Book Description

This short and concise textbook is intended as a primer on path integral formalism both in classical and quantum field theories, although emphasis is on the latter. It is ideally suited as an intensive one-semester course, delivering the basics needed by readers to follow developments in field theory. Path Integrals in Field Theory paves the way for both more rigorous studies in fundamental mathematical issues as well as for applications in hadron, particle and nuclear physics, thus addressing students in mathematical and theoretical physics alike. Assuming some background in relativistic quantum mechanics, it complements the author's monograph Fields, Symmetries, and Quarks (Springer, 1999). ... Read more

Reviews (3)

best book
i have learnt this book with keen intrest . this is a beautiful book . i am much inspired to read this book . of course it is a best book of this year......................................................................

Very good book and very understandable.
Of the various radiation detection and measurement books available, this one is by far the easiest to understand. It is concise and does not ramble on with extraneous details. One learns the basic concepts and theory, thus allowing the reader to develop a clear knowledge base without becoming lost in disjointed detail. The reviewer learned from the first edition of Tsoulfanidis' book as an undergraduate two decades ago, and is grateful that no other text was used for the course. The reviewer also owns the second edition. The reviewer recommends that those desiring to learn about radiation measurements and radiation detectors strongly consider using Dr. Tsoulfanidis' text as a first step towards their education in nuclear science and engineering.

Very informational text, highly recommended
I used this text for my Radiation Measurements lab, with Dr. Tsoulfanidis. He is an extremely knowledgable man, and it comes across in the book. Very understandable and VERY informative. ... Read more

Book Description

"Every breath you take contains atoms forged in the blistering furnaces deep inside stars.Every flower you pick contains atoms blasted into space by stellar explosions that blazed brighter than a billion suns."Thus begins The Magic Furnace, an eloquent, extraordinary account of how scientists unraveled the mystery of atoms, and helped to explain the dawn of life itself.

The historic search for atoms and their stellar origins is truly one of the greatest detective stories of science.In effect, it offers two epics intertwined: the birth of atoms in the Big Bang and the evolution of stars and how they work.Neither could be told without the other, for the stars contain the key to unlocking the secret of atoms, and the atoms the solution to the secret of the stars.Marcus Chown leads readers through the major theories and experiments that propelled the search for atomic understanding, with engaging characterizations of the major atomic thinkers-from Democritus in ancient Greece to Binning and Rohrer in twentieth-century New York. He clarifies the science, explaining with enthusiasm the sequence of breakthroughs that proved the existence of atoms as the "alphabet of nature" and the discovery of subatomic particles and atomic energy potential.From there, he engagingly chronicles the leaps of insight that eventually revealed the elements, the universe, our world, and ourselves to be a product of two ultimate furnaces: the explosion of the Big Bang and the interior of stars such as supernovae and red giants.

Chown successfully makes these massive concepts accessible for students, professionals, and science enthusiasts.His story sheds light on all of us, for in essence, we are all stardust. ... Read more

Reviews (8)

this book rocks
This book is just completely the most incredible science book I have ever read. I could not put it down, and believe me, I can put down a LOT of books that other people say they can't put down. Totally inspiring, exciting. It's not like reading a book, it's like travelling in a time machine. You're not reading about the discovery of the electron, you're there in that dark laboratory with J.J. Thomson and his glowing cathode ray tubes.

Captivating, informative, demanding, but highly readable
The title is an allusion to the dream of the alchemists of old who sought a magic kiln in which to transform base metals into gold. That dream remained intact until the discovery in the twentieth century of how the elements are actually built up from hydrogen and exactly what kind of "magic furnace" would be required to turn base metals into gold. In a most engaging narrative, science writer Marcus Chown tells that fascinating story through the lives and ideas of the scientists who made the discoveries.

Chown begins, as one must, with the Greeks and Democritus who opined, "...in reality there are only atoms and the void." Chown shows how it was impossible for the Greeks without the scientific method to go any further than Democritus's intuition. But Chown does not dwell on the alchemy but ratchets us directly to modern science and the growing realization that "Atoms Are Not the Smallest Things" (Chapter Two), and that therefore "it must be possible to transform an atom of one element into an atom of another." (p. 21)

And with that, the race was on to account for how hydrogen became helium which became, through crucibles unimaginable to man, carbon, iron and eventually the heaviest elements. The story culminates in the work of Fred Hoyle, Margaret and Geoffrey Burbidge, and Willy Fowler who explained the nuclear processes operating inside stars and supernovae. Chown finishes with a chapter on the discovery of the cosmic background radiation, the "afterglow of creation" which confirmed how helium was manufactured in the Big Bang, and a chapter on how the elements are strewn into space and end up in Population I stars and eventually in our bodies. There is a Glossary and a Selected Bibliography.

