1st Edition
An Introduction to Particle Physics and the Standard Model
An Introduction to the Standard Model of Particle Physics familiarizes readers with what is considered tested and accepted and in so doing, gives them a grounding in particle physics in general. Whenever possible, Dr. Mann takes an historical approach showing how the model is linked to the physics that most of us have learned in less challenging areas. Dr. Mann reviews special relativity and classical mechanics, symmetries, conservation laws, and particle classification; then working from the tested paradigm of the model itself, he:
- Describes the Standard Model in terms of its electromagnetic, strong, and weak components
- Explores the experimental tools and methods of particle physics
- Introduces Feynman diagrams, wave equations, and gauge invariance, building up to the theory of Quantum Electrodynamics
- Describes the theories of the Strong and Electroweak interactions
- Uncovers frontier areas and explores what might lie beyond our current concepts of the subatomic world
Those who work through the material will develop a solid command of the basics of particle physics. The book does require a knowledge of special relativity, quantum mechanics, and electromagnetism, but most importantly it requires a hunger to understand at the most fundamental level: why things exist and how it is that anything happens. This book will prepare students and others for further study, but most importantly it will prepare them to open their minds to the mysteries that lie ahead. Ultimately, the Large Hadron Collider may prove the model correct, helping so many realize their greatest dreams … or it might poke holes in the model, leaving us to wonder an even more exciting possibility: that the answers lie in possibilities so unique that we have not even dreamt of them.
Preface
Acknowledgements
Further Reading
Introduction and Overview
Methods of Study
Overview
The Standard Model
Questions
A Review of Special Relativity
Basic Review of Relativity
Spacetime Structure
Momentum and Energy
Collisions
Questions
Symmetries
Groups
Lie Groups
Algebras
The Rotation Group SO(3)
Appendix: Lie Algebras from Lie Groups
Questions
Conservation Laws
The Action Principle
Noether's Theorem
Spacetime Symmetries and their Noether currents
Symmetries and Quantum Mechanics
Summary
Questions
Particle Classfication
General Considerations
Basic Classfication
Spectroscopic Notation
Adding Angular Momenta
Questions
Discrete Symmetries
Parity
Time-reversal
Charge Conjugation
Positronium
The CPT Theorem
Questions
Accelerators
DC Voltage Machines
Linacs
Synchrotrons
Colliders
The Future of Accelerators
Questions
Detectors
Energy Transfer and Deposition
Detector Types
Modern Collider Detectors
Questions
Scattering
Lifetimes
Resonances
Cross Sections
Matrix Elements
2-body Formulae
Detailed Balance Revisited
Questions
A Toy Theory
Feynman Rules
A-Decay
Scattering in the Toy Theory
Higher-order Diagrams
Appendix: n-dimensional integration
Questions
Wave Equations for Elementary Particles
Klein-Gordon Equation
Dirac Equation
Physical Interpretation
Antiparticles
Appendix: The Lorentz Group and its Representations
Questions
Gauge Invariance
Solutions to the Dirac Equation
Conserved Current
The Gauge Principle
The Maxwell-Dirac Equations
The Wavefunction of the Photon
Questions
Quantum Electrodynamics
Feynman Rules for QED
Examples
Obtaining Cross Sections
Appendix: Mathematical Tools for QED
Questions
Testing QED
Basic Features of QED Scattering
Major Tests of QED
Questions
From Nuclei to Quarks
Range of the Nuclear Force
Isospin
Strangeness
Flavor
Color
Questions
The Quark Model
Baryons
Mesons
Mass Relations
Magnetic Moments
Questions
Testing the Quark Model
Vector-Meson Decay
Hadron Production
Elastic Scattering of Electrons and Protons
Deep Inelastic Scattering
Quark Model Predictions
Quark Structure Functions
Questions
Heavy Quarks and QCD
Charm
Bottom
Top
QCD
Appendix: QCD and Yang-Mills Theory
Questions
From Beta Decay to Weak Interactions
Fermi's Theory of Beta-Decay
Neutrino Properties
Kaon Oscillation
Questions
Charged Leptonic Weak Interactions
Neutrino-Electron Scattering
Muon Decay
Appendix: Mathematical Tools for Weak Interactions
Appendix: 3-body phase space decay
Questions
Charged Weak Interactions of Quarks and Leptons
Neutron Decay
Pion Decay
Quark and Lepton Vertices
The GIM Mechanism
The CKM Matrix
Questions
Electroweak Unfication
Neutral Currents
Electroweak Neutral Scattering Processes
The SU(2) _ U(1) Model
Questions
Electroweak Symmetry Breaking
The Higgs Mechanism
Breaking the SU(2) Symmetry
Fermion Masses
Appendix: Feynman Rules for Electroweak Theory
Questions
Testing Electroweak Theory
Discovery of the W and Z bosons
Lepton Universality and Running Coupling
The Search for the Higgs
Questions
Beyond the Standard Model
Neutrino Oscillation
Neutrino Experiments
Neutrino Masses and Mixing Angles
Axions and the Neutron Electric Dipole Moment
Frontiers
Summing Up
Questions
Notation and Conventions
Natural Units
Relativistic Notation
Greek Alphabet
Kronecker Delta and Levi-Civita Symbols
Kronecker Delta
Levi-Civita Symbol
Dirac Delta-Functions
Pauli and Dirac Matrices
Pauli Matrices
Dirac Matrices
Identities and Trace Theorems
Cross-Sections and Decay Rates
Decays
Cross-Sections
Clebsch-Gordon Coefficients
Fundamental Constants
Properties of Elementary Particles
Feynman Rules for the Standard Model
The Large Hadron Rap
… thoroughly recommended for a final-year specialist or first-year postgraduate study level especially for those engaged in experimental high energy physics research. The author has performed an excellent service in making accessible the language and results of field theory applied to elementary particle physics.
—John J. Quenby, Contemporary Physics, 52, 2011The first chapter shows how clearly the author can write and even though the subject matter gets more complex through the book, the clarity continues. … giv[es] readers greater insights into how the maths and the reality match (or don’t match!) and hopefully exciting them into further consideration of what may be ‘hidden behind the curtain’. … while most of the book is limited to final year and postgraduate students, the first and last chapters of the book should be accessible to any interested reader wanting to understand the present knowledge and future directions of particle physics. The author has intended the book to be used as a course of study … he has used the material himself in this way with success for two decades. … Every chapter ends with … well thought out, relevant questions …
—Jack McArdle, Reviews, Volume 11, Issue 1, 2010
