PHY116: Quarks to Cosmos
Winter 2012
Course Details, Part I: Introduction
This course introduces the modern view of the physical world to students with
little prior background in physics. Some of the main subjects to be covered
are:
• The hierarchy of the constituent model of matter: atoms, nuclei,
nucleons and other hadrons, quarks and leptons.
• The fundamental forces between fundamental matter constituents:
electromagnetism, gravity, weak and strong nuclear forces.
• The hierarchy of astronomical scales: planets, stars, galaxies, and the
large scale structure.
• The Big Bang origin and evolution of the Universe.
• Typical sizes and energies: from quarks and leptons to clusters of
galaxies.
• Unresolved questions subject to current research: the Higgs boson,
Supersymmetry, Dark Matter, Dark Energy.
The first lecture will introduce what all these things are.
Wed. Jan 4:
Lecture 1: Inner Space and Outer Space.
Reading: Nicholson Chap. 1: p. 1-9. Asimov, Chap. 1: p. 1-12.
Course Details, Part II: Thirty Years that Shook Physics
The first three decades of the 20th century revolutionized physics. The theory
of relativity overturned the view of space and time; and quantum mechanics
opened a new and an unfamiliar microscopic world. The “solar system”
structure of the atom was finally established.
Mon. Jan. 9:
Lecture 2: Light at a Wave.
Reading: Asimov, Chap. 2: p. 26-51.
Wed. Jan. 11:
Lecture 3: Light as a Particle.
Reading: Asimov, Chap. 2: p. 52-57. Chap. 3: p. 79-82. Nicholson Chap 1: p.
11-16.
Mon. Jan. 16:
No Lecture: MLK Day.
Wed. Jan. 18:
Lecture 4: Atomic Structure.
Reading: Asimov, Chap. 4.: p. 89-121.
You may consider reading the remaining part of Asimov Chap. 3 first, for
continuity of his tale, but it is not required.
Mon. Jan. 23:
Lecture 5: Quantum Mechanics.
Reading: catch up on readings 1-4.
Quiz#1 in the beginning of class.
Wed. Jan. 25:
Lecture 6: The Special Theory of Relativity.
Reading: Cutnell and Johnson, “Physics”, Chap 28: p. 864-71, p.879+880.
Mon. Jan. 30:
Lecture 7: Mass and Energy.
Reading: Wikipedia, “Mass-Energy equivalence”, sec. 1-5.
http://www.einstein-online.info/spotlights/sr: “Energy and Mass” (2 entries).
Course Details, Part III: Inward Bound
The central part of the atom is the nucleus. The structure of the nucleus and
the forces that act there are unfamiliar. Attempts to understand them in detail
leads to the smallest constituents of matter that we know of.
Wed. Feb. 1:
Lecture 8: Radioactivity.
Reading: Asimov Chapter 5.
Mon. Feb. 6:
Lecture 9: Nuclear Forces.
Reading: Asimov Chapter 7: p. 174-194.
You may consider reading Asimov Chap. 6 first, for continuity of his tale; but it
is not required.
Wed Feb. 8:
Lecture 10: Elementary Particles.
Reading: G. Kane, “The Particle Garden”, Chap. 1: p. 7 (“Experiments…”) -17
(“Unification…”), Chap. 4: p. 53-68 (bottom).
Quiz#2 in the beginning of class.
Mon. Feb. 13:
Lecture 11: Quarks and the Strong Interaction.
Nicholson Chap. 5: p. 58-68 (skip first 1.5 pages of the chapter).
Wed Feb. 15:
Lecture 12: The Weak Force
Reading: Devine and Wilczek,”Longing for the Harmonies”, Chapter 19-22: p.
189-206, p. 218-225.
Mon Feb. 20:
Lecture 13: The Higgs Boson and the LHC accelerator.
Reading: G. Kane ``The Mysteries of Mass” (Scientific American, 7/2005).
Wed. Feb. 22:
Midterm exam.
Mon. Feb. 27+Wed Feb 29:
Winter Vacation
Course Details, Part IV: Curious Characters in the Cosmos
At this point we turn our attention to the functioning of the heavens. It exhibits
magnificent and diverse wonders that can be understood from the laws of the
atomic and nuclear world.
Mon. Mar. 5:
Lecture 14: Cosmology.
Reading: R. Kolb, “The Third Dimension” (Chapter 6 of “Blind Watchers of the
Sky”.)
Wed. Mar. 7:
Lecture 15: The Life of a Star
Reading: Pasachoff and Filippenko, “Stars: Distant Suns”, p. 217-229. (Part of
Chapter 11 of “The Cosmos: Astronomy in the New Millenium”).
Mon. Mar. 12.
Lecture 16: The Formation of Stars and Planets.
Reading: Australia Telescope Outreach and Education, “Star Formation”.
Wed. Mar. 14.
Lecture 17: Nuclear Synthesis.
Reading: Pasachoff and Filippenko, “The Death of Stars: Stellar Recycling”, p.
252, p. 255-256, p. 261-270. (Parts of Chapter 12+13 of “The Cosmos:
Astronomy in the New Millenium”.
Mon. Mar. 19.
Lecture 18: Black Holes and White Dwarfs.
Reading: Wikipedia, ``Supernova’’, sec. 1-5.3.
http://www.einstein-online.info/spotlights/blackHoles: “Descent into a Black
Hole”.
Wed. Mar. 21.
Lecture 19: Galaxies.
Reading: Nicholson Chap. 3: p. 33-48.
Quiz#3 in the beginning of class.
Course Details, Part V: The Big Bang Theory
The large scale structure of the Cosmos shows that the Universe used to be
small, hot, and dense. This origin is known as the Big Bang. This theory is
based on a firm footing.
Mon. Mar. 26.
Lecture 20: The General Theory of Relativity
Reading: Nicholson Chap. 1: p. 19-20; Chap. 2: p. 30-32. http://www.einsteinonline.info/spotlights/gr: “The basics of General Relativity” (3 entries) and
“Light in General Relativity” (First 2 entries).
Wed. Mar. 28.
Lecture 21: The Big Bang.
Reading: Nicholson Chap. 2: p. 21-25. Lineweawer and Davis,
“Misconceptions about the Big Bang”.
Mon. Apr. 2.
Lecture 22: The Early Universe.
Reading: Nicholson Chap 2., p. 25-30; Chap. 8: p. 99-104.
http://www.einstein-online.info/spotlights/cosmology: “The first chemical
elements” (3 entries).
Quiz#4 in the beginning of class.
Wed. Apr. 4.
Lecture 23: The Cosmic Microwave Background.
Reading: Nicholson Chap. 8: p. 105 (Curvature…) -113 (Corroboration…),
excluding the box on p. 107.
http://background.uchicago.edu/~whu/beginners/introduction.html
Course Details, Part VI: Frontiers of Physics
Mon. Apr. 9.
Lecture 24: Dark Matter.
Reading: Nicholson Chap. 7: p. 81-92 (bottom), p. 98 (“Current Status”
section).
Wed. Apr. 11.
Lecture 25: Dark Energy.
Reading: Nicholson Chap. 9: p. 115-128 (ie. All), Chap. 10: 129-131 (middle),
Chap. 11: p. 139-140 (bottom).
Mon. Apr. 16.
Lecture 26: The Frontiers of Physics.
Reading: Nicholson: Epilogue, p. 175-176. Quantum Diaries (CERN’s official
blog): the five most recent entries.