The Origin of Mass
Elementary Particles and Fundamental Symmetries
Published on 5. October 2017
Book
Hardback
150 pages
978-0-19-880517-5 (ISBN)
Description
The discovery of a new elementary particle at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in 2012 made headlines in world media. Since we already know of a large number of elementary particles, why did this latest discovery generate so much excitement? This small book reveals that this particle provides the key to understanding one of the most extraordinary phenomena which occurred in the early Universe. It introduces the mechanism that made possible, within tiny fractions of a second after the Big Bang, the generation of massive particles.
The Origin of Mass is a guided tour of cosmic evolution, from the Big Bang to the elementary particles we study in our accelerators today. The guiding principle of this book is a concept of symmetry which, in a profound and fascinating way, seems to determine the structure of the Universe.
The Origin of Mass is a guided tour of cosmic evolution, from the Big Bang to the elementary particles we study in our accelerators today. The guiding principle of this book is a concept of symmetry which, in a profound and fascinating way, seems to determine the structure of the Universe.
Reviews / Votes
Iliopoulos offers an elegant introduction to the Higgs boson and the standard model. Recommended. * M. C. Ogilvie, CHOICE * I do recommend it, especially because it fills an otherwise rather vacant niche between superficial popular-science books and more technical expositions, and is obviously written by an expert in the field. * Phillip Helbig, The Observatory *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
46 B&W and 13 colour illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 223 mm
Width: 141 mm
Thickness: 14 mm
Weight
345 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-880517-5 (9780198805175)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
09/2017
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€29.99
Available for download
E-Book
09/2017
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€29.99
Available for download
Person
John Iliopoulos is a CNRS Director of Research Emeritus at the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris, where for many years, he was the head of the Theoretical Physics Department. His research was centred around theoretical particle physics. In 1970, in collaboration with Sheldon Glashow and Luciano Maiani, he predicted the existence of the charm quark and proposed the GIM mechanism, an important step in the construction of the Standard Model. He has also contributed to the development of supersymmetry (with Bruno Zumino and Pierre Fayet). He has received many awards, such as the Ricard Prize of the French Physical Society, the Sakurai Prize of the American Physical Society, the High Energy Physics Prize of the European Physical Society and the Dirac Medal.
Content
1: Introduction
2: A Brief History of Cosmology
3: Symmetries
4: A Problem of Mass
5: Spontaneously Broken Symmetries
6: The Standard Theory
7: Epilogue
2: A Brief History of Cosmology
3: Symmetries
4: A Problem of Mass
5: Spontaneously Broken Symmetries
6: The Standard Theory
7: Epilogue