An Introduction to the Standard Model of Particle Physics

This introductory graduate textbook provides a concise yet accessible introduction to the Standard Model; reissued here as Open Access.

W. N. Cottingham (Author), D. A. Greenwood (Author)

9781009401722, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 27 July 2023

294 pages
25 x 17.5 x 2.2 cm, 0.66 kg

The second edition of this introductory graduate textbook provides a concise yet accessible introduction to the Standard Model. It has been updated to account for the successes of the theory of strong interactions and the observations on matter–antimatter asymmetry. It gives a coherent presentation of the phenomena and theory that describe neutrino mass as well as an account of progress in the theory of strong interactions. The book develops clearly the theoretical concepts from the electromagnetic and weak interactions of leptons and quarks to the strong interactions of quarks. Each chapter ends with problems, with hints to selected problems provided at the end of the book. The mathematical treatments are suitable for graduates in physics, while more sophisticated mathematical ideas are developed in the text and appendices. First published in 2007, this title has been reissued as an Open Access publication on Cambridge Core.

Preface
Notation
1. The particle physicist's view of nature
2. Lorentz transformations
3. The Lagrangian formulation of mechanics
4. Classical electromagnetism
5. The Dirac equation and the Dirac field
6. Free space solutions of the Dirac equation
7. Electrodynamics
8. Quantising fields: QED
9. The weak interaction: low energy phenomenology
10. Symmetry breaking in model theories
11. Massive gauge fields
12. The Weinberg-Salam electroweak theory for leptons
13. Experimental tests of the Weinberg-Salam theory
14. The electromagnetic and weak interactions of quarks
15. The hadronic decays of the Z and W bosons
16. The theory of strong interactions: quantum chromodynamics
17. Quantum chromodynamics: calculations
18. The Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix
19. Neutrino masses and mixing
20. Neutrino masses and mixing: experimental results
21. Majorana neutrinos
22. Anomalies
Epilogue
Appendix A. An aide-memoire on matrices
Appendix B. The groups of the Standard Model
Appendix C. Annihilation and creation operators
Appendix D. The parton model
Appendix E. Mass matrices and mixing
References
Hints to selected problems
Index.

Subject Areas: Particle & high-energy physics [PHP]