Page 1 of 8 2010 - 11

UNIVERSITY OF LONDON


MSci/BSc EXAMINATION 2011



For Internal Students of
Royal Holloway


DO NOT TURN OVER UNTIL TOLD TO BEGIN



PH3520 : PARTICLE PHYSICS


Time Allowed: TWO hours


Answer THREE Questions


Approximate part-marks for questions are given in the right-hand margin


The total available marks add up to 60


No credit will be given for attempting any further questions



College Calculators are provided






Royal Holloway University of London 2011
PH3520

Page 2 of 8
GENERAL PHYSICAL CONSTANTS

Permeability of vacuum
0
= 4t 10
-7
H m
-1

Permittivity of vacuum c
0
= 8.85 10
-12
F m
-1

tc
0
1/ 4 = 9.0 10
9
m F
-1

Speed of light in vacuum c = 3.00 10
8
m s
-1

Elementary charge e = 1.60 10
-19
C
Electron (rest) mass
e
m = 9.11 10
-31
kg
Unified atomic mass constant
u
m = 1.66 10
-27
kg
Proton rest mass
p
m = 1.67 10
-27
kg
Neutron rest mass
n
m = 1.67 10
-27
kg
Ratio of electronic charge to mass /
e
e m = 1.76 10
11
C kg
-1

Planck constant h = 6.63 10
-34
J s
= h / 2t = 1.05 10
-34
J s
Boltzmann constant k = 1.38 10
-23
J K
-1

Stefan-Boltzmann constant o = 5.67 10
-8
W m
-2
K
-4

Gas constant R = 8.31 J mol
-1
K
-1

Avogadro constant
A
N = 6.02 10
23
mol
-1

Gravitational constant G = 6.67 10
-11
N m
2
kg
-2

Acceleration due to gravity
g
= 9.81 m s
-2

Volume of one mole of an ideal gas at STP = 2.24 10
-2
m
3

One standard atmosphere
0
P = 1.01 10
5
N m
-2


MATHEMATICAL CONSTANTS

e ~ 2.718 t ~ 3.142 ~ log 10 2.303
e








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PH3520

Page 3 of 8

PART
MARKS
1. (a) Draw the lowest order Feynman diagrams for the decays t

v
e
v
t

and t

udv
t
. Label all particles and indicate the coupling strengths,
including possible CKM matrix elements, for all vertices. [5]

(b)
Using dimensional arguments, show that the decay rate for
t

v
e
v
t
follows
I(t

v
e
v
t
)
g
4
M
W
4
m
t
5
,

where the symbols have their usual meanings. [5]

(c) List all possible combinations of quarks and leptons into which the t

lepton can decay. Then neglecting any Cabibbo suppressed decay
modes and effects due to masses of final state particles, show that the
branching ratio B(t

v
e
v
t
) is approximately 1/ 5.
[5]
(d) Using the results from (b) and (c) and the fact that the muons mean
lifetime is t

= 2.210
6
s, show that the mean lifetime of the t lepton
is approximately t
t
= 0.3 10
12
s . [Use m

= 0.1057GeV and
m
t
=1.777GeV .]
[5]
















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PH3520

Page 4 of 8

PART
MARKS
2. (a) At the HERA accelerator, protons with an energy of 900 GeV collided
head-on with 30 GeV electrons. Find the centre-of-mass energy of the
collision. Make approximations that are valid for particles that are
highly relativistic.
Suppose one wanted to achieve the same centre-of-mass energy using
an electron beam hitting a stationary proton target. What electron
energy would be required? Use a proton mass of 0.938 GeV. [6]
(b) With the help of a simple sketch, describe a typical particle detector for
use at a particle collider such as LEP or the LHC. Include components
that will provide:
(i) the ability to reconstruct tracks and measure the momenta of
charged particles;
(ii) the ability to distinguish between charged pions, kaons and
protons;
(iii) the ability to identify electrons, positrons and photons and to
measure their energies;
(iv) the ability to identify muons and measure their momenta
(v) the ability to reconstruct decay vertices within a few mm of the
primary interaction point.
For each of the detector components, describe briefly the physical
principles that allow it to perform its intended function. [10]
(c)
In electron-positron collisions, many t
+
and t

mesons can be
produced, some of which are from the decay
0
t
+
t

.
Explain how one obtains information on which pions in the events
come from the decay
0
t
+
t

, and how one can in doing so

determine the mass and decay width of the
0
meson. Include a
sketch of any relevant distribution, labelling all relevant features. [4]









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PH3520

Page 5 of 8

PART
MARKS
3. (a) Draw a Feynman diagram for the scattering process

v
e
in
Fermis original theory of weak interactions, where the four-fermion
vertex was characterized by the coupling strength G
F
.
Using dimensional arguments find how this cross section depends on
the centre-of-mass energy for high energies. Explain why this
indicated a fundamental problem with Fermis theory.
Why could computing higher order corrections not solve this problem? [7]
(b) Draw the Feynman diagram for this process in the Standard Model with
an intermediate W boson, and find how its cross section depends on
the centre-of-mass energy in the limit of high energy. In what way did
this solve the problem with Fermis theory mentioned above? [6]
(c) Describe the neutrino-nucleon scattering experiment that established
the existence of weak neutral currents. Draw representative Feynman
diagrams for charged and neutral current events and explain how the
experiment was able to distinguish between the two. [7]






































