Description
Book SynopsisThis book is written for students and scientists wanting to learn about the Standard Model of particle physics. Only an introductory course knowledge about quantum theory is needed. The text provides a pedagogical description of the theory, and incorporates the recent Higgs boson and top quark discoveries. With its clear and engaging style, this new edition retains its essential simplicity. Long and detailed calculations are replaced by simple approximate ones. It includes introductions to accelerators, colliders, and detectors, and several main experimental tests of the Standard Model are explained. Descriptions of some well-motivated extensions of the Standard Model prepare the reader for new developments. It emphasizes the concepts of gauge theories and Higgs physics, electroweak unification and symmetry breaking, and how force strengths vary with energy, providing a solid foundation for those working in the field, and for those who simply want to learn about the Standard Model.
Trade Review'This updated version of the classic textbook serves as a concise and approachable introduction to the foundations of modern particle physics. After covering the basics of the Standard Model and the recently discovered Higgs boson, Kane continues introducing key topics in beyond the Standard Model physics, including Dark Matter and Supersymmetry. Kane is world renowned for his research as a particle physicist, and here he has written a modern and up-to-date introduction to the subject that will be valued by both the first-time student and the experienced researcher.' Scott Watson, Syracuse University, New York
'Kane's enthusiasm for particle physics and the standard model that encompasses current understanding of the field shines throughout. His book follows a conceptual rather than historical trajectory, beginning with particles and units and continuing with symmetry and gauge theories into consideration of accelerators and evaluations of experimental results. The final chapters examine what physicists may find (if anything) beyond the standard model, including topics such as grand unification, dark matter, and supersymmetry. Several appendixes provide a deeper dive into the mathematical aspects of the theory (group theory and relativistic mechanics, to mention two). A sufficient amount of mathematics is included to move the book beyond a popular account of the standard model without putting it beyond reach of first-year graduate students. The work's length (just over 200 pages) will make it attractive to interested specialists from other fields and to professors teaching introductory courses in particle physics.' CHOICE
'The second edition of Modern Elementary Particle Physics is a comprehensive overview of the Standard Model and the main experimental results that led to that theory and confirmed its predictions. … What may be most distinguishable about this textbook is the discussion of what is beyond the Standard Model physics in Chapters 23–26. Among many topics, it covers unifications of quarks and leptons, unification of forces, proton decay, neutrino masses, dark matter, and supersymmetry. … In summary, Modern Elementary Particle Physics is an approachable textbook for advanced undergraduates and good supplemental material for a particle-physics course.' Jarek Nowak, The Observatory
Table of Contents1. Introduction; 2. Relativistic notation, Lagrangians, and interactions; 3. Gauge invariance; 4. Non-abelian gauge theories; 5. Dirac notation for spin; 6. The Standard Model Lagrangian; 7. The electroweak theory and quantum chromodynamics; 8. Masses and the Higgs mechanism; 9. Cross sections, decay widths, and lifetimes: W and Z decays; 10. Production and properties of W± and Zᴼ; 11. Measurement of electroweak and QCD parameters: the muon lifetime; 12. Accelerators - present and future; 13. Experiments and detectors; 14. Low energy and non-accelerator experiments; 15. Observation of the Higgs boson at the CERN LHC: is it the Higgs boson?; 16. Colliders and tests of the Standard Model: particles are pointlike; 17. Quarks and gluons, confinement and jets; 18. Hadrons, heavy quarks, and strong isospin invariance; 19. Coupling strengths depend on momentum transfer and on virtual particles; 20. Quark (and lepton) mixing angles; 21. CP violation; 22. Overview of physics beyond the Standard Model; 23. Grand unification; 24. Neutrino masses; 25. Dark matter; 26. Supersymmetry.
