Particles and Fundamental Interactions
Particles and Fundamental Interactions

Author: Sylvie Braibant

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2011-11-16

Total Pages: 503

ISBN-13: 9400724632

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The book provides theoretical and phenomenological insights on the structure of matter, presenting concepts and features of elementary particle physics and fundamental aspects of nuclear physics. Starting with the basics (nomenclature, classification, acceleration techniques, detection of elementary particles), the properties of fundamental interactions (electromagnetic, weak and strong) are introduced with a mathematical formalism suited to undergraduate students. Some experimental results (the discovery of neutral currents and of the W± and Z0 bosons; the quark structure observed using deep inelastic scattering experiments) show the necessity of an evolution of the formalism. This motivates a more detailed description of the weak and strong interactions, of the Standard Model of the microcosm with its experimental tests, and of the Higgs mechanism. The open problems in the Standard Model of the microcosm and macrocosm are presented at the end of the book. For example, the CP violation currently measured does not explain the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the observable universe; the neutrino oscillations and the estimated amount of cosmological dark matter seem to require new physics beyond the Standard Model. A list of other introductory texts, work reviews and some specialized publications is reported in the bibliography. Translation from the Italian Language Edition "Particelle e interazioni fondamentali" by Sylvie Braibant, Giorgio Giacomelli, and Maurizio Spurio Copyright © Springer-Verlag Italia, 2009 Springer-Verlag Italia is part of Springer Science+Business Media All Rights Reserved

Colloquium on Variation and Evolution in Plants and Microorganisms--Toward a New Synthesis--50 Years After Stebbins
Colloquium on Variation and Evolution in Plants and Microorganisms--Toward a New Synthesis--50 Years After Stebbins

Author: Francisco Jos_ Ayala

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 367

ISBN-13: 0309070791

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Annotation In 1950, Stebbins (d. 2000) published Variation and Evolution in Plants, which extended the synthetic theory of evolution or "the modern synthesis" to plants. These 17 papers are drawn from a National Academy of Sciences colloquium held in January 2000 on the 50th anniversary of the publication of Stebbins' classic. Following a Stebbins appreciation talk (originally slotted for his own words), papers branch into sections on: early evolution and the origin of cells, virus and bacterial models, protoctist models (having to do with RNA editing), population variation, and trends and patterns in plant evolution. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).

A Philosophical Approach to MOND
A Philosophical Approach to MOND

Author: David Merritt

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2020-04-30

Total Pages: 285

ISBN-13: 1108665683

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Dark matter is a fundamental component of the standard cosmological model, but in spite of four decades of increasingly sensitive searches, no-one has yet detected a single dark-matter particle in the laboratory. An alternative cosmological paradigm exists: MOND (Modified Newtonian Dynamics). Observations explained in the standard model by postulating dark matter are described in MOND by proposing a modification of Newton's laws of motion. Both MOND and the standard model have had successes and failures – but only MOND has repeatedly predicted observational facts in advance of their discovery. In this volume, David Merritt outlines why such predictions are considered by many philosophers of science to be the 'gold standard' when it comes to judging a theory's validity. In a world where the standard model receives most attention, the author applies criteria from the philosophy of science to assess, in a systematic way, the viability of this alternative cosmological paradigm.