exam date is subjected to change based on seat availability. You can check final exam date on your hall ticket.

Page Visits

Course layout

Basic Properties of the Nucleus
Nuclear Force
Nuclear Models
Radioactive Decays
Nuclear Reactions
Particle Accelerators and Detectors
Modern Complex Detectors
Elementary Particles and Fundamental Forces
Quark Model, Structure of protons and neutrons
Relativistic Quantum Mechanics, QED
Scattering Theory
Gauge Symmetry
Electroweak Symmetry Breaking: Higgs Mechanism

Books and references

Nuclear and Particle Physics - Kenneth Krane
Introduction to Nuclear and Particle Physics (World Scientific) – A. Das, T. Ferbel
Particles and Nuclei (Springer) – Povh, Rith, Scholz, Zetsche
Particle Physics a comprehensive introduction (Pearson) – A. Seiden
Quarks and Leptons (Wiley) – Halzen and Martin

Instructor bio

Prof. Poulose Poulose

IIT Guwahati

Prof. Poulose Poulose is affiliated to the Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati since 2004. He is currently a Professor of Physics at IITG, and the Head of the Department of Physics. He completed his Ph.D. in Particle Physics Phenomenology from the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad in 1997 before spending his time as postdoctoral fellow at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (1997-1999), Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (1999-2001), RWTH-Aachen, Germany (2001-2002). Professor Poulose has about 25 years of research experience including his PhD years with about 32 publications in international research journals, and has teaching experience of about 12 years teaching at the UG and PG courses at IIT Guwahati. He has taught a wide range of topics including Classical and Quantum Mechanics, Electrodynamics, Nuclear and Particle Physics, High Energy Physics, and Quantum Field Theory. He has taught the course of Nuclear and Particle Physics to the M.Sc. students of IIT Guwahati multiple times, and has also developed and delivered a course with the same title on the NPTEL (phase 2) platform. The Swayam-MOOCS course on Nuclear and Particle Physics intended to the Masters students is based on this NPTEL course.

Course certificate

• The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.

• The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).

• Date and Time of Exams: 20 December,2020, Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.

• Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.

• The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.

• Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE:

• Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 8 assignments out of the total 12 assignments given in the course.

• Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

• Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75.

• If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

• Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of NPTEL and IIT Guwahati. It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc

• Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.