Introduction

Overview

Questions

• What is particle physics?
• What is happening at the LHC?

Objectives

• Develop a very broad overview of what particle physics is
• Develop a very broad overview of what particle physicists do

Introduction

Particle physics is an broad field which focuses on the study of the very smallest particles. Even smaller than atoms!

If you only had 5 minutes to learn about particle physics and wanted the simplest explanation possible, you could do worse than the Simple Wikipedia entry for “Particle Physics”. Please read this!

If you only had more time and could handle a higher level of discussion, a good starting point is the standard Wikipedia entry for “Particle Physics”. Much of the material in the article will be covered in the next episodes of this lesson, but feel free to read through it for a preview of what is to come.

Overview of this lesson

You probably want more though, so we’ve provided more materials to prepare you for the workshop.

• First, we have some videos aimed at the public that provide a broad overview of particle physics. They’re not terribly long and worth watching. Given time, we also recommend a good documentary about the discovery of the Higgs particle.
• We are fortunate to have access to some excellent lectures by one of our collaborators, Dr. Allison Hall. There are six (6) lectures and while all are great, we strongly encourage new students to at least watch the first 3. All the lectures have some optional exercises and links to additional resources.
• Then we end with some basic computing challenges that walk you through a toy example of discovering particles.

Good luck and enjoy learning about the fascinating field of particle physics!

Key Points

• Particle physics is the study of the objects that make up atoms.
• Particle physicists try to understand how these particles interact with each other.
• They often need to push the limits of technology to experimentally test different theories.