Gauge Theories in Particle Physics, 40th Anniversary Edition: A Practical Introduction, Volume 2: Non-Abelian Gauge Theories: QCD and the Electroweak - Paperback

by Ian J. R. Aitchison (Author), Anthony J. G. Hey (Author)

The fifth edition of this well-established, highly regarded two-volume set continues to provide a fundamental introduction to advanced particle physics while incorporating substantial new experimental results, especially in the areas of Higgs and top sector physics, as well as CP violation and neutrino oscillations. It offers an accessible and practical introduction to the three gauge theories comprising the Standard Model of particle physics: quantum electrodynamics (QED), quantum chromodynamics (QCD), and the Glashow-Salam-Weinberg (GSW) electroweak theory.

Volume 2 of this updated edition covers the two non-Abelian gauge theories of QCD and the GSW theory. A distinctive feature is the extended treatment of two crucial theoretical tools: spontaneous symmetry breaking and the renormalization group. The underlying physics of these is elucidated by parallel discussions of examples from condensed matter systems: superfluidity and superconductivity, and critical phenomena. This new edition includes updates to jet algorithms, lattice field theory, CP violation and the CKM matrix, and neutrino physics.

New to the fifth edition:

• Tests of the Standard Model in the Higgs and top quark sectors
• The naturalness problem and responses to it going beyond the Standard Model
• The Standard Model as an effective field theory

Each volume should serve as a valuable handbook for students and researchers in advanced particle physics looking for an accessible introduction to the Standard Model of particle physics.

Author Biography

Ian J.R. Aitchison is Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Oxford. He has previously held research positions at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Saclay, and the University of Cambridge. He was a visiting professor at the University of Rochester and the University of Washington, and a scientific associate at CERN and SLAC. Dr. Aitchison has published over 90 scientific papers mainly on hadronic physics and quantum field theory. He is the author of two books and joint editor of further two.

Anthony J.G. Hey is now Honorary Senior Data Scientist at the UK's National Laboratory at Harwell. He began his career with a doctorate in particle physics from the University of Oxford. After a career in particle physics that included a professorship at the University of Southampton and research positions at Caltech, MIT and CERN, he moved to Computer Science and founded a parallel computing research group. The group were one of the pioneers of distributed memory message-passing computers and helped establish the 'MPI' message passing standard. After leaving Southampton in 2001 he was director of the UK's 'eScience' initiative before becoming a Vice-President in Microsoft Research. He returned to the UK in 2015 as Chief Data Scientist at the U.K.'s Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. He then founded a new 'Scientific Machine Learning' group to apply AI technologies to the 'Big Scientific Data' generated by the Diamond Synchrotron, the ISIS neutron source, and the Central Laser Facility that are located on the Harwell campus. He is the author of over 100 scientific papers on physics and computing and editor of 'The Feynman Lectures on Computation'.