Best Particle Physics
The first chapter provides a detailed historical introduction to the subject, while subsequent chapters offer a quantitative presentation of the Standard Model. The first chapter provides a detailed historical introduction to the subject, while subsequent chapters offer a quantitative presentation of the Standard Model. - Revised edition of a well-established text on elementary particle physics. - With a number of worked examples and many end-of-chapter problems. - Helps the student to master the Feynman rules. - Solution manual available for instructors.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Displays the key equations showing their form but does not dwell on the math."
"Best starter book for field theory."
"I friggin love this book."
"Every physics student should read this book before they take the physics GRE, or even just for fun."
"If you've read and understood undergrad mechanics, e&m (Griffiths), and quantum mechanics (Griffiths), then you're ready for this book and you'll know what to expect from Griffiths."
Now, Caltech physicist Sean Carroll documents the doorway that is opening—after billions of dollars and the efforts of thousands of researchers at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland—into the mind-boggling world of dark matter. “In this superb book, Sean Carroll provides a fascinating and lucid look at the most mysterious and important particle in nature, and the experiment that revealed it. After you read his book—an enticing cocktail of personal anecdote, clever analogy, and a small dose of mind-bending theory—you will truly grasp why the Higgs boson has been sought after for so long by so many. "Carroll keeps it real, getting at the complex guts of cutting-edge cosmology in discussions that will challenge fans of Hawking's A Brief History of Time .
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"There's all kinds of fascinating and amusing stuff here; the lead tungstate crystals in the detectors that took ten years to grow, the earlier particle accelerator whose workings were affected by the moon's tides, the baguette dropped by a bird that temporarily created electrical problems, the helium "explosion" caused by high voltage that crippled the machine for months, the physicist whose face was exposed to an intense beam of protons and who still escaped relatively unscathed. The sheer size and complexity of the ten-thousand pound detectors - ATLAS and CMS - beggar belief and the smooth functioning of these hunks of metal, plastic and electronics is a resounding tribute to human ingenuity and collaboration. Carroll is very good at describing the structure and function of the marvelous machines that made the Higgs possible and again confirms the fact that the best science involves both great intellectual ideas and world-class engineering. He does a good job detailing the great difficulty of collecting the data from an incredibly complex dance of particle collisions and most importantly, of separating the signal from the noise. Carroll who was in the audience when the discovery was announced captures well the excitement in Geneva and around the world as an intensely international collaboration of more than three thousand LHC-related scientists tuned in to hear the groundbreaking news. Part of this is in the earlier chapters where he details the political jockeying and the clash of personalities that was involved in the cancellation of the high-stakes Superconducting Supercollider (SSC) project during the 90s. There is no doubt that somebody should get it (and almost universal consensus that Higgs should be included), but the history that Carroll describes makes it clear that at least six people came up with various parts of the idea within a narrow time frame. It's engaging and an easy read and would complement similar other volumes like Ian Sample's "Massive" (which focuses more on the human side) and Frank Close's "The Infinity Puzzle" (which is heavier on the science). What Carroll does manage to communicate is the deep satisfaction of discovery, the thrill of the chase and the astonishing achievements that human imagination and skill can make possible."
"Carroll uses humor to explain some of the more boring details which was one of the reasons i gave this 5-stars."
"Although I have read several other books discussing the LHC and the search for the Higgs particle, this has gone deeper and has been more understandable than any. Dr. Carroll has so many folksy analogies and comparisons to help the nonscientist grasp the concepts. One of his favorites -- to which he returns several times -- is to imagine navigating across a crowded cocktail party. Now imagine Angelina Joli trying to make the identical passage."
"Both times the Large Hadron Collider made major announcements about their Higgs findings, I was awake in the early mornings, watching the live video stream from Geneva. The book starts out with a history of discoveries that led to this point, and anecdotes about some of the giants and characters on whose shoulders Dr. Carroll and other particle physicists now stand."
“Successful science writing tells a complete story of the ‘how’—the methodical marvel building up to the ‘why’—and Randall does just that.”— New York Times Book Review. In Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs , Professor Lisa Randall, one of today’s most influential theoretical physicists, takes readers on an intellectual adventure through the history of the cosmos, showing how events in the farthest reaches of the Universe created the conditions for life—and death—on our planet. This breathtaking synthesis, illuminated by pop culture references and social and political viewpoints, reveals the deep relationships among the small and the large, the visible and the hidden, as well as the astonishing beauty of the connections that surround us. “The nature of the impactor remains unknown, but if it was indeed a comet dislodged from the Oort Cloud, then Randall’s book provides an entertaining and radical explanation of the events leading up to their ultimate extinction.” (Philadelphia Inquirer). “Through Randall’s brilliant research we see a universe unfold that is far grander than anyone at any time could have imagined… She is a progressive thinker, a visionary capable of bridging the vast gulf between speculation and reality science.” (San Francisco Book Review). “The nature of the impactor remains unknown, but if it was indeed a comet dislodged from the Oort Cloud, then Randall’s book provides an entertaining and radical explanation of the events leading up to their ultimate extinction.” (WHYY Radio Times).
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Her previous books were: “Warped Passages” about the role of extra dimensions and “Knocking on Heaven's Door” about the Higgs particle. We also think that the dinosaurs died 66 million years ago when a large meteoroid, e.g., comet or asteroid, crashed into the Earth. Did a dark matter disk lying in the plane of our galaxy nudge the meteoroid into a collision course with the Earth? More about the nature of dark matter may be revealed at the LHC or at the bottom of a gold mine in South Dakota, a land once ruled by dinosaurs."
"Decent book overall but not one of her best."
"Smart, fast, fun read."
"Lisa Randall is brilliant in her work, and in her ability to explain and take the lay reader along while she explains her theory of dark matter influencing the Oort Cloud to send a comet out of it's orbit to eventually crash into the earth and cause catastrophes resulting in the final extinction of the dinosaurs."
"In addition, the reader is treated to a thorough description of our solar system, part of which extends way beyond Pluto and contains the potentially deadly comets."
"as described and timely delivery -- excellent product - 5 stars."
"Randall does an amazing job of explaining the interconnectedness of phenomena on earth, our solar system and beyond."
"Beautifully written discussion of dark matter, dark energy, mass extinctions and the structure of the galaxies."
Best Atomic & Nuclear Physics
In Magnitude, Kimberly Arcand and Megan Watzke take us on an expansive journey to the limits of size, mass, distance, time, temperature in our universe, from the tiniest particle within the structure of an atom to the most massive galaxy in the universe; from the speed at which grass grows (about 2 to 6 inches a month) to the speed of light. Kimberly Arcand is the visualization lead for NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, specializing in image and meaning research, and in data representation.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This book is fun and factual, however, I had problems getting to the websites shown at the end of the book."
"Magnitude is a fun read, whether you are looking for just the right information to impress your friends with, or to liven an academic conversation."
"Let's see - can you take what usually is a dry science topic (unit conversions and scientific notation) and make it beautiful, even poetic?"
"On page 53, under the heading "Temperature", the formula listed for conversion is: Fahrenheit = (Celsius - 32) * 9/5. Probably a typo."