Dr. Breese Quinn
Office: Room 222 Lewis Hall, 915-1398
e-mail: quinn@phy.olemiss.edu 

Tuesday & Thursday 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM, Room 228 Lewis Hall

This course in elementary particle physics is primarily presented from a phenomenological and 
experimental perspective.  I will attempt to present the major components of the Standard 
Model along with their discoveries and experimental verifications.  Time permitting, I will also 
describe some of the deficiencies of the Standard Model and what possible new physics may 
lie beyond it.

Students completing this course should be able to state the characteristics of all of the
fundamental particles and interactions included in the Standard Model, understand the
implications of specific symmetry and conservation laws, perform basic cross section and 
decay rate calculations, and describe the means by which particle physics phenomena are 
experimentally observed.

Independent learning geared toward promoting an ability to perform research in the field is 
fostered by routinely asking students to design basic experimental approaches for making 
specific measurements that have been made in particle physics.  This is followed with surveys 
of the techniques and data from the actual experiments that were conducted.

Homework assignments will be announced in class and posted on the course website.  
Homework must be turned in at the beginning of class on the date that they are due.  Homework 
must be neat, stapled, not in red ink, with the student name and homework set number on the 
first page. Students are encouraged to collaborate on the homework assignments.  However, 
the work you turn in must be original in that it must not be simply copied, but rather represents 
your own work and understanding after any collaboration with others.  Students should be 
prepared to work their solutions on the board the day assignments are turned in.

There will be one exam, an open-book, comprehensive, non-collaborative, take-home final. 

Tentative: A(85-100), B(70-84), C(55-69), D(40-54) and F(0-39).  

                                              Homework                        60%

                                              In-class participation        10%

                                              Final Exam                       30%

                                                                                     100%