Unit MODERN PHYSICS
- Course
- Mathematics
- Study-unit Code
- 55A00111
- Curriculum
- Didattico-generale
- Teacher
- Maurizio Maria Busso
- Teachers
-
- Maurizio Maria Busso
- Hours
- 42 ore - Maurizio Maria Busso
- CFU
- 6
- Course Regulation
- Coorte 2019
- Offered
- 2020/21
- Learning activities
- Affine/integrativa
- Area
- Attività formative affini o integrative
- Academic discipline
- FIS/03
- Type of study-unit
- Opzionale (Optional)
- Type of learning activities
- Attività formativa monodisciplinare
- Language of instruction
- English
- Contents
- An introduction to the physics of the XXth century, starting from the crisis of classical physics that followed the formal exposition of electromagnetism in the Maxwell theory. We shall follow the evolution of the physical culture through the proposition of special and general relativity and then through the steps that introduced the Quantum Mechanics approach. At the end some elements will be given of modern field theories and of the Standard Model of particle physics.
- Reference texts
- Modern Physics: an introductory text. By J.I. Pfeffer & S. Nir (Imperial College Press).
- Educational objectives
- To obtain a general knowledge of the basic concepts of modern physics and of the experimental verifications of their hypotheses. On a specific topic among those discussed in the lessons, chosen together by the student and the teacher, develop a deeper understanding, based on the mathematical background typical of a Master in Mathematics.
- Prerequisites
- A good knowledge of classical physics and of its mathematical foundations.
- Teaching methods
- Frontal lessons
- Other information
- None
- Learning verification modality
- Oral exam
- Extended program
- Remarks on the principle of the stationary action (Lagrange, Fermat) and the second Newton's law. Motion in an absolute time and space: the ether and the interaction at non-zero distance. Ernst Mach and the first doubts. Maxwell's equations and the constante velocity of light. Michelson and Morley's experiment. Electromagnetic waves from an oscillating dipole and the "ultraviolet catastrophe". The solution attempted by Planck. The photoelectric effect: photons as particles (in contradiction with Maxwell). Electron diffraction: particles as waves. Double or ambiguous nature of the microscopic world. Heuristic solutions: a) Planck's law; b) Bohr's structure for the atom; c) Loretz tranfromations.Emma Noether: symmetries and conservation laws in classical physics. The stationary action as a summary of all the classical symmetries. How to build theories for a counter-intuitive physics. Links with the cultural crisis and existentialism, from Picasso to Musil. The two cultures. The solutions in physics from the symmetries in the laws of nature. Gauge invariance. The theory of special relativity. Descriptions of physics valid for any observer: General Relativity. Observational and experimental validation. Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. The quantization from DeBroglie's idea. The Schroedinger equation as a non-relativistic solution. Wave functions as probabilities. Philosophical problems of modern physics. The formulation of QM from Heisenberg. Incompatibility between quantum mechanics and general relativity. The Entanglement. A brief mention parity violation: the beta decays. CP symmetry. Elements of Quantum Electro-Dynamics and of field theories in modern physics. Electroweak interactions and nuclear interactions. The Standard Model and QCD. The Higgs fields and the form of its potential. Mass as an interaction with the Higgs field.