Michele Papucci
Michele Papucci
Research Professor of Theoretical Physics
B.S., University of Pisa, 2001; M.S., Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, 2002; Ph.D., Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, 2009. Caltech 2019 -.
Research Interests: Theoretical Elementary Particle Physics
Overview
Michele Papucci is a Research Professor of Theoretical Physics at California Institute of Technology. He is a member of the Caltech Particle Theory Group, which studies superstring theory — one of the most promising candidates for the ultimate unification of forces and matter, including gravity — as well as the properties of hadrons described by QCD, cosmology including dark matter and dark energy, and mathematical techniques in quantum field theory.
Courses
Ph 230 abc. Elementary Particle Theory.
9 units (3-0-6); first, second terms, 2026-27.
Prerequisites: Ph 205 abc or equivalent.
First term: Standard model, including electroweak and strong interactions, symmetries and symmetry breaking (including the Higgs mechanism), parton model and quark confinement, anomalies. Second and third terms: more on nonperturbative phenomena, including chiral symmetry breaking, instantons, the 1/N expansion, lattice gauge theories, and topological solitons. Other topics include topological field theory, precision electroweak, flavor physics, conformal field theory and the AdS/CFT correspondence, supersymmetry, Grand Unified Theories, and Physics Beyond the Standard Model.
Part c not offered 2026-27.
Instructor: Papucci
Instructor: Papucci