Student’s seminars
Each week, a pair of students prepares a short seminar for the other students. The presentation reviews some topics explained during past lectures (both common and optional lectures are concerned).
Example of subjects :

• Special relativity : Definition and notation of 4-­vectors, application to deep inelastic scattering and pp collisions at the LHC. Definition and relation of some commonly used kinematic variables, Q2, ν, y, xBJ, rapidity, s, u, t.
• Theory of signal formation in electronic detectors ; the proportional chamber ; application of Ramo’s theorem on a simple detector geometry.
• The Dirac equation : Motivation, basic concepts and interpretation of solutions in the relativistic and non-relativistic limits.
• Interactions of heavy charged particles with matter ; Detailed derivation of the Bethe-­Bloch formula.
• Helicity and chirality and their conservation in the high-­energy limit ; Angular distribution in e-­e+ -> μ-­μ+ scattering. Notation of “left” and “right” handed particles, mass terms in the Lagrangian.
• Nuclear pairing and super-­fluidity, quasi particles and BCS (Bardeen, Cooper and Schrieffer) equations.
• Data analysis : concepts of significance and exclusion limits. Application in the context of discovery of the Higgs particle.
• Stationary perturbation theory, exemple of the Rayleigh-­Schrödinger method.
• Concepts of group theory applied to subatomic physics : rotations, unitary and special unitary groups. The parton and quark model.
• Physics of fast rotating nuclei, quantum numbers, the quantum-­Coriolis effect ; Rotation-­induced phase transition.
• The Noether theorem and current conservation ; Global and local gauge invariance and fundamental interaction.
• Explicit calculation of elementary cross sections : From the matrix elements and the phase space factors to the experiment-­comparable quantities.