Particle Physics: A Very Short Introduction

This is indeed a very short introduction (129 pages of text), but it is also very informative. The book introduces particle physics from the standpoint of experimental evidence, without recourse to any theory. Thus, there are plenty or bubble chamber photographs, but no mention of group theory or even quantum mechanics. I recommend this book to anyone interested in a highly readable overview of particle physics.What is in the book -The book focuses on the particles, protons, neutrons and electrons that make up our physical world, and the quarks that make up protons and neutrons. The book also covers photons and the different types of neutrinos, plus mesons and muons. While not the focus of the book, it also discusses the forms of matter found at high energies in accelerator experiments – the different types of quarks (the strange and charm, top and bottom) as well as the up and down quarks that make up protons and neutrons. Anti particles are discusses as are the possibilities of supersymmetric particles. There is also a brief mention of the Higgs field and the Higgs Boson. Gluons are mentioned, but not the fact that there are different types of them. The book is divided into 10 chapters as follows:Chapter 1 – Journey to the center of the universe – A general introduction to the atom and the universe at large.Chapter 2 – How big and small are big and small – A discussion of size from the size of quarks inside a proton or neutron as compared to the size of galaxies and the visible universe.Chapter 3 – How we learn what things are made of, and what we found – An introduction to x-ray imaging and particle accelerators.Chapter 4 – The heart of the matter – The constituents that make up atoms – electrons, protons and neutrons and the quarks that make up the protons and neutrons. This chapter also includes a discussion of neutrinos and anti-particles.Chapter 5 – Accelerators: cosmic and man-made. Cosmic rays as a producer of elementary particles and different types of accelerators.Chapter 6 – Detectors: cameras and time machines. The use of film, cloud chambers, bubble chambers and ore modern devices and how they are used to detect particles.Chapter 7 – Forces of nature – A discussion of force particles – photons, W and Z particles, and gluons, plus a mention of the possibility of gravitons.Chapter 8 - Exotic matter and anti-matter – The particles found at higher energies in accelerator experiments. (I found this to be the most difficult chapter and the one that I would have liked to have expanded a bit.)Chapter 9 – Where does matter come from? – A discussion of the creation of hydrogen, helium and heavier elements.Chapter 10 – Questions for the 21st century – Dark matter, Higgs Boson, supersymmetric particles and some questions for the future such as multidimensional space.

Frank is a great writer and scientist. He gives good simple explanations of the subject without resorting to a series of formulas. He starts off by explaining atoms. They are not like what we learned in school as miniature solar systems. They are a cloud of electrons around a very very tiny nucleus, with a tremendous amount of nothing between. He describes in detail Baryons - Protons and Neutrons; Mesons - Quarks and Anti quarks. Later things get a bit heady when he describes Sparticles, Strangeness, Baryon Resonance, Leptons, Rho, Omega Phi, Pion, Etas, and Charm Quarks. (But hang in there, it gets better.) He then goes into how atoms were built up from the big bang. Finally the subjects at the end cover, Super-symmetry, Mass and the Higgs, Quark Gluon Plasma, Antimatter and Matter and Future questions. He truly explains things with understandable language.

We owe a debt of gratitude to Frank Close for writing such a short and comprehensible introduction to a field that, in everyday scientific practice, is as technical and complex as they come. It is a major accomplishment to set out, in under 150 pages, not just the history of particle physics, the scales of time and space being investigated, the development of experimental techniques from Rutherford to the Large Hadron Collider, and the key concepts of the standard model that has dominated particle physics for more than 30 years.Indeed, the neat overview and classification of elementary particles and their interactions in the standard model is sufficient reason to keep this book close at hand.As befits a very short introduction, the book devotes only limited space to more speculative ideas such as supersymmetry, and indeed strings are mentioned only once. Even so, a few authoritative pages dealing with unsolved theoretical and conceptual problems as they relate to particle physics would have been helpful.Close is associated with CERN and an enthusiastic advocate of multi-billion dollar particle accelerators. While these machines are indeed impressive, an outside observer cannot help but wonder whether such a regimented and bureaucratic approach to science has not already reached severely diminishing marginal returns. It will be interesting to look back in a few years' time at whether this heavy investment of taxpayer money has paid the dividends in new knowledge and insight that Close and others like him hope for.

A well written book on particle physics is easy to read and a lot of information to digest. The basics of the theoretical mechanics, electromechanical, quantum theory are rolled into a standardized model that explains how we all have come into being.

Very good introduction book