TOWARDS THE INFINITELY SMALL

PRESENTATION:
Embark on a quest in search of the infinitely small, alongside the men and women of physics who will help you discover what secrets are hidden in matter when it is studied at the shortest and greatest distances.

You will discover the most recent advances in nuclear and particle physics research, as well as the principles of the accelerators and detectors used to study matter at these scales, which culminated in the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012 by CERN’s particle collider, the LHC. This French-taught class is part of the “Journeys from the Infinitely Big to the Infinitely Small” MOOC, developed by physicists from the P2IO (Physics of Two Infinities and Origins) Laboratory of Excellence, a cluster of physics laboratories located in Orsay and Saclay focused on the physics of the infinitely big and small. The different themes of this MOOC will demonstrate our understanding of the infinitely big and infinitely small, the puzzles that arise from these fields, how these two infinities relate to each other, and the links these findings have to society. The “Journeys from the Infinitely Big to the Infinitely Small” MOOC was developed with the financial support of the P2IO (Physics of 2 Infinities and Origins) Laboratory of Excellence. More details are available at www.labex-p2io.fr
Available on the Coursera platform, this French-taught class is part of the “Journeys from the Infinitely Big to the Infinitely Small” MOOC, developed by scientists from the P2IO (Physics of Two Infinities and Origins) Laboratory of Excellence, a cluster of physics laboratories located in Orsay and Saclay focused on the physics of the infinitely big and small.
The four themes of this MOOC:
Towards the Infinitely Small
Towards the Infinitely Big
From One Infinity to Another
The Two Infinities and Our World
will bring you on a journey through two living, dynamic fields of research: the infinitely big (the Universe, its components and its evolution) and the infinitely small (elementary particles and fundamental interactions).The course will present the latest discoveries (Higgs’ boson at CERN in 2012, the first signals of gravitational waves in 2015 and 2017 etc.) and the cutting-edge experiments that are driving these advancements. You will discover the men and women (researchers, engineers, and technical and administrative experts) who are further advancing these sciences, and learn about the societal applications resulting from this fundamental research.
WHO IS THIS COURSE AIMED AT?

This course is intended for students enrolled in a science track in their final year of high school and first-year bachelor’s physics students, who wish to discover the current vision of the infinitely big and infinitely small. It may also be taken by high school physics and chemistry teachers, to be used as class teaching material or as documentary research. This MOOC focuses on classical physics concepts that are taught as part of a high school diploma in science and expected at the beginning of an undergraduate degree in physics, particularly in classical mechanics (energy, speed, trajectory, force) and electromagnetism (magnetic and electric fields, waves).
COURSE SYLLABUS:

Basic notions
Fundamental components
Studying elementary particles
The LHC and beyond

IN THE SAME SERIES:
THE TWO INFINITIES AND OUR WORLD
FROM ONE INFINITY TO ANOTHER
TOWARDS THE INFINITELY BIG
TOWARDS THE INFINITELY SMALL