Experimental physics

Experimental physics is the category of disciplines and sub-disciplines in the field of physics that are concerned with the observation of physical phenomena and experiments. Methods vary from discipline to discipline, from simple experiments and observations, such as Galileo's experiments, to more complicated ones, such as the Large Hadron Collider. Experimental physics is a branch of physics that is concerned with data acquisition, data-acquisition methods, and the detailed conceptualization (beyond simple thought experiments) and realization of laboratory experiments. It is often contrasted with theoretical physics, which is more concerned with predicting and explaining the physical behaviour of nature than the acquisition of empirical data. Although experimental and theoretical physics are concerned with different aspects of nature, they both share the same goal of understanding it and have a symbiotic relationship. The former provides data about the universe, which can then be analyzed in order to be understood, while the latter provides explanations for the data and thus offers insight into how to better acquire data and set up experiments. Theoretical physics can also offer insight into what data is needed in order to gain a better understanding of the universe, and into what experiments to devise in order to obtain it. As a distinct field, experimental physics was established in early modern Europe, during what is known as the Scientific Revolution, by physicists such as Galileo Galilei, Christiaan Huygens, Johannes Kepler, Blaise Pascal and Sir Isaac Newton. In the early 17th century, Galileo made extensive use of experimentation to validate physical theories, which is the key idea in the modern scientific method. Galileo formulated and successfully tested several results in dynamics, in particular the law of inertia, which later became the first law in Newton's laws of motion. In Galileo's Two New Sciences, a dialogue between the characters Simplicio and Salviati discuss the motion of a ship (as a moving frame) and how that ship's cargo is indifferent to its motion.

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PHYS-416: Particle physics II

Presentation of the electroweak and strong interaction theories that constitute the Standard Model of particle physics. The course also discusses the new theories proposed to solve the problems of the

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Active in fiber optic, geotechnical monitoring and structural instrumentation. Smartec is a leading supplier of fiber optic solutions for geotechnical and structural monitoring, offering innovative technologies for various industries worldwide.

New Capabilities of the FLUKA Multi-Purpose Code

Nikolaos Charitonidis, Philippe Jean Schoofs, Francesco Cerutti, André Donadon Servelle

FLUKA is a general purpose Monte Carlo code able to describe the transport and interaction of any particle and nucleus type in complex geometries over an energy range extending from thermal neutrons t

FRONTIERS MEDIA SA2022

Transverse Noise, Decoherence, and Landau Damping in High-Energy Hadron Colliders

Sondre Vik Furuseth

High-energy hadron colliders are designed to generate particle collisions within specialized detectors. A higher number of collisions is achieved with high-quality beams of low transverse emittances,

EPFL2021

CERN is the European Organization for Nuclear Research located in Geneva, Switzerland. Its main goal is to explore fundamental physics and it exists primarily to provide physicists the necessary tools

EPFL2020

International Linear Collider

The International Linear Collider (ILC) is a proposed linear particle accelerator. It is planned to have a collision energy of 500 GeV initially, with the possibility for a later upgrade to 1000 GeV (1 TeV). Although early proposed locations for the ILC were Japan, Europe (CERN) and the USA (Fermilab), the Kitakami highland in the Iwate prefecture of northern Japan has been the focus of ILC design efforts since 2013. The Japanese government is willing to contribute half of the costs, according to the coordinator of study for detectors at the ILC.

High-energy nuclear physics

High-energy nuclear physics studies the behavior of nuclear matter in energy regimes typical of high-energy physics. The primary focus of this field is the study of heavy-ion collisions, as compared to lighter atoms in other particle accelerators. At sufficient collision energies, these types of collisions are theorized to produce the quark–gluon plasma. In peripheral nuclear collisions at high energies one expects to obtain information on the electromagnetic production of leptons and mesons that are not accessible in electron–positron colliders due to their much smaller luminosities.

Tevatron

The Tevatron was a circular particle accelerator (active until 2011) in the United States, at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (also known as Fermilab), east of Batavia, Illinois, and is the second highest energy particle collider ever built, after the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) near Geneva, Switzerland. The Tevatron was a synchrotron that accelerated protons and antiprotons in a ring to energies of up to 1 TeV, hence its name.

Elementary Particles: Beyond the Standard Model

Explores elementary particles, the Standard Model's limitations, and the search for new physics beyond it, focusing on direct and indirect methods.

Experimental Methods at High-Energy Colliders PHYS-415: Particle physics I

Explores experimental methods at high-energy colliders, focusing on the CMS detector at CERN's LHC and the reconstruction of stable particles and jets.

Particle Accelerators: Evolution and Future Prospects PHYS-751: Advanced concepts in particle accelerators

Explores the evolution of particle accelerators, major achievements, challenges, and future prospects.

Standard Model

The Standard Model of particle physics is the theory describing three of the four known fundamental forces (electromagnetic, weak and strong interactions – excluding gravity) in the universe and classifying all known elementary particles. It was developed in stages throughout the latter half of the 20th century, through the work of many scientists worldwide, with the current formulation being finalized in the mid-1970s upon experimental confirmation of the existence of quarks.

Topics in experimental physics

Particle accelerators

A particle accelerator is a machine that uses electromagnetic fields to propel charged particles to very high speeds and energies, and to contain them in well-defined beams. Large accelerators are used for fundamental research in particle physics. The largest accelerator currently active is the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) near Geneva, Switzerland, operated by the CERN. It is a collider accelerator, which can accelerate two beams of protons to an energy of 6.5 TeV and cause them to collide head-on, creating center-of-mass energies of 13 TeV.