Particle Physics Books

Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions

Lisa Randall

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 151 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Very clear, balanced intro to modern physics and its frontiers 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I found Lisa Randall's "Warped Passages . . ." to be an extremely accessible book for the layperson because of its clarity and balanced emphasis on each of several competing and non-competing modern physics theories.

Each of the several layperson-friendly books on physics that I have read contains an introductory set of chapters on which the main premise of the particular book is based. In terms of understandability, some are fair, others are adequate, and others are quite good. For example, I found such chapters in Brian Greene's "The Elegant Universe" to be quite good. However, Lisa Randall's "Warped Passages . . ." contains exceptionally clear introductory chapters. This clarity not only demonstrates her command and understanding of these early parts of her book, it also effectively expresses her humility and implicit acknowledgment of the incompleteness of the various competing theories that make up her life work. This intellectual honesty lends credibility and therefore ease of understanding to her mode of expression. For example, unlike Brian Greene, who seems to prefer "string theory" and its progeny over all competing theories (for reasons which frustratingly fade away in inverse proportion to the number of pages in his book), Lisa Randall takes a comprehensive and perhaps therefore a more objective approach to each theory she discusses.

The history of modern physics from the late 19th century through today is replete with partial "sub-theories," each of which form the foundations (and limitations) of quantum mechanics and the theories of relativity. If such history is to be any guide, Lisa Randall's "weigh and consider several theory" approach to explain the nature of space, time, energy, and matter is not only sound, but necessary, not only to diversify intellectual and fiscal resources in an economic sense, but also to build the most scientifically robust model possible.

Editorial Review:

The universe has many secrets. It may hide additional dimensions of space other than the familier three we recognize. There might even be another universe adjacent to ours, invisible and unattainable . . . for now.

Warped Passages is a brilliantly readable and altogether exhilarating journey that tracks the arc of discovery from early twentieth-century physics to the razor's edge of modern scientific theory. One of the world's leading theoretical physicists, Lisa Randall provides astonishing scientific possibilities that, until recently, were restricted to the realm of science fiction. Unraveling the twisted threads of the most current debates on relativity, quantum mechanics, and gravity, she explores some of the most fundamental questions posed by Nature—taking us into the warped, hidden dimensions underpinning the universe we live in, demystifying the science of the myriad worlds that may exist just beyond our own.

String Theory Demystified

David McMahon

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Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

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UNRAVEL the mystery of STRING THEORY

Trying to understand string theory but ending up with your brain in knots? Here's your lifeline! This straightforward guide explains the fundamental principles behind this cutting-edge concept.

String Theory Demystified elucidates the goal of the theory--to combine general relativity and quantum theory into a single, unified framework. You'll learn about classical strings, conformal field theory, quantization, compactification, and T duality. The book covers supersymmetry and superstrings, D-branes, the holographic principle, and cosmology. Hundreds of examples and illustrations make it easy to understand the material, and end-of-chapter quizzes and a final exam help reinforce learning.

This fast and easy guide offers:

• Numerous figures to illustrate key concepts
• Sample problems with worked solutions
• Coverage of equations of motion, the energy-momentum tensor, and conserved currents
• A discussion of the Randall-Sundrum model
• A time-saving approach to performing better on an exam or at work

Simple enough for a beginner, but challenging enough for an advanced student, String Theory Demystified is your key to comprehending this theory of everything.

Radiation Detection and Measurement

Glenn F. Knoll

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Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

A Classic Text on Radiation Detection and Measurement Now Updated and Expanded Building on the proven success of this widely-used text, the Third Edition will provide you with a clear understanding of the methods and instrumentation used in the detection and measurement of ionizing radiation. It provides in-depth coverage of the basic principles of radiation detection as well as illustrating their application in a full set of modern instruments. In addition to a complete description of well-established detection and spectroscopic methods, many recently developed approaches are also explored. These include extensive new discussions of semiconductor detectors with unique properties, recently developed scintillation materials and photomultiplier tubes, and several gas-filled detectors of new design. Many other updates and additions have been made throughout the text and two appendices have been added. Over 100 new figures and tables have been included. Key Features of the Third Edition
* Every chapter has been updated with extensive addition of new references to relevant articles in the scientific literature.
* A number of new detection techniques have been added, strengthening the status of the text as the most comprehensive coverage of the topic to be found in any single book.
* The writing style has maintained the readability that has attracted favorable response from readers and reviewers of the earlier editions.
* The author uses his extensive research experience in radiation measurements, nuclear instrumentation, and radiation imaging to provide you with an invaluable resource.

