Fall, 2009
Revolutionary new concepts about elementary particles, space and time, and the structure of matter began to emerge in the mid-1970s. Theory got far ahead of experiment with radical new ideas such as grand unification and supersymmetry, but the concepts have never been experimentally tested. Now all that is about to change. The Large Hadron Collider, or LHC, has finally been built and is about to confront theory with experiment. This course is devoted to these theoretical ideas and how they will be tested.
This course is the first of a three-quarter sequence of classes exploring particle physics. This material focuses on the basic concepts of particle physics.
(Image credit: Wikipedia)
Lectures in this Course
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1
Particles and light
Leonard Susskind gives the first lecture of a three-quarter sequence of courses that will explore the new revolutions in particle physics. In this lecture he explores light, particles and quantum field theory. -
2
Quantum field theory
In this lecture Professor Susskind explores quantum field theory. -
3
Quantum fields and particles
In this lecture Professor Susskind talks about what a quantum field is and how it is related to particles. -
4
More quantum field theory
In this lecture Professor Susskind continues on the subject of quantum field theory. -
5
Energy conservation and waves
In this lecture Professor Susskind continues on the subject of quantum field theory, more specifically, energy conservation, waves and fermions. -
6
Dirac equation and Higgs particles
In this lecture Professor Susskind continues on the subject of quantum field theory, including, the Dirac equation and Higgs particles. -
7
Angular momentum
Leonard Susskind discusses the theory and mathematics of angular momentum. -
8
Spin
Leonard Susskind discusses the theory and mathematics of particle spin and half spin, the Dirac equation, and isotopic spin. -
9
Equations of motion of particles and fields
Leonard Susskind discusses the equations of motion of fields containing particles and quantum field theory, and shows how basic processes are coded by a Lagrangian. -
10
Field Lagrangians and path integrals
In this lecture, Professor Susskind elaborates further on using field Lagrangians, the action principle, and path integrals in studying particle physics.