This will be a required acquisition text for academic libraries. More than ten years after its discovery, still relatively little is known about the top quark, the heaviest known elementary particle. This extensive survey summarizes and reviews top-quark physics based on the precision measurements at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider, as well as examining in detail the sensitivity of these experiments to new physics. Finally, the author provides an overview of top quark physics at the Large Hadron Collider.
The main pacemakers of scienti?c research are curiosity, ingenuity, and a pinch of persistence. Equipped with these characteristics a young researcher will be s- cessful in pushing scienti?c discoveries. And there is still a lot to discover and to understand. In the course of understanding the origin and structure of matter it is now known that all matter is made up of six types of quarks. Each of these carry a different mass. But neither are the particular mass values understood nor is it known why elementary particles carry mass at all. One could perhaps accept some small generic mass value for every quark, but nature has decided differently. Two quarks are extremely light, three more have a somewhat typical mass value, but one quark is extremely massive. It is the top quark, the heaviest quark and even the heaviest elementary particle that we know, carrying a mass as large as the mass of three iron nuclei. Even though there exists no explanation of why different particle types carry certain masses, the internal consistency of the currently best theory—the standard model of particle physics—yields a relation between the masses of the top quark, the so-called W boson, and the yet unobserved Higgs particle. Therefore, when one assumes validity of the model, it is even possible to take precise measurements of the top quark mass to predict the mass of the Higgs (and potentially other yet unobserved) particles.
The Evidence for the Top Quark offers both a historical and philosophical perspective on an important recent discovery in particle physics: the first evidence for the elementary particle known as the top quark. Drawing on published reports, oral histories, and internal documents from the large collaboration that performed the experiment, Kent Staley explores in detail the controversies and politics that surrounded this major scientific result.At the same time the book seeks to defend an objective theory of scientific evidence based on error probabilities.
Written by authors working at the forefront of research, this accessible treatment presents the current status of the field of collider-based particle physics at the highest energies available, as well as recent results and experimental techniques. It is clearly divided into three sections; The first covers the physics -- discussing the various aspects of the Standard Model as well as its extensions, explaining important experimental results and highlighting the expectations from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The second is dedicated to the involved technologies and detector concepts, and the third covers the important - but often neglected - topics of the organisation and financing of high-energy physics research. A useful resource for students and researchers from high-energy physics.
TASI is the premier U.S. summer school in theoretical elementary particle physics. This volume is a collection of lectures given at TASI 1994. These lectures provide an overview of many basic topics in the field, as well as specific discussions of the theme of this year's course, which involved the frontiers of the present Standard Model. The volume should be extremely useful to students and young researchers as it provides pedagogical presentations of important topics.
This volume in contemporary physics records the blossoming physical activities that have occurred at the turn of the millennium, including the most up-to-date and exciting scientific and technological discoveries of recent years. The book can serve as a guide or quick reference for professionals in related fields. Contents: Plenary; Applied Physics; Astrophysics and Cosmic Physics; Atomic, Molecular, Optical Physics, and Plasma Physics; Computational and Statistical Physics; Condensed Matter Physics; Condensed Matter Physics Theory; Nuclear Physics; Particles and Fields; ACFA-LC3; Interdisciplinary Physics: Nonlinear Dynamics, Biological Physics, Quantum Electronics; Forum on Scientific Collaboration Among Asia Pacific Regions. Readership: Graduate students and researchers in high energy physics.
Literally thousands of elementary particles have been discovered over the last 50 years, their properties measured, relationships systematized, and existence and behavior explained in a myriad of cleverly constructed theories. As the field has grown so impressively, so has its jargon. Until now, scientists in other fields have had no single resource from which they can quickly reference an idea, acronym, or term and find an accessible definition and explanation. The Handbook of Particle Physics fills that void. This unique work contains, in encyclopedic form, terms of interest in particle physics, including its peculiar jargon. It covers the experimental and theoretical techniques of particle physics along with terms from the closely related fields of astrophysics and cosmology. Designed primarily for non-specialists with a basic knowledge of quantum mechanics and relativity, the entries preserve a degree of rigor by providing the relevant technical and mathematical details. Clear and engaging prose, numerous figures, and historical overviews complement the handbook's convenience both as a reference and as an invitation into the fascinating world of particle physics.
From the first attempts to split the atom to the discovery of the top quark, the 20th century has witnessed a revolution in basic physics. Probing successively smaller constituents of matter has also revealed the conditions present at the time of the Big Bang. In a series of essays by scientists who have been closely involved in this exciting research, The Particle Century describes the unprecedented advances in our understanding of the universe. The book covers major historical developments as well as current advances, including early accelerator physics, the rise of the Standard Model, new comprehension of the big bang theory, and the cutting edge of today's investigations. These essays add novel insight into the continuing efforts to unravel the deepest secrets of nature.
