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The Big Bang, the birth of the universe, was a singular event. All of the matter of the universe was concentrated at a single point, with temperatures so high that even the familiar protons and neutrons of atoms did not yet exist, but rather were replaced by a swirling maelstrom of energy, matter and antimatter. Exotic quarks and leptons flickered briefly into existence, before merging back into the energy sea.This book explains the fascinating world of quarks and leptons and the forces that govern their behavior. Told from an experimental physicist's perspective, it forgoes mathematical complexity, using instead particularly accessible figures and apt analogies. In addition to the story of quarks and leptons, which are regarded as well-accepted fact, the author (who is a leading researcher at one of the world's highest energy particle physics laboratories) also discusses mysteries at both the experimental and theoretical frontiers, before tying it all together with the exciting field of cosmology and indeed the birth of the universe itself.The text spans the tiny world of the quark to the depths of the universe with breathtaking clarity. The casual student of science will appreciate the careful distinction between what is known (quarks, leptons and antimatter), what is suspected (Higgs bosons, neutrino oscillations and the reason why the universe has so little antimatter) and what is merely dreamed (supersymmetry, superstrings and extra dimensions). Included is an unprecedented chapter explaining the accelerators and detectors of modern particle physics experiments. The chapter discussing the hunt for the Higgs boson - currently consuming the efforts of nearly 6000 physicists - reveals drama that only big-stakes science can give. Understanding the Universe leaves the reader with a deep appreciation of the fascinating particle realm and reverence for just how much it determines the rich beauty of our universe.Since the release of the first edition, the landscape has changed. The venerable Fermilab Tevatron has ceased operations after a quarter century of extraordinary performance, to be replaced by the CERN Large Hadron Collider, an accelerator with a design energy of seven times greater than the Tevatron and a collision rate of nearly a billion collisions per second. The next few years promise to be very exciting as scientists explore this new realm. This revised edition of Understanding the Universe will leave the reader with a deep appreciation of just why physicists are so excited.

Tabla de contenidos provista por Syndetics

• Foreword(p. ix)
• Preface to Revised Edition(p. xiii)
• Preface (And so ad infinitum)(p. xv)
• Acknowledgements(p. xxv)
• 1 Early History(p. 1)
• 2 The Path to Knowledge (History of Particle Physics)(p. 22)
• 3 Quarks and Leptons(p. 107)
• 4 Forces: What Holds It All Together(p. 146)
• 5 Hunting for the Higgs(p. 207)
• 6 Accelerators and Detectors: Tools of the Trade(p. 247)
• 7 Near Term Mysteries(p. 317)
• 8 Exotic Physics (The Next Frontier)(p. 383)
• 9 Recreating the Universe 10,000,000 Times a Second(p. 444)
• 10 Epilogue: Why Do We Do It?(p. 487)
• Appendix A Greek Symbols(p. 492)
• Appendix B Scientific Jargon(p. 493)
• Appendix C Particle-Naming Rules(p. 496)
• Appendix D Essential Relativity and Quantum Mechanics(p. 501)
• Appendix E Higgs Boson Production(p. 513)
• Appendix F Neutrino Oscillations(p. 519)
• Further Reading(p. 525)
• Glossary(p. 535)
• Index(p. 557)

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Library Journal Review

Lincoln is a physicist and the collaborating author on numerous research papers at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), where he investigates high-energy particles. A veteran of many popular talks on physics, he charmingly relates the tale of humankind's almost insatiable curiosity about the ultimate nature of nature and the quest to determine the basic particles of matter. His style is engaging and obviously directed to informed lay readers, but the more scientifically minded will find it equally appealing. Still, at over 500 pages, it is not light reading. If digested with the notion that this topic is presented in a broad swath, both historically and scientifically, and not meant to be definitive, the work offers readers an appreciation of the investigative procedure, the accumulated body of research, and the people who did the investigating. Recommended for public and academic collections. Margaret F. Dominy, Drexel Univ. Lib., Philadelphia (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

Lincoln, a high energy physicist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), has an infectious love for physics. He also occasionally demonstrates a humorous writing style that successfully engages the reader. On the whole, however, his efforts to explain the basics of quantum physics to the lay reader do not succeed because the material he covers is often too complex to be presented in such a superficial manner, despite the book's 600-plus pages. Readers will be lost in a sea of subatomic particles bosons, leptons, fermions, hadrons, gluons, baryons and they'll be frustrated by the constant refrain that the material is complicated, but they can turn to the works in the bibliography for more detail. Lincoln does do a credible job of explaining some of the early history of physics, and he brings to life some of the excitement associated with multimillion-dollar physics experiments being done worldwide. He also touches on many of the unresolved mysteries of physics: why there appears to be so much more matter than antimatter, whether there are many more than