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PH3520

Page 6 of 8

PART
MARKS
4. (a) Describe briefly how the b quark was discovered in proton-nucleus
collisions.
Describe briefly how the discovery was confirmed using electron-
positron collisions. [6]
(b)
Draw Feynman diagrams for the decays B
0
t
+
D

and B
0
t
+
t

.
(Recall that the B
0
meson is bd and the D

is cd .) Label all
particles, including both quarks and hadrons, and indicate the coupling
strengths and CKM factors for all vertices.
Express the ratio of decay rates
I(B
0
t
+
t

)
I(B
0
t
+
D

)

as a function of the CKM matrix elements V
ub
and V
cb
. (Ignore any
effects due to the mass difference between the D

and t

.) [5]
(c) Estimate the ratio of decay rates
I(bce

v
e
)
I(c se
+
v
e
)

using m
b
= 4.2GeV , m
c
=1.2GeV, |V
cb
|= 0.04 and |V
cs
|= 0.97.
Ignore effects due to the masses of final state particles and recall that
in this approximation the decay rate of a quark is proportional to the 5
th

power of its mass. [3]

(d)
Suppose a B
0
meson is produced with an energy E of 100GeV. The
mean proper lifetime of a B
0
is t
B
=1.510
12
s, and its mass is
m
B
= 5.28GeV . Show that the mean distance d travelled in the lab
frame before decay is given by
d =
E
2
m
B
2
m
B
ct
B
.
Evaluate this in mm for the energy, mass and lifetime given above. [3]
(e) Explain with the help of simple sketches how one can distinguish
between jets initiated by b quarks from those made from u or d
quarks. [3]










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PH3520

Page 7 of 8

PART
MARKS
5. (a) In electron-positron collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 30 GeV,
the measured value of the ratio
R =
o(e
+
e

hadrons)
o(e
+
e

)

is approximately 4.0.
Show that the predicted value for R is 11/3, provided one assumes
that quarks are produced in one of three possible colour states.
Include sketches of relevant Feynman diagrams and state any required
assumptions and approximations. [7]
(b) Describe briefly how the difference between the prediction of R = 11/ 3
and the measured value of 4.0 can be explained. Include sketches of
any relevant Feynman diagrams labelling all particles and indicating
coupling strengths. [5]
(c) The processes qg qg and qg q can be studied at hadron
colliders such as the Tevatron or LHC, where q is a u or d quark.
Draw Feynman diagrams for each process, labelling the particles and
indicating the coupling strengths (use either u or d ).
To first approximation, how does the ratio of cross sections
o(qg qg)
o(qg q )

depend on the strong coupling constant o
s
and on the fine structure
constant o ? Justify your answer. [5]
(d) Roughly what value would you expect for the ratio of cross sections
ug u
dg d
( )
,
( )

o
o


in proton-proton collisions? Justify your answer. [3]









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PH3520

Page 8 of 8

PART
MARKS
6. (a) Sketch the Feynman diagram that makes the dominant contribution for
the production of a Higgs boson in proton-proton collisions at the LHC,
labelling all particles. Justify why the diagram you have drawn gives a
large amplitude. [4]
(b) For a Higgs boson mass of 300 GeV, the cross section for production
of the Higgs in proton-proton collisions at the LHC is 9pb .
Find the number of Higgs bosons that will be produced during a
running time of one nominal year (10
7
s ) if the LHC runs at its design
luminosity of L = 10
34
cm
2
s
1
. (Recall that 1barn = 10
24
cm
2
.)
Suppose the Higgs is detected through its decay H ZZ , and the Z
bosons are detected through either Z
+

or Z e
+
e

. Given the
branching ratios B(H ZZ) = 0.3 and B(Z e
+
e

) =
B(Z
+

) = 0.0337 , what will be the number of Higgs bosons

produced under the conditions above that can be detected using these
decay modes? [6]
(c) Suppose there were to exist a particle like the Z boson (a Z' ), being
more massive but having the same couplings as the Z to quarks and
leptons.
Draw a Feynman diagram how such a particle could be produced in
proton-proton collisions at the LHC.
What decay modes of the Z' would allow for the easiest discovery of
such a particle? Justify your answer. [5]
(d) Draw a Feynman diagram for the production of a single-top event,
i.e., a tb pair in a proton-antiproton collision, with the top quark
decaying as t be
+
v
e
. Label all of the particles and indicate all
coupling strengths and CKM factors.
Make a sketch for what an event of this type would look like in a
detector. What important observable characteristics would one use to
identify events of this type? [5]




END