Modern Particle Physics

A comprehensive, up-to-date textbook integrating experimental results, including discovery of the Higgs boson, to convey the excitement of particle physics.

Mark Thomson (Author)

9781107034266, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 5 September 2013

570 pages, 147 b/w illus. 175 exercises
25.2 x 19.3 x 3 cm, 1.37 kg

'… this book has my highest recommendation. In its effective, clear and comprehensive treatment of so much detailed material, it represents a remarkable achievement on the part of its author, and is likely to become a standard work to put into the hands of new graduate students in particle physics. Their supervisors will do well to buy it too!' Peter J. Bussey, Contemporary Physics

Unique in its coverage of all aspects of modern particle physics, this textbook provides a clear connection between the theory and recent experimental results, including the discovery of the Higgs boson at CERN. It provides a comprehensive and self-contained description of the Standard Model of particle physics suitable for upper-level undergraduate students and graduate students studying experimental particle physics. Physical theory is introduced in a straightforward manner with full mathematical derivations throughout. Fully-worked examples enable students to link the mathematical theory to results from modern particle physics experiments. End-of-chapter exercises, graded by difficulty, provide students with a deeper understanding of the subject. Online resources available at www.cambridge.org/MPP feature password-protected fully-worked solutions to problems for instructors, numerical solutions and hints to the problems for students and PowerPoint slides and JPEGs of figures from the book.

1. Introduction
2. Underlying concepts
3. Decay rates and cross sections
4. The Dirac equation
5. Interaction by particle exchange
6. Electron-positron annihilation
7. Electron-proton elastic scattering
8. Deep inelastic scattering
9. Symmetries and the quark model
10. Quantum chromodynamics
11. The weak interaction
12. The weak interactions of leptons
13. Neutrinos and neutrino oscillations
14. CP violation and weak hadronic interactions
15. Electroweak unification
16. Tests of the Standard Model
17. The Higgs boson
18. The Standard Model and beyond
Appendixes
References
Further reading
Index.

Subject Areas: Physics [PH], Cosmology & the universe [PGK], Mathematics & science [P]