Foundations of Modern Cosmology

John F. Hawley, Katherine A. Holcomb

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Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Recent discoveries in astronomy, especially those made with data collected by satellites such as the Hubble Space Telescope and the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, have revolutionized the science of cosmology. These new observations offer the possibility that some long-standing mysteries in cosmology might be answered, including such fundamental questions as the ultimate fate of the universe. Foundations of modern cosmology provides an accessible, thorough and descriptive introduction to the physical basis for modern cosmological theory, from the big bang to a distant future dominated by dark energy. This second edition includes the latest observational results and provides the detailed background material necessary to understand their implications, with a focus on the specific model supported by these observations, the concordance model. Consistent with the book's title, emphasis is given to the scientific framework for cosmology, particularly the basics concepts of physics that underlie modern theories of relativity and cosmology; the importance of data and observations is stressed throughout.The book sketches the historical background of cosmology, and provides a review of the relevant basic physics and astronomy. After this introduction, both special and general relativity are treated, before proceeding to an in-depth discussion of the big bang theory and physics of the early universe. The book includes current research areas, including dark matter and structure formation, dark energy, the inflationary universe, and quantum cosmology. The authors' website (http://www.astro.virginia.edu/~jh8h/Foundations) offers a wealth of supplemental information, including questions and answers, references to other sources, and updates on the latest discoveries.

The God Particle: If the Universe Is the Answer, What Is the Question?

Dick Teresi, Leon Lederman

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 43 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Slow Pace, Ineffective Humor 1 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

The book was not effective for me, for a handful of reasons.

1. To begin with, I found the book slow-paced (it takes more than a third of the book to get to the discovery of the electron).

2. The authors' attempt at humor doesn't work for me. Example: "Nature uses these combinations, called molecules, to build planets, suns, viruses, mountations, paychecks, Valium, literary agents..." It's just not funny for me.

3. The authors labor under the impression that the reader will both hate any math and not be able to understand it. Their attempt to explain a formula such as F=ma is to spell it out in words: "Eff equals em ay."

4. The amount of material actually devoted to the God Particle (Higgs boson) is extremely small.

5. There are many topics that would be improved with artwork at the level of a Scientific American article, but the only pieces of artwork in the whole book are a diagram of an American football play and a childish map that leads us from Democritus to Burger King.

Editorial Review:

In this extraordinarily accessible and enormously witty book, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Leon Lederman guides us on a fascinating tour of the history of particle physics. The book takes us from the Greeks' earliest scientific observations through Einstein and beyond in an inspiring celebration of human curiosity. It ends with the quest for the Higgs boson, nicknamed the God Particle, which scientists hypothesize will help unlock the last secrets of the subatomic universe. With a new preface by Lederman, The God Particle will leave you marveling at our continuing pursuit of the infinitesimal.

Elementary Particles and the Laws of Physics: The 1986 Dirac Memorial Lectures

Richard P. Feynman, Steven Weinberg

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Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Developing a theory that seamlessly combines relativity and quantum mechanics, the most important conceptual breakthroughs in twentieth century physics, has proved to be a difficult and ongoing challenge. This book details how two distinguished physicists and Nobel laureates have explored this theme in two lectures given in Cambridge, England, in 1986 to commemorate the famous British physicist Paul Dirac. Given for nonspecialists and undergraduates, the talks transcribed in Elementary Particles and the Laws of Physics focus on the fundamental problems of physics and the present state of our knowledge. Professor Feynman examines the nature of antiparticles, and in particular the relationship between quantum spin and statistics. Professor Weinberg speculates on how Einstein's theory of gravitation might be reconciled with quantum theory in the final law of physics. Highly accessible, deeply thought provoking, this book will appeal to all those interested in the development of modern physics.

