I arbetet undersöks hur elevers progression mot en förståelse för materiens partikelnatur beskrivs i aktuella forskningsstudier. En systematisk litteratursökning leder fram till 10 vetenskapliga arbeten som alla behandlar elevers progression i ämnet. Arbetena analyseras utifrån olika aspekter; dels hur de beskriver en stegvis progression i förståelse, dels hur ”inzoomade” partikelkunskaper inledningsvis kan vara. Beskrivningarna diskuteras i relation till aktuell forskning och den svenska kursplanen i kemi. Studien bidrar med en diskussion kring materiens partikelnatur kopplat till utbildning, och uppmanar till att vidare utforska området, inte minst för att se över den svenska läroplanens beskrivning av progression i ämnet.

The lack of direct evidence for physics beyond the SM at the LHC has led some to reevaluate the need for such physics to solve the hierarchy problem. Instead, the notion that the SM, or something like it, is valid up to the Planck scale and that technical naturalness is sufficient for solving the hierarchy problem has been suggested. This thesis examines minimal extensions of the SM that address its phenomenological and theoretical shortcomings while avoiding new physics between the electroweak and Planck scales that introduces a hierarchy problem. This thesis first studies two issues with the vMSM - an extension of the SM by three right-handed neutrinos - and their possible solutions. The first issue is the tension between dark matter production in the nuMSM and constraints from the Lyman-alpha forest data. To avoid this tension, the vMSM is extended by a Higgs singlet Φ and neutrino dark matter is produced through the decays of Φ rather than through left-right neutrino mixing. It is shown that the hierarchical parameters of this model can arise from symmetries broken at or near the Planck scale for two specific examples: one in which Φ stabilizes the electroweak vacuum and one in which Φ is a light inflaton. The second issue pertains to Higgs ξ-inflation. In the vMSM, a large non-minimal coupling ξ of the Higgs to gravity gives inflation but leads to a possible violation of perturbative unitarity below the inflationary scale. A study of Higgs ξ-inflation with M_h ≃ 125-126 GeV, for which the Higgs self-coupling λ runs to small values near the Planck scale, is carried out. It is shown that small λ can significantly reduce ξ required for inflation, but ξ cannot be small enough to address the possible unitarity issue. For small λ, a new region of Higgs ξ-inflation with a large tensor-to-scalar ratio r that is consistent with BICEP2 is discovered. This thesis then studies the technical naturalness and cosmology of a model that addresses the strong CP problem. It is shown that a classically scale invariant DFSZ invisible aξon model with a Peccei-Quinn scalar S, whose couplings to the SM are ultra-weak, can solve the strong CP problem and generate electroweak symmetry breaking via the Coleman-Weinberg mechanism. The ultra-weak couplings of S are natural due to an underlying approξmate shift symmetry. The model contains a light pseudo-Goldstone dilaton that can be consistent with cosmological bounds while the aξon can be the dark matter of the universe. Finally, a summary of the thesis is presented and future research topics are suggested.

In this study we have interviewed eight teachers about when and how particle concepts should be taught. All of the surveyed teachers argue for an early introduction. This view is also consistent with the scientists on when the particle concepts should be introduced. By an early introduction teachers and scientists consider the age between 6-12 years old. A majority of the scientists and the surveyed teachers use concept of change as a entery point to talk about particle ideas. A substance that is commonly used among both teachers and scientists is water. We can also find out that the surveyed teachers think that the particle concepts are fundamental for pupils to get a broader understanding in school science learning.

In this thesis we review the gauge/gravity duality and how it can be used to compute the thermodynamic properties and low-energy excitations of holographic quantum liquids - strongly-interacting field theories with a non-zero density of matter. We then study in detail the charge density excitations of two such liquids, the D3/D7 theory and the RN-AdS₄ theory, by computing the poles of their charge density Green's functions, and their charge density spectral functions. Although it is not a Landau Fermi liquid, the charge density excitations of the D3/D7 theory display many of the same properties as one, including a collisionless/hydrodynamic crossover as the temperature is increased. In contrast to this, the charge density (and energy density) excitations of the RN-AdS₄ theory do not share these properties but behave in a way that cannot be explained by Landau's theory of interacting fermionic quasiparticles. This is consistent with other results which indicate that this is not a Landau Fermi liquid.

Submitted by Vasti Diniz (vastijpa@hotmail.com) on 2017-09-12T12:08:23Z No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 3631858 bytes, checksum: 8e326a8bf5b797bf3b1919d031583614 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-09-12T12:08:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 3631858 bytes, checksum: 8e326a8bf5b797bf3b1919d031583614 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-07-19 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / In this work, we consider a charged massive fermionic quantum field in the idealized cosmic string spacetime and in the presence of a magnetic field confined in a cylindrical tube of finite radius. Three distinct configurations for the magnetic fields are taken into account: (i) a cylindrical shell of radius a, (ii) a magnetic field proportional to 1/r and (iii) a constant magnetic field. In these three cases, the axis of the infinitely long tube of radius a coincides with the cosmic string. Our main objectives in this paper are to analyze vacuum expected values (VEVs) of the current density, jP, fermionic condensate (FC) e and the VEV of the fermionic energy-momentum tensor, Ti". In order to do that, we explicitly construct the complete set of normalized wave-functions for each configuration of magnetic field. We show that in the region outside the tube, the current density, the FC and the VEV of the energy-momentum tensor are decomposed into two parts: the first ones correspond to the zero-thickness magnetic flux contributions, and the seconds are induced by the non-trivial structure of the magnetic field, named core-induced contributions. The latter present specific forms depending on the magnetic field configuration considered. We also show that the VEV of the energy-momentum tensor is diagonal, obeys the conservation condition and its trace is expressed in terms of the fermionic condensate. / Nesta Tese, consideramos urn campo fermiônico massivo e carregado no espaço-tempo de uma corda cósmica ideal na presença de um campo magnético confinado em um tubo cilindrico de raio finito a. Levamos em conta três configurações para o campo magnético: (i) uma casca cilindrica de raio a, (ii) um campo magnetico proporcional a 1/r e (iii) urn campo magnetico constante. Nos três casos, o eixo de simetria da corda cósmica coincide corn o eixo de simetria do tubo cilindrico de campo magnetico, dispostos ao longo do eixo z. Nossos principais objetivos nesta Tese sao analisar os valores esperados no yam° (VEV) da densidade de corrente, ji", do condensado fermionico (FC) e o VEV do tensor energia-momento (TEM), Ti". Para isto, construfmos urn conjunto completo de fungoes de onda de Dirac normalizadas para cada configuragao de campo magnetic° e mostramos que na regiao fora do tubo, a densidade de corrente, o CF e o VEV do TEM sao decompostos como a soma de duas partes. A primeira corresponde a contribuigao da linha de fluxo magnetic° que corre ao longo da corda cOsmica ideal, e a segunda contribuigao é induzida devido a estrutura nao trivial de campo magnetic°. Mostramos tambem que o VEV do tensor energia-momento é diagonal, obedece a condigao de conservagao e que seu trago é expresso ern termos do condensado fermionico.