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This short account of elementary particles written for the layman poses the questions: are quarks the fundamental building blocks of matter; what are they like; how many different kinds exist; and can they exist in the free state? What is the ultimate structure of matter? Is it made of atoms, small, simple, indivisible particles, or not? John Dalton's 'chemical atoms' turned out to be composite, composed of an electron cloud and a very small, very dense nucleus. This nucleus, in turn, was found to be composite, made up of protons and neutrons bound together by pions. All three of these (and many like particles) have now been found to be made of quarks. At first there were only three of these and they were thought to be long sought after fundamental building blocks. But now we know of at least 18 quarks, 18 anti-quarks and eight 'gluons' that hold the quarks together. The whole atomic idea is in doubt and the alternate possibility of a Universe that is one, whole and indivisible opens up. This fascinating book will be an inspiration to anyone wishing a first exposure to this intriguing and mystical area of modern physics.
The first edition of this popular book on particle physics received universal acclaim for its clear and readable style. In this second edition the authors have brought the subject right up to date, including the discovery of the 'top quark' and the search for the Higgs particle. The book is the result of a collaboration between a world-famous elementary particle physicist and a physicist specialising in popular science writing. Together they have produced a fascinating account of the search for the fundamental building blocks of matter. This lucid and entertaining accountwill fascinate anyone wishing to keep pace with this part of the progress of human knowledge, from scientifically educated general readers through to professional physicists.
This is a systematic presentation of quantum field theory from first principles, emphasizing both theoretical concepts and experimental applications. Starting from introductory quantum and classical mechanics, this book develops the quantum field theories that make up the 'Standard Model' of elementary processes. It derives the basic techniques and theorems that underly theory and experiment, including those that are the subject of theoretical development. Special attention is also given to the derivations of cross sections relevant to current high-energy experiments and to perturbative quantum chromodynamics, with examples drawn from electron-positron annihilation, deeply inelastic scattering and hadron-hadron scattering. The first half of the book introduces the basic ideas of field theory. The discussion of mathematical issues is everywhere pedagogical and self contained. Topics include the role of internal symmetry and relativistic invariance, the path integral, gauge theories and spontaneous symmetry breaking, and cross sections in the Standard Model and in the parton model. The material of this half is sufficient for an understanding of the Standard Model and its basic experimental consequences. The second half of the book deals with perturbative field theory beyond the lowest-order approximation. Exercises are included for each chapter, and several appendices complement the text.
Questions of the fundamental nature of matter continue to inspire and engage our imagination. However, the exciting new concepts of strings, supersymmetry and exotic matter build on ideas that are well known to physicists but mysterious and puzzling to people outside of these research fields. Covering key conceptual developments from the last century, this book provides a background to the bold ideas and challenges faced by physicists today. Quantum theory and the Standard Model of particles are explained with minimal mathematics, and advanced topics, such as gauge theory and quantum field theory, are put into context. With concise, lucid explanations, this book is an essential guide to the world of particle physics.
This book describes the theory of electroweak interactions, starting from a level understandable to students with only a first degree in physics. This theory, the Glashow–Salam–Weinberg (GSW) model, unifies the weak and electromagnetic forces of nature and gives a detailed description of the interactions between quarks and leptons, the basic building blocks of matter. The various experimental tests of the model that have been made and that are planned are described in detail, with reference to the fact that all results obtained so far are in agreement with the model. The interactions of quarks by the strong force, the theory of quantum chromodynamics, are also discussed. The GSW model, together with quantum chromodynamics, constitute the so-called 'standard model'. Theories proposing further unification of the forces of nature are outlined. This is a rapidly moving subject, and this up-to-date book will be of great value to researchers and beginning graduate students in high energy physics.