The value of this book lies not only in the fascinating story told but in the magical way that Chown is able to painlessly teach us a little chemistry and physics along the way. I learned more about the nature of atoms and the various forces in nature in these pages, almost incidentally, than I have in any other single book. So intrigued was I in learning more that I turned to the Periodic Table of the Elements as I read the text.

But Chown's style is not didactic. Instead he illuminates the personalities and the flow of ideas. We see Marie Currie with her radiation swollen fingers and Fred Hoyle truant at the back of the local cinema teaching himself to read. We see how the vision of meteorites falling into the sun became the vision of the sun falling in upon itself, shrinking and, as the elements got closer and closer together, heating up, and how that idea coursed after some meandering into the discovery of atomic energy. But perhaps the most beautiful "turn" (as in a poetic change of perception, as in a sonnet) in the book is on page 107 where Chown's writes about the sameness of all the atoms of an element, and then suddenly asks, thinking about the mysterious behavior evidenced by the phenomenon of the half-life: "How could radium atoms all be the same yet behave differently?" This question leads to the uncertainty principle and quantum mechanics.

There is an implicit sense of warning in the book about the limitations of humans doing science. Thus the American geologist Thomas Chamberlain is quoted on page 54 as saying, "There is perhaps no beguilement more insidious and dangerous than an elaborate and elegant mathematical process built upon unfortified premises." He was critiquing Lord Kelvin, but might his words not apply to more recent theories, such as that of one-dimensional strings? And on page 65 it is recounted that Auguste Comte "deemed it self-evident that we would never be able to study" the chemical composition of the stars. Two years after his death in 1857 thanks to the unlikely technique of spectroscopy we were doing just that. Indeed, as Chown reports on page 67, helium was discovered on the sun through a reading of its spectrum before it was discovered on the earth! By the way, Chown's material on spectroscopy is fascinating and helped me to a better understanding of how the process works and how the black lines in spectrums of light reveal the composition of the stars.

Chown has the ability to engage the reader in scientific ideas, perhaps in part because of the unique way he sometimes puts things. For example on page 79 he writes about the resistance encountered by an object as it approached the speed of light. He states, "The only conceivable source of such resistance was a body's mass." However, what I thought was, mass cannot find resistance by itself. There must be something in the very fabric of spacetime that is providing the resistance. It is not enough to posit "inertia" since that really explains nothing. I believe there is still something fundamental that we do not understand about the relationship between the speed of light and the nature of matter and energy.

Chown sometimes uses the language and assumptions of the times he is writing about. For example on page 96 he speaks of "the electrons which flitted about an atomic nucleus like planets round the sun," an analogy now considered somewhat misleading (a "cloud" is preferred, I believe), but in recalling it, we are again forced to imagine what an atom might look like if we could somehow "see" it.

Most amusing story: Austrian physicist Fritz Houtermans making up dreams to tell Sigmund Freud! (p. 110)

Best stream of consciousness leading to insight: Fred Hoyle musing on the atomic bomb project about which he had only second-hand and circumstantial evidence. (pp. 159-160)

Best speculation: In answer to "Where are they?", Fermi's famous question about extra-terrestrials, Chown proposes that they came and went long before the sun even shone. (p. 215)

Outstanding
Probably the clearest exposition of the history of modern nuclear physics. In addition, he ponders some of the great philisophical questions in a realistic way.

I'd recommend it to anyone interested in what we're all actually made of.

A Glowing Account
I have owned a copy of this book for some time before I got around to reading. And when I did I could not put it down. Marcus Chown spins an enthralling historical account of how we learned about the cosmic synthesis of elements.

My favorite account is about Fred Hoyle's pursuit to solve the riddle of how carbon - the stuff of life - was manufactured in the bowls of stars. The problem was that the thermonuclear fusion of hydrogen to heavier elements could not bridge the gap from beryllium-8 to carbon-12. But Hoyle knew it had to happen because humans existed!

We are carbon-based beings and Hoyle argued that after two helium-4 atoms fused to beryllium-8, a third helium-4 quickly fused to give carbon-12. He calculated that in the bowls of a red giant star the energies of beryllium-8 and helium-4 matched a resonance energy that produced carbon-12. Tests by Willy Fowler confirmed Hoyle's prediction: carbon-12 has indeed the predicted energy resonance! Never, according to Chown, has an anthropic argument been used to make a scientific prediction.

When you start reading this book, make sure you have no other pressing engagements. You won't want to stop reading. Chown has a wonderful, lucid style.