Introduction to Elementary Particles

David Griffiths

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Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

The perfect introduction 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

This is the perfect introduction for any student learning about particle physics, the Standard Model, or Quantum Field Theory. It introduces Feynman calculus very well, although anyone planning to continue will need Peskin & Schroeder's book as well for the details not introduced here. This book contains an excellent appendix with all formulae and rules needed for even an advanced researcher.

Editorial Review:

This is the first quantitative treatment of elementary particle theory that is accessible to undergraduates. Using a lively, informal writing style, the author strikes a balance between quantitative rigor and intuitive understanding. The first chapter provides a detailed historical introduction to the subject. Subsequent chapters offer a consistent and modern presentation, covering the quark model, Feynman diagrams, quantum electrodynamics, and gauge theories. A clear introduction to the Feynman rules, using a simple model, helps readers learn the calculational techniques without the complications of spin. And an accessible treatment of QED shows how to evaluate tree-level diagrams. Contains an abundance of worked examples and many end-of-chapter problems.

The Void

Frank Close

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Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

What is the void? What remains when you take all the matter away? Can empty Space--nothing--exist?
To answer these questions, eminent scientist Frank Close takes us on a lively and accessible journey that ranges from ancient ideas and cultural superstitions to the frontiers of current research, illuminating the story of how scientists have explored the void and the rich discoveries they have made there. Readers will find an enlightening history of the vacuum: how the efforts to make a better vacuum led to the discovery of the electron; the understanding that the vacuum is filled with fields; the ideas of Newton, Mach, and Einstein on the nature of space and time; the mysterious aether and how Einstein did away with it; and the latest ideas that the vacuum is filled with the Higgs field. The story ranges from the absolute zero of temperature and the seething vacuum of virtual particles and anti-particles that fills space, to the extreme heat and energy of the early universe. It compares the ways that substances change from gas to liquid and solid with the way that the vacuum of our universe has changed as the temperature dropped following the Big Bang. It covers modern ideas that there may be more dimensions to the void than those that we currently are aware of and even that our universe is but one in a multiverse.
The Void takes us inside a field of science that may ultimately provide answers to some of cosmology's most fundamental questions: what lies outside the universe, and, if there was once nothing, then how did the universe begin?

Molecular Quantum Mechanics

Peter Atkins, Ronald Friedman

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Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Quantum mechanics embraces the behaviour of all known forms of matter, including the atoms and molecules from which we, and all living organisms, are composed. "Molecular Quantum Mechanics" leads us through this absorbing yet challenging subject, unravelling those fundamental physical principles which explain how all matter behaves. With the clarity of exposition and rich pedagogy which have established the book as a leading text in the field, "Molecular Quantum Mechanics" takes us from the foundations of quantum mechanics, through quantum models of atomic, molecular, and electronic structure, and on to discussions of spectroscopy, and the electronic and magnetic properties of molecules. Lucid explanations and illuminating artworks help to visualise the many abstract concepts upon which the subject is built. Fully updated to reflect the latest advances in computational techniques, and enhanced with more mathematical support and worked examples than ever before, "Molecular Quantum Mechanics" remains the ultimate resource for those wishing to master this important subject. Supplementary resources: Companion web site, featuring: illustrations available to download; and solutions manual available to download [instructors only].

Electrodynamics (Chicago Lectures in Physics)

Fulvio Melia

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Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Practically all of modern physics deals with fields—functions of space (or spacetime) that give the value of a certain quantity, such as the temperature, in terms of its location within a prescribed volume. Electrodynamics is a comprehensive study of the field produced by (and interacting with) charged particles, which in practice means almost all matter.

Fulvio Melia's Electrodynamics offers a concise, compact, yet complete treatment of this important branch of physics. Unlike most of the standard texts, Electrodynamics neither assumes familiarity with basic concepts nor ends before reaching advanced theoretical principles. Instead this book takes a continuous approach, leading the reader from fundamental physical principles through to a relativistic Lagrangian formalism that overlaps with the field theoretic techniques used in other branches of advanced physics. Avoiding unnecessary technical details and calculations, Electrodynamics will serve both as a useful supplemental text for graduate and advanced undergraduate students and as a helpful overview for physicists who specialize in other fields.