Aims: To study the principles, techniques and apparatus behind particle detection at an advanced level. To study the principles behind particle accelerators at an advanced level. To provide a thorough study of the accelerators and multipurpose particle detectors used in the current research in high-energy physics.

Course Content: Detectors: Interaction of particles in matter, energy loss processes. General characteristics of detectors: sensitivity, resolution, efficiency, dead time. Principles of operation of ionisation, scintillation, semiconductor and Cherenkov detectors. Applications to the tracking, energy measurement and identification of particles in particle and astroparticle physics experiments. Study of multi-purpose detector in high energy physics, integrating several of the detection methods above. Study of detectors for weakly-interacting particles, including neutrinos and dark matter.

Accelerators: Introduction to the physical principles underlying the operation of modern accelerators. Transverse motion of particles in a beam; beam optics: bending and focusing elements. Accelerating cavities. Synchrotron radiation. Circular and linear accelerator designs. Methods for measurement of energy, luminosity and polarisation in colliders. Study of the design and the operation of electron-positron and hadron colliders. Introduction to some applications in the area of medical physics.