All science should be taught like this!
Marcus Chown is an incredibly gifted author. He somehow manages to impart (what could otherwise have been hard boring facts) into a compelling and passionate account of man's unquenchable thirst for knowledge - and in particular the search for the atom. From the very first page, the reader is gripped and taken on an incredible journey, back through time as we follow early scientists in their sometimes heartbreaking endeavours to discover the atom. Marcus Chown has the ability to make science appealing and enormously exciting. Readers will not be intimidated (nor patronised) by the subject matter, instead they will be left wanting more. This book lends itself brilliantly to either a television documentary or indeed a drama serialisation where it can reach an even wider audience. More please, Mr. Chown! ... Read more

Book Description

The first half deals with the motion of a single particle under the influence of electronic and magnetic fields. The basic language of linear and circular accelerators is developed. The principle of phase stability is introduced along with phase oscillations in linear accelerators and synchrotrons. Presents a treatment of betatron oscillations followed by an excursion into nonlinear dynamics and its application to accelerators. The second half discusses intensity dependent effects, particularly space charge and coherent instabilities. Includes tables of parameters for a selection of accelerators which are used in the numerous problems provided at the end of each chapter. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

An excellent introduction
This book is a superb introduction to the field of acclereator physics. Starting with a basic knowledge of relativity and E&M is all that is necessary. Edwards and Syphers do a great job of "building" an accelerator in their book and using operating parameters of real world accelerators (mostly the Tevatron) for their numerical examples.

My only complaint is that some of the problems could be worded more clearly and concisely ... Read more

Book Description

Thoroughly revised and updated, this new edition presents a comprehensive overview of modern neutrino physics. The book covers all the major areas of current interest.An international group of distinguished contributors discuss the intrinsic properties of neutrinos, the theory of the interaction of neutrinos with matter, experimental investigations of the weak interaction in neutrino processes, the theory and supporting experiment for the basic properties of the interaction of neutrinos with fermions, and neutrinos in astrophysics and cosmology. This edition presents new data on solar neutrinos and an update of the results of searches for double beta decay. It also contains a new chapter on direct measurements of the neutrino mass, with high precision data from experiments at Fermilab and CERN, and at the Kamiokande Laboratory in Japan. This is an essential reference text for particle physicists, nuclear physicists and astrophysicists. ... Read more

Book Description

Essential for students, science and medical graduates who want to understand the basic science of Positron Emission Tomography (PET), this book describes the physics, chemistry, technology and overview of the clinical uses behind the science of PET and the imaging techniques it uses. In recent years, PET has moved from high-end research imaging tool used by the highly specialized to an essential component of clinical evaluation in the clinic, especially in cancer management. Previously being the realm of scientists, this book explains PET instrumentation, radiochemistry, PET data acquisition and image formation, integration of structural and functional images, radiation dosimetry and protection, and applications in dedicated areas such as drug development, oncology, and gene expression imaging. The technologist, the science, engineering or chemistry graduate seeking further detailed information about PET, or the medical advanced trainee wishing to gain insight into the basic science of PET will find this book invaluable.

This book is primarily repackaged content from the Basic Science section of the  'big' Valk book on PET, with some new content and updates:

a mixture of repackaged and completely revised, new and unchanged chapters covering the "basic sciences" section of the main book - total 18 chapters:

- 2 new (chapters 1, 16)

- 8 completely revised (chapters 4, 5, 8, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18)

- 3 minor corrections (chapters 2, 6, 11)

- 5 unchanged (chapters 3, 7, 9, 10, 12)

Book Description

This book tells the fascinating story of fusion. As the process that fuels the stars and galaxies lighting up the night sky, fusion is the main source of energy in our Universe. We owe our very existence to the warmth of the Sun that it generates and, at the start of the new milllennium, fusion may prove to be the only sustainable way to meet the long-term energy demands of modern society.

Professor Hans Wilhelmsson shares with us his delight and his 50 year, life-long dream as one of fusion's main contemporary figures, to recreate on Earth the conditions that give rise to fusion at the heart of the Sun. He takes us through time on an epic voyage where we meet Nobel prize winning characters such as Neils Bohr, Hannes Alfven and Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar and the any cultural inspirations that have brought us to the brink of achieving controlled fusion in the laboratory. He charts the Universe stopping en route to explain how fusion and its vehicle, plasma physics, lies behind some of the most awe-inspiring phenomena in the Cosmos, from jets and quasars to the beautiful Aurora Borealis - the Northern Lights.

Forever insightful, the author shows not only the links between developments in space and laboratory plasma physics, he also presents 16 rare and original color plates to highlight the relevance and parallels in the work of Vincent Van Gogh, Leonardo da Vinci and Max Ernst to the fusion quest. ... Read more

Book Description

The publication of The Internal Constitution of the Stars by Arthur Eddington in 1926 was a major landmark in the development of modern theoretical astrophysics. Not only did Eddington effectively create the discipline of the structure, constitution, and the evolution of the stars, but he also recognised and established the basic elements of our present understanding of the subject. The influence of the book is indicated by the remark by H. N. Russell in 1945: 'This volume has every claim to be regarded as a masterpiece of the first rank'. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

a brilliant explaination of the facts
i enjoyed the book. it is easy to read except for the chapter on quarks, which is difficult to comprehend. i will recommend this book to every one who wishes to learn about the subatomic world. there is only one drawback for this book. it was published in 1991 and there have been more additions to the subatomic world since then. the history of the search for atom and its constituents is splendid. I love mathematics but i am too lazy to do it. so for folks who don't like to dwell in mathematics to understand particle physics, this is the right book for you

