The main topics are:
I. Symmetry principles and symmetry breaking in fundamental physics
Contents: global and local symmetries, gauge invariance, spontaneous symmetry breaking, chiral symmetry breaking, Higgs mechanism, discrete symmetries (C, P, T), precision tests
Related special-topic courses:
- precision experiments at low energies
- flavor physics of quarks and leptons
- local, global, and discrete symmetries in particle and hadron physics
- laser spectroscopy and experiments using ion traps
II. Strong interaction and effective field theories
Contents: introduction to quantum chromodynamics (QCD), chiral symmetry breaking and chiral perturbation theory, effective field theories for heavy quarks, perturbative QCD for hard processes and factorization, collider physics
Related special-topic courses:
- effective field theories
- heavy-quark physics and CP violation
- chiral dynamics
- lattice gauge theory
- hard scattering processes in collider physics
- nucleon structure and generalized parton distributions
- strange particles in particle and hadron physics
- methods in perturbative and nonperturbative QCD
III. Standard model of elementary particles and further concepts
Contents: Glashow-Salam-Weinberg theory of elementary particles and their interactions (Standard Model), electroweak symmetry breaking, Higgs mechanism, important scattering and decay processes, concepts beyond the Standard Model (extended Higgs sectors, supersymmetry, extra dimensions), grand unification
Related special-topic courses:
- quantum field theory (I+II)
- concepts and phenomena in particle physics
- supersymmetry
- physics beyond the Standard Model (non-SUSY)
- collider physics (LHC, ILC)
- precision calculations (loops and legs)
- particle detectors
- accelerator concepts and developments
- numerical and statistical methods in particle physics
IV. Astroparticle physics and cosmology
Contents: modern concepts of astroparticle physics and cosmology, cosmic microwave background radiation, structure formation in the early universe, dark matter and dark energy
Related special-topic courses:
- general relativity
- early universe cosmology
- dark universe
- astroparticle physics: concepts and experiments
- general relativity