Class Notes for PHY30: The Standard Model
The Theoretical Minimum Class Series
Professor Leonard Susskind
Renormalization, particle-field-forces, particle zoo
Missed this lecture (I’ll add notes when I can see the video)
Groups and symmetries, group representations and start on
group generators
Spin up/down, rotation groups, color
Groups continued - Generators, subgroups of transform of q*q, gluon
fields and confinement due to gluon interaction
Gauge theories, gauge bosons, relative strengths of forces, model of
the Weak force
Why is the Weak force weak? Propagators. Spontaneous and explicit
symmetry breaking
Continuous symmetry breaking. Gauge Invariance for U(1) symmetry.
The Goldstone boson gets eaten, giving mass to the gauge boson via
the Higgs field.
The Higgs mechanism for giving mass to fermions.
Some review of renormalization, and the Higgs mechanism for fermions.
More on the Higgs field and condensed matter analogs. Commentary on
the running charges for the electromagnetic, weak, strong, gravity and
their intersection near the Planck mass leading to next quarters topic.
Ken’s Reading List:
The Gauge Hierarchy Problem - by Leonard Susskind
Conceptual Foundations of the Unified Theory of Weak and Electromagnetic Interactions - Nobel Lecture, Steven Weinberg