PhD Thesis in Particle Physics

A simple LaTeX template for writing a PhD thesis in particle physics.

Overview

This repository contains a comprehensive LaTeX template for a PhD thesis in particle physics. The template follows standard academic formatting and includes all necessary sections for a complete thesis.

Structure

The thesis is organized as follows:

THESIS/
├── thesis.tex              # Main thesis file
├── references.bib          # Bibliography file
├── Makefile               # Build automation
├── chapters/              # Individual chapters
│   ├── titlepage.tex     # Title page
│   ├── abstract.tex      # Abstract
│   ├── introduction.tex  # Introduction chapter
│   ├── theory.tex        # Theoretical framework
│   ├── experiment.tex    # Experimental setup
│   ├── results.tex       # Results and analysis
│   ├── conclusion.tex    # Conclusion
│   └── appendix.tex      # Appendix
└── README.md             # This file

Features

• Clean, professional layout with proper page margins and spacing
• Complete chapter structure covering all aspects of a particle physics thesis:
  • Introduction to particle physics and the Standard Model
  • Theoretical framework (QFT, electroweak theory, QCD)
  • Experimental setup (accelerators, detectors, data acquisition)
  • Results and analysis (systematic uncertainties, statistical methods)
  • Conclusions and future outlook
  • Appendix with supplementary material
• Bibliography support with BibTeX and sample particle physics references
• Proper mathematical typesetting with AMS packages
• Hyperlinked cross-references for easy navigation
• Makefile for easy compilation

Prerequisites

To compile this thesis, you need a LaTeX distribution installed:

• Linux: Install TeX Live

  sudo apt-get install texlive-full

• macOS: Install MacTeX

  brew install --cask mactex

• Windows: Install MiKTeX or TeX Live

Compilation

Using Make (Recommended)

The easiest way to compile the thesis is using the provided Makefile:

# Full compilation with bibliography (default)
make

# Quick compilation (single pass, no bibliography)
make quick

# Clean auxiliary files
make clean

# Clean everything including PDF
make cleanall

# View the PDF after compilation
make view

# Show all available commands
make help

Manual Compilation

If you prefer to compile manually:

pdflatex thesis
bibtex thesis
pdflatex thesis
pdflatex thesis

The multiple pdflatex runs are necessary to resolve all cross-references and include the bibliography.

Customization

Personal Information

Edit the following files to add your personal information:

1. thesis.tex: Update the document metadata (title, author, date)
2. chapters/titlepage.tex: Modify title page with your details
3. chapters/abstract.tex: Write your abstract

Content

Each chapter is in a separate file in the chapters/ directory:

• introduction.tex - Introduce your research topic
• theory.tex - Present the theoretical background
• experiment.tex - Describe your experimental methods
• results.tex - Present your results and analysis
• conclusion.tex - Summarize findings and future work
• appendix.tex - Add supplementary material

Bibliography

Add your references to references.bib following the BibTeX format. The template includes sample references for common particle physics papers and textbooks.

Styling

To modify the appearance, edit thesis.tex:

• Page margins: Adjust the geometry package settings
• Line spacing: Change \onehalfspacing to \singlespacing or \doublespacing
• Font size: Modify the document class option (e.g., 12pt)
• Headers/footers: Customize the fancyhdr settings

Tips

1. Compile frequently to catch errors early
2. Use version control (Git) to track changes
3. Break long equations across multiple lines for readability
4. Label everything (chapters, sections, equations, figures, tables) for easy cross-referencing
5. Use \cite{key} for citations to automatically generate the bibliography
6. Add figures to a figures/ directory and include them with \includegraphics

Resources

Particle Physics

• Particle Data Group: https://pdg.lbl.gov/
• CERN Document Server: https://cds.cern.ch/
• arXiv.org (High Energy Physics): https://arxiv.org/archive/hep-ph

LaTeX Help

• LaTeX Wikibook: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX
• TeX Stack Exchange: https://tex.stackexchange.com/
• Overleaf Documentation: https://www.overleaf.com/learn

License

This template is provided as-is for academic use. Feel free to modify and adapt it for your own thesis.

Contributing

If you find issues or have suggestions for improvements, please open an issue or submit a pull request.