Asimov's Atom
This book reveals a part of Isaac Asimov that I have never realized before: the Detective. His journey across the subatomic cosmos is that of a detective, whether he is analyzing electrons, light, neutrons, quasars, antimatter, neutrinos, interactions, or the universe. He presents a mystery, a problem, that stumps the experts in physics or chemistry or mathematics, and then begins eliminating the suspects one by one until the only possible solution is revealed. He has done the same thing in his science fiction, for example in his Foundation Series and Robot Series (see my Amazon.com reviews of various of his books) - in fact, the heroes of his robot series were a human detective and a robot or android detective. I grew up reading the science fiction of Asimov and/or his colleagues, and my wife Dr. Marleen Josie Doctorow used Asimov's book on psychological science fiction in her university psychology courses. Asimov, by a remarkable coincidence, was married to a psychiatrist, Dr. Janet Jeppson, and she continued his Foundation Series after his death via his Estate and the great writers Brin, Bear, and Benford. When I read the front page headlines recently in newspapers attacking psychiatrists and psychologists like Freud, I wonder whether the journalists realize that all of science and medicine and journalism involve detective stories. The greatest detectives also have something called intuition, which also goes by the name of ESP, and in theology is considered to be a quality of the Divine. Asimov had it, Saint Thomas Acquinas had it, the Old Testament Prophets and Mohammed had it, Buddha had it, Einstein had it, Field Marshall Montgomery had it. It leaves us humble and grateful for the miracles of our and their existence.

Completely Dry and Uninteresting
Isaac Asimov's Atom is an interesting premise for a book...the evolution of the smallest aspect of an element which is the basic aspect of life and existance. Asimov intends to take the reader across centuries explaining simply, interestingly, and concisely how this fascinating little thing came to be as it is and why it is so important.

However, Asimov explains the atom neither simply, interestingly, nor concisly. Let me rephrase...Asimov's writing style is extremely dry in this book. It is understandable to a certain extent...the book is divided into 51 small sections of between 3 to 7 pages each. If a reader attempts to read over more than one or two of these sections at a time, it becomes nausiating. Explainations of experiments are extremely difficult to understand, and the book drags and lacks any interest whatsoever in many parts.

Redeemed by interesting tidbits, it is easy to understand how a science buff can enjoy this and understand it, but to the average reader, the prose is uncommonly dull and loquacious. The diverse gallimaufry of scientists govered begin to combine in the mind, and it is difficult to remember who did what.

As the book stretches onward passed the three-hundered page mark, the reader is constantly questioning "Why do I care? I have learned what the atom is today, and how it came about originally. Why on earth to I need to know all the errors in between?"

In conclusion, Asimov's Atom: Journey Across the Subatomic Cosmos may be perfectly suited to the literature taste buds of a science afficianado, but nobody who takes no particular interest in the subject should be forced to read such a dry and useless account. Asimov has talent, which he beautifully and powerfully demonstrates in certain parts of Atom and in almost every single other work he has written, but here his talents need to be reserved for the most scientific amongst us. It is unfortunate that so many Chemistry teachers require this book as reading for their class. This difficult narrative will only succeed in fogging the perception even more.

Excellent
This is an excellent book for students of almost all ages (14 up). I was 14 when I read it, with no education in atoms, and I understood it perfectly. Asimov writes in a way that is extremely provocative and very informative. I highly recommed this book.

The Secret of My Success
I'm a hobby science-fiction writer, and you can't do that plausibly without knowing the facts of the subject matter. Everything I know about physics I drew from this book and from Richard Feynman's "Six Easy Pieces," which I also recommend. When I sell things and you like them, you'll be able to go to this book and say, "so that's where he got it from." ... Read more

Book Description

This book demonstrates how NMR relaxation can be applied for structural diagnostics of chemical compounds, recognition of weak intermolecular interactions, determinations of internuclear distances and lengths of chemical bonds when compounds under investigation can exist only in solutions.

• Written as a textbook for chemists, demanding little background in physics and NMR
• Its practical approach helps the reader to apply the techniques in the lab
• First book to teach NMR Relaxation techniques to chemists

Reviews (3)

A good concept, but dry at times
I read a review of this book and it sounded interesting, so eventually I bought it. The idea seemed good - study the community of physicists as a subculture of its own. And this book has its moments. Unfortunately, it was a bit too dry for my tastes. Traweek's habit of not giving names to the people she talks about and referring to everything in incredibly generic terms can be very irritating. I assume that this is some sort of anthropological or ethnographic practice - however, I'm not sure if this book should have been cast so heavily in the scholarly mode of anthropology. Parts of this book I skipped over because it seemed too dry. However, it's interesting to hear about the distinctions between the different kinds of physicists, the educational system that they were taught in, and the like. Looking back, I probably should not have read this book in one sitting, short as it is. Maybe my attention span just isn't long enough. But it still offers some interesting insights.

