Astroparticles 2

The course describes the different detectors and physical processes involved in particle detection in high-energy physics. Next, we will describe how the main particle accelerators work, which are used in high-energy physics but also in many other fields such as medicine, industry, materials science, archaeology, etc.

The course provides a detailed description of the physical processes and experimental techniques involved in detecting charged and neutral particles in detectors, as these detections form the basis of all physical measurements.

A detailed description of the different types of radiation and particle-matter interactions will be provided.

We will focus on describing the systematics associated with these processes and their statistical treatment.

The primary objective of the course is for students to be able to understand and/or define what types of detectors will be necessary for their future projects, while also being able to approximately evaluate their future performance, efficiency, cost, etc. The second objective is to make students aware of the systematic issues inherent in all detectors when analyzing data, as these issues have a definite impact on the physical interpretation of these analyses.

- General training in physics at M1 level,

- Nuclear and particle physics,

- Mathematics for physics.

Recommended prerequisites:

Basic concepts in:

- Special relativity and relativistic kinematics,

- Nuclear physics.

Final written exam without documents, lasting 3 hours.

Course materials/tutorials and lectures/exercise corrections in English.
Section 1 “Introduction to detectors”
1/ Interactions of particles with matter for dummies
2/ Examples for major discoveries made possible by detector progress
A/ Discovery of positron by C.Anderson and imaging techniques
B/ First neutral current events and electronic detectors
C/ Discovery of intermediate vector bosons W±,Z0, UA1 and UA2 at CERN in anti-p p interactions
D/ Discovery of neutrino oscillations + detection of neutrinos from SN1987A
E/ Discovery of the Higgs boson at CERN in p p interactions
3/ A very simple detector: 
                A/ Key components of a typical scintillation counter
B/ Scintillators
C/ Photo Multiplier Tubes, Light Collection and Photon Detection
4/ Parameters characterizing detectors
5/ Example of a particle detector in space for gamma-ray astronomy. The Fermi Observatory!

Section 3: “Interaction of charged particles with matter”
1) Energy loss of heavy charged particles:
A/ Bethe-Bloch Formula
B/ Discussion of Bethe-Bloch formula
C/ δ-Rays
D/ DeltaE – E Telescopes, Particle ID from dE/dx
2) Interaction of electrons with matter
A/ Electron energy loss
B/ Critical energy
C Mean free path
D/ Radiation length
3) Fluctuations:
A/ Fluctuations in energy loss distribution, Landau distribution
B/ Multiple scattering
C/ How does interaction of charged particles with matter impact the science? Some examples from the LAT
4) Cherenkov radiation
A/ Definition
B/ Cherenkov counters

Section 4: “Interaction of g-rays with matter”
1/ Attenuation of γ-rays: Some definitions
2/ Photoelectric absorption
3/ Compton scattering
4/ Pair production

Section 5: “Electromagnetic and hadronic showers”
1/ Electromagnetic showers
2/ Interaction of hadrons
3/ Calorimetry

Section 3: “Accelerators”
1/ History and overview of particle accelerators
A/ Why study particle accelerators?
B/ Radioactivity
C/ Cosmic rays
D/ Early accelerators
2/ Colliders
A/ Overview
B/ Luminosity
C/ Particle sources
D/ Synchrotron radiation
3/ Main colliders and accelerators
A/ Cyclotrons
B/ Synchrcyclotrons (protons)
C/ Linear accelerators (electrons)
D/ The LHC accelerator complex