Abstract

These are a set of notes introducing the standard model (SM) of particle physics and the mathematical frameworks underpinning it: group theory and quantum field theory. They were intended as theoretical background for my dissertation but, as is perhaps evident from their length, they quickly grew beyond that scope. Instead, they are now presented here as a standalone resource, to complement the many excellent texts available on these subjects (as anyone who has struggled through QFT knows, there can never be too many)! I aim in particular to offer the physical intuition behind the math as much as possible, rather than any rigorous derivations, and to clarify those aspects which confused me most as an experimentalist trying to understand the SM.

These notes are available as both a PDF and website. Feedback and corrections are very welcome through e-mail or as issues on Github. Finally, for those interested, some more notes and tutorials I have written up, such as on machine learning and statistics in high energy physics, are available here.