High energy physics: deconstruction of a non-culture
Beamtimes and Lifetimes by Sharon Traweek is an unusual book which documents the specific norms, values, and physical aspects of the high energy physics community in Japan and the U.S. One of the main strengths of this book is its comprehensive study on why physics is not a gender-neutral, unbiased, and totally objective science. Traweek exposes the fact that science is not the an individual endeavor devoid of human experience, biases, and human nature. By systematically, documenting the community and the ethos that the physcists adhere to, the reader walks away with the fact that physics like many other sciences are results of human interepretation - a construct of knowledge that is organized, affected, and generated by concerns of collaboration, funding, competition, gender biases, and culture. Although parts of this book may be pretty dry for the non- scholar and people are simply not interested, there are pivotal and salient paragraphs in Beamtimes and Lifetimes that show that science isn't objective and neutral as it seems. It is worth reading and non-scientists and scientists alike. Read carefully and don't plow through it!

From NKV
If the relation between science and society, nature and human, interests you, this is a book you should read. The author, who majors in anthropology, tries to examine high-energy physics community in the light of anthropology. As far as I know, anthropologists have hardly written any book about physics, physicists' community. As you will see, this book is different from the books that are usually written by physicist. The books, that physicists write, require more physical and mathematical background. But such prerequisites are not required at all in this book. Rather, this book requires the information about community, that is, anthropology. In prologue, the author explains the motivation of beginning this fieldwork, the relation between high-energy physics and war, the method of analyzing physicist community, and the landmark emerged in constructing an account of physicists' culture. First of all, the method of analysis through anthropology is the thing that this book is different from usual books about physicists. The author says that the account written as an outcome of anthropological fieldwork usually includes information about four domains of community life. They run as follows: ecology, social organization, the developmental cycle, cosmology: the group's system of knowledge, skills, and beliefs, what is valued and what is denigrated. As this method, she develops his argument until epilogue. In chapter1, she, who was partly employed to conduct public tours of Stanford Linear Accelerator (SLAC), introduce SLAC and KEK in Japan, as if we tour through SLAC, KEK. In ch2, detectors, which is probably the most important tool observing nature, is revealed. There are many differences between detectors at SLAC (ESA, LASS, and SPEAR) and those at KEK. She does proficiently explain "why are detectors at SLAC and those at KEK different?" In the next chapter, she turns from the detectors to their makers who have different strategies for making research equipment. This chapter is entitled "Pilgrim's Progress: Male Tales Told during a Life in Physics". If you are concerned with physics, considering to major in physics, you are strongly recommended to read chapter. The life of physicist is divided by 4 stages: undergraduate student, graduate, postdoctoral physicist, and established physicist. The author does minutely explain the psychological state, required qualifications, in each stage. Until this chapter, the author has introduced the actors in the high-energy community but from now, she will describe their activities. Ch.4 entitled "Ground states: Distinctions and the Ties that Bind" explain networks of physicists, ranking of institutions, distinctions between experimentalist and theorist, women and men, etc... In this chapter, the author try to show the relationship that bind physicist community, she consider it to be highly fixed relation through talking, not writing. In last chapter, physicists, who try to maintain stability, negotiate with one another for resources, and change themselves in the front of knowledge. As deeply as this book probes into the anthropological details of high-energy physics community, it disappoints in being constrained to honor a typical theory of anthropology. "I have explored a theory originally formulated by Durkheim and...."[P.157]. The author did certainly succeed in analyzing high-energy physics community in the light of Durkheim's theory, but she failed in creating her unique view. Sometimes, she tries to vaguely show her opinion. The question of "whether electrons exist of not?" is translated into a less abrupt form to her "where do the social categories of physicist and physics community and physics culture exist?"[p.162]. On the other hand, it is likely that she has a prominent insight into detectors. "The relationship between scientist and nature is at its most intimate and physical in the detectors"[p.158]. "The detectors in the end are the key informants of this study; physicist and nature meet in the detector, where knowledge and passion are one" [p.17]. It is reasonable that she regards the detectors as the outcomes of physicists' culture and science policy of governments, etc.... But, it is a little drowzy...not clear... ... Read more

Book Description

Optical Radiation Detectors, Eustace L. Dereniak and Devon G. Crowe
Offers a comprehensive, integrated treatment of optical radiation detectors, discussing their capabilities and limitations. Background material on radiometry, noise sources, and detector physics is introduced, followed by more detailed discussions of photon detectors, thermal detectors, and charge transfer arrays of detectors. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (2)

Excellent Text, but over my head
The text was written with expertise about the nature of the atom, of nuclear decay rates, and of the nature of radiation beyond Plank. It is very mathematically based (as all good physics books are), however, it was beyond me mathematically at times, and took about ten reads to comprehend the basic mathematical structure and implications.

