Facts and mysteries in elementary particle physics / Martinus J.G. Veltman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Veltman, Martinus.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Particles (Nuclear physics).

Physical Description:

viii, 340 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

River Edge, NJ : World Scientific Pub., [2003]

Summary:

This book provides a comprehensive overview of modern particle physics accessible to anyone with a true passion for wanting to know how the universe works. We are introduced to the known particles of the world we live in. An elegant explanation of quantum mechanics and relativity paves the way for an understanding of the laws that govern particle physics. These laws are put into action in the world of accelerators, colliders and detectors found at institutions such as CERN and Fermilab that are in the forefront of technical innovation. Real world and theory meet using Feynman diagrams to solve the problems of infinities and deduce the need for the Higgs boson.

Facts and Mysteries in Elementary Particle Physics offers an incredible insight from an eyewitness and participant in some of the greatest discoveries in 20th century science. From Einstein's theory of relativity to the elusive Higgs particle, this book will fascinate and educate anyone interested in the world of quarks, leptons and gauge theories.

This book also contains many thumbnail sketches of particle physics personalities, including contemporaries as seen through the eyes of the author. Illustrated with pictures, these candid sketches present rare, perceptive views of the characters that populate the field.

The Chapter on Particle Theory, in a pre-publication, was termed "superbly lucid" by David Miller in Nature (Vol. 396, 17 Dec. 1998, p. 642).

Contents:

Thumbnail Sketches 6

Equations 7

1.1 Atoms, Nuclei and Particles 8

1.2 Photons 15

1.3 Antiparticles 19

1.4 Mass and Energy 21

1.5 Events 24

1.6 Electron-Volts and Other Units 30

1.7 Particle Names and the Greek Alphabet 32

1.8 Scientific Notation 33

2 The Standard Model 35

2.2 Conservation of Energy and Charge 40

2.3 Quantum Numbers 43

2.4 Color 45

2.5 The Electron-Neutrino, Electron Number and Crossing 49

2.6 The First Family 53

2.7 Families and Forces 55

2.8 The Spin 1/2 Particles 62

2.9 The Spin 1 and 2 Particles 68

2.10 Forces and Interactions 69

2.11 Classification of Interactions 71

2.12 Electromagnetic, Weak, Strong, Higgs and Gravitational Interactions 75

2.13 Representing Interactions 77

2.14 The Origin of Quantum Numbers 83

3 Quantum Mechanics. Mixing 85

3.2 The Two-Slit Experiment 88

3.3 Amplitude and Probability 92

3.4 Cabibbo and CKM Mixing 99

3.5 Neutrino Mixing 108

3.6 Particle Mixing 109

4 Energy, Momentum and Mass-Shell 115

4.2 Conservation Laws 118

4.3 Relativity 126

4.4 Relativistic Invariance 131

4.5 The Relation E = mc[superscript 2] 136

5 Detection 140

5.2 Photoelectric Effect 146

5.3 Bubble Chambers 152

5.4 Spark Chambers 157

5.5 Proportional Wire Chambers 159

6 Accelerators and Storage Rings 161

6.1 Energy Bubbles 161

6.2 Accelerators 165

6.3 Secondary Beams 178

6.4 The Machine Builders 181

7 The CERN Neutrino Experiment 189

7.2 Experimental Set-up 195

7.3 Neutrino Physics 200

7.4 The First Neutrino Experiments 205

7.5 Vector Bosons 208

7.6 Missed Opportunities 213

8 The Particle Zoo 219

8.2 Bound States 222

8.3 The Structure of Quark Bound States 225

8.4 Spin of a Bound State 229

8.5 Mesons 230

8.6 Baryons 234

8.7 Exotics 236

8.8 Discovering Quarks 237

8.9 Triplets versus Doublets and Lepton-Quark Symmetry 241

9 Particle Theory 244

9.2 Feynman Rules 246

9.3 Infinities 255

9.4 Perturbation Theory 258

9.5 Renormalizability 264

9.6 Weak Interactions 267

9.7 Compton Scattering 270

9.8 Neutral Vector Bosons 273

9.9 Charmed Quarks 276

9.10 The Higgs Particle 279

9.11 General Higgs Couplings 281

9.12 Speculations 282

9.13 [rho]-Parameter 283

10 Finding the Higgs 285

11 Quantum Chromodynamics 293

11.2 Confinement 295

11.3 Asymptotic Freedom 297

11.4 Scaling 300.

Notes:

Includes indexes.

ISBN:

9812381481

981238149X

OCLC:

51586740