1st Edition

The Particle Century

Edited By G Fraser Copyright 1998
    232 Pages
    by CRC Press

    266 Pages
    by CRC Press

    From the first attempts to split the atom to the discovery of the top quark, the 20th century has witnessed a revolution in basic physics. Probing successively smaller constituents of matter has also revealed the conditions present at the time of the Big Bang. In a series of essays by scientists who have been closely involved in this exciting research, The Particle Century describes the unprecedented advances in our understanding of the universe. The book covers major historical developments as well as current advances, including early accelerator physics, the rise of the Standard Model, new comprehension of the big bang theory, and the cutting edge of today's investigations. These essays add novel insight into the continuing efforts to unravel the deepest secrets of nature.

    From the ashes (C Westfall and J Krige). Cosmic rain (W O Lock). First accelerator fruits (N Samios). The 3-quark picture (Y Ne'eman). Proton structure (J Friedman and H Kendall). Gauge theory (M Veltman). Unexpected windfall (R Schwitters). Weak interactions (C Sutton). The weak force carriers (C Rubbia). Quark matrix (A Ali). Quark glue (S-L Wu). The Standard Model (G Altarelli). The top quark (M Shochet). Beyond the Standard Model (G Ross). The tools 1: accelerators (E J N Wilson). The tools 2: detectors. Astroparticle physics (J Ellis). Big Bang dynamics (Q Shafi). Astronomy (A Fabian). Outlook.

    Biography

    Gordon Fraser