It is excellent if one already has a background in nuclear physics, and is a wonderful reference.

A great master applies quantum mechanics.
These are the notesof the Fermi lectures on nuclear physics at Chicago. As a book on nuclear physics they are, of course, too dated. However, I strongly recommend this book for he who wants to see a great master solving problems of various kinds. Besides the usual topics of alpha and beta-decays, nuclear models, scattering, etc, there are beautiful treatments of passage of radiation through matter, origin of cosmic rays and action of the Earth's magnetic field on incoming charged particles. The book is a monumental collection of very good exercises of quantum mechanics, electrodynamics, relativity, etc. In this sense , it will never become obsolete. ... Read more

Book Description

The subject of this book is the new field of squeezing in quantum fields. This general area includes all types of systems in which quantum fluctuations are reduced below those in the normal vacuum state. The book covers the main currently known techniques of generating squeezed photon fields, together with some treatment of matter field squeezing. Both theory and experiments are covered, together with applications to communications and measurement. The chapters of the book are written by the foremost international experts in the field, and their coverage extends from general introductory material, to the most recent developments. ... Read more

Book Description

This highly regarded textbook for advanced undergraduates provides a comprehensive introduction to modern particle physics. Coverage emphasizes the balance between experiment and theory. It places stress on the phenomenological approach and basic theoretical concepts rather than rigorous mathematical detail. Donald Perkins also details recent developments in elementary particle physics, as well as its connections with cosmology and astrophysics. A number of key experiments are also identified along with a description of how they have influenced the field.Perkins presents most of the material in the context of the Standard Model of quarks and leptons.He also fully explores the shortcomings of this model and new physics beyond its compass (such as supersymmetry, neutrino mass and oscillations, GUTs and superstrings). The text includes many problems and a detailed and annotated further reading list. The volume will also provide a solid foundation for graduate study. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

A absolutely horrible introduction to High Energy Physics
I used Perkin's book for a one sememester 500 level graduate course. I honestly believe that of the 20+ books that I have used in undergrad and grad school, that this is the absolute worst text I have encountered. The equations in the text are mearly thrown in without the slightest justification or hint of the possible method of derivation. If you would truly understand the significance of the equations, then you would need a background knowledge that I can hardly believe anybody looking for an introduction to high energy physics could have. However, this is far from its biggest pitfall. The book is choppy to read. There are almost no quantitative examples and yet the questions are mostly quantitative. I am sure that I could think of more specifics dislikes, but I think that the reader has seen my opion. To anybody considering buying this text I suggest instead purchasing griffiths "introduction to elementary particles." My class was so displeased with perkins text that our professor has promised to switch to griffiths next year. To reiterate.... Perkins book is the epitome of bad writing. I give my apologies to the author, but I don't want others to waste their time and money on this text. Buy Griffiths Book, it is good!

I hope that it isn't just me
I just took an intro to particle physics class as a fifth year undergraduate who has had all of the usual courses that one is supposed to have to be able to at least gain a glimpse into the world of particles. This book by Perkins is one of the worst textbooks that I have ever had to use. The examples were limited if any, and the problems seemed not to correlate with the content of the chapters at all. The problems that I did work on I had to reference other texts just to get an idea of what he was talking about. I have to say that Griffiths' (whose EM book was great and his quantum book not all that bad) was much more mathematical and clear, as well as Halzen and Martin. I agree with the other comment. Get another book before ever buying this book. Plus my Professor was not too thrilled with it as well. I ended up buying the Griffiths text in the end, which helped a lot.

Not all that "Intro" at all
My undergrauate particle physics class use this book, and I can't complain enough about it! I am sure many in my class share the same opinion. I must admit that earlier reviews are right. It is a very comprehensive servey of high energy physics, but the writting is simply bad! It's so obscure, hard to understand, and extremely fragmented. Here is an event that should keep anyone interested from buying it. We were assigned a problem in the book as a homework problem. The professor later had to take it out of the problem set because appearntly, the problem concern a session of the book that's already TAKEN OUT of the 4th EDITION!!!!
I would recommend Griffiths book, except that that book doesn't emphasize on concept as much I suppose...o well, it's your call...but I'd say: DROP THIS.

Introduction to High Energy Physics
Speaking as a graduate student in physics who is condemned to sort through this abominable text, I strongly discourage anyone from engaging in this book if they are given the choice. It's presentation is extremely fragmented, and explanations obscure - survey unlucky students who are condemned to this text and they will tell you that learning particle physics has been a matter of finding other strong treatments. Not at all recommended. I am disturbed by the five star marks awarded by Amazon.

Not just a straightforward update
This is not just a straightforward update of a successful book, it is a major rewrite, the most comprehensive revision so far. It covers all significant developments of the past 15 years; equally important, it has been thoroughly reorganized, such that the discussion is now firmly embedded into the classification of particles and forces of the Standard Model. A welcome addition are two new chapters which treat 'Physics beyond the Standard Model' and 'Particle physics and cosmology' in much more detail and present the relevance of particle physics in a wider scientific context.

Rüdiger Voss /CERN

A complete review is available in CERN Courier, June 2000 ... Read more

Book Description

This book offers a systematic and comprehensive presentation of the concepts of a spin manifold, spinor fields, Dirac operators, andA-genera, which, over the last two decades, have come to play a significant role in many areas of modern mathematics. Since the deeper applications of these ideas require various general forms of the Atiyah-Singer Index Theorem, the theorems and their proofs, together with all prerequisite material, are examined here in detail. The exposition is richlyembroidered with examples and applications to a wide spectrum of problems in differential geometry, topology, and mathematical physics. The authors consistently use Clifford algebras and their representations in this exposition. Clifford multiplication and Dirac operator identities are even used in place of the standard tensor calculus. This unique approach unifies all the standard elliptic operators in geometry and brings fresh insights into curvature calculations. The fundamental relationships of Clifford modules to such topics as the theory of Lie groups, K-theory, KR-theory, and Bott Periodicity also receive careful consideration. A special feature of this book is the development of the theory of Cl-linear elliptic operators and the associated index theorem, which connects certain subtle spin-corbordism invariants to classical questions in geometry and has led to some of the most profound relations known between the curvature and topology of manifolds. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Excellent
Who would have known that the equation discovered by P.A.M. Dirac in the 1920's would have the enormous appllications to mathematics that it currently has. This book is an excellent overview of these applications, written by two individuals who are responsible for the development of many of these. Dirac's theory of course had its origins in physics, and physicists, particularly those working in high energy physics, will find this book interesting and helpful.

The authors give a brief introduction and then move on to the representation theory of Clifford algebras and spin groups in chapter 1. The reader can see the origin of Clifford algebras and an introduction to the Pin and Spin groups. Clifford algebras are classified as matrix algebras over the real or complex numbers, and the quaternions. It is the representation theory of Clifford algebras however that has resulted in the impressive results outlined in the book Noting that the tensor product of Clifford algebras is not necessarily a Clifford algebra, the authors introduce a Z(2)-grading on a Clifford algebra, which results in a multiplicative structure in the representations of Clifford algebras. The Lie algebras of the Pin and Spin groups are discussed along with applications to geometry and Lie groups. By far the most interesting discussion though is on K-theory, which allows one to define a ring structure on vector bundles. Distinguishing a base point in the base space, relative K-groups are defined, and shown to be equal for the base space and its i-fold suspension. Bott periodicity results are stated but their proof is delayed until chapter 3. A detailed discussion is given of the Atiyah-Bott-Shapiro isomorphism and KR-theory.

The connection between spin and differential geometry is discussed in chapter 2. The first few sections is a review of standard results in the spin structure of vector bundles, such as Stiefel-Whitney classes and spin cobordism. For Riemannian vector bundles, each fiber has a quadratic form that gives rise to a Clifford algebra on the fiber. The question as to when a vector bundle over the Riemannian base space can be found that has fibers each an irreducible module over this Clifford algebra leads to a consideration of spin manifolds and spin cobordism, when the total space is chosen to be the tangent bundle. The Dirac operator acting on a bundle over this Clifford bundle allows the construction of all the standard elliptic operators such as the signature, Atiyah-Singer, and the Euler characteristic. The authors discuss these constructions in detail along with the notion of of Cl(k)-linear operators.

The Dirac operator can be viewed in Euclidean space as the square root of a Laplace operator, but over general manifolds it is the Laplacian with a correction term dependent on the curvature and Clifford multiplication. The Bochner vanishing theorems are discussed in great detail, along with the results on the existence of exotic spheres.

An entire chapter is spent on index theorems, wherein the authors present the results in terms of the approach used by Atiyah and Singer, instead of the heat kernel methods of Gilkey and Patodi. Physicists might prefer the later approach, due to its connections with applications, but the abstract K-theory approach undertaken by the authors is elegant and their presentation is excellent. The role of physics in index theorems is a fascinating one though, especially the use of supersymmetry to simplify the proofs of some of the results. The authors do not discuss this approach, but point out, interestingly, that it does not work when one is dealing with torsion elements in K-theory. These cannot be detected using cohomology nor can the modulo-two invariants appearing in the index theorems be computed from local densities.

The last chapter is a long one and discusses applications in differential topology and geometry, emphasizing index thoerems and Riemannian manifolds of positive scalar curvature. The authors outline just when the indexes are integers (the integrality theorems) and use spin geometry to discuss the immersion problem for manifolds and the vector field problem. Exotic n-spheres again make their appearance, wherein it is shown that some of these have very few symmetries and are very asymmetric objects. A short introduction to elliptic genera is given. Interestingly, C*-algebras are briefly mentioned as tools to decide whether for every compact spin manifold with positive scalar curvature all higher A-genera must be zero. Spin-c manifolds are not treated, the authors instead concentrating their attention to Kahlerian geometry. In this context the Clifford algebra multiplication has a beautiful relationship with the complex structure. A brief discussion is given of the pure spinors of Cartan and twistor spaces. The theory of holonomy and calibrations, the later due to one of the authors, is discussed in great detail. The discussion begins in the consideration of when universal covering spaces are not Riemannian manifolds and their holonomy groups have been classified. The idea of a calibration arises from the consideration of submanifolds that are homologically volume-minimizing. These become calibrations when the integrals of p-forms on them are the volumes, and these p-forms have vanishing differentials on oriented tangent p-planes on the manifold. The authors give an interesting discussion of the relation between spinors and calibrations.

Essential for grad students in geometry/topology
As a graduate student in mathematics I survived on this encyclopedic work. Anyone interested in differential geometry or differential topology will eventually need something in this book.

Prerequisites are graduate-level algebra and analysis, and some topology and differential geometry. He introduces the subject of pseudodifferential operators and Sobolev spaces, but it's easy to get lost in that part unless you first read Shubin's book "Pseudodifferential operators and Spectral theory". Also, the quick shuffling of Lie group information can be disheartening if you're not used to it. Harvey's book "Spinors and Calibrations" is a more elementary book if this is the case.

This book touches on many important topics like the Atiyah-Singer Index Theorem, the Bochner method, Riemann-Roch, and mathematical physics, but you will probably want to supplement your reading with individual books on each of these topics. ... Read more

Book Description

Our journey in search of the origin of matter - and, by extension, the origin of the Universe itself - has taken us deeper and deeper inside atoms. First to come into view was the atomic nucleus, and still further downscale the individual protons and neutrons that constitute the nucleus.At least for three decades, nucleons (protons and neutrons) were considered to be our final destination. Then, peering into them, we detected shadows of yet another layer of matter that lurks inside. Unable so far to crack open a nucleon and bring out one of these shadowy objects for observation and measurement, we can only guess what they are.We have named them quarks.We believe that two types of quarks - one named "up" and the other "down" - make up the proton and the neutron. Quarks are held together by a force dubbed the chromo force, represented by particles named gluons, which are just as unseen as quarks.So it is the quarks and gluons that lie at the bottom of all known matter!

In this important book, the major developments in atomic, nuclear, particle and quark physics over the past one hundred years are presented in a style that is both accessible to the layperson and of value to the expert. It provides a brief history of particles, charting the discovery of electrons and photons, antimatter, atomic nuclei, strong and weak forces, and quarks and gluons. In particular, it traces the concept of "conserved charges", a phenomenon that is consistently manifested in each of these milestone developments in modern physics. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

A wonderfully accessible introduction to particle physics
Moo Young Han, a professor at Duke, must be a great teacher, and this book gives everyone the chance to share in the excitement and wonder of particle physics. Han can make all those esoteric terms like quark, meson, lepton, and neutrino meaningful and interesting, which is no small feat. I finally understand how all the particles relate to each other and the larger universe, and enjoyed reading the book in the process.

an excellent view of how particle physics works
i have just finished reading Quarks and Gluons and thought it was terrific: clean, clear, focussed,tightly organized, at a perfect general reader level with a neat colloquial bite to the style, very informative forme with a lot of ahahs-that's -why- they- do- that- , clearly a labor oflove by amajor contributor in particle physics.

Very good explanation of particle physics
We found this book to be excellent for those people with some scientific trainingor interest, to learn about particle physics.It's written in such a style that people will want to keep on reading itand not put itdown. ... Read more

Book Description

This introduction to nuclear physics provides an excellent basis for a core undergraduate course in this area. The authors show how simple models can provide an understanding of the properties of nuclei, both in their ground and excited states, and of the nature of nuclear reactions. They include chapters on nuclear fission, its application in nuclear power reactors, the role of nuclear physics in energy production and nucleosynthesis in stars. This new edition contains several additional topics: muon-catalyzed fusion, the nuclear and neutrino physics of supernovae, neutrino mass and neutrino oscillations, and the biological effects of radiation. A knowledge of basic quantum mechanics and special relativity is assumed. Each chapter ends with a set of problems accompanied by outline solutions. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Nothing
There is nothing to learn from this book. It has only pieces of trivial results without deriving.Specially, theoretically interested students should be careful of buying this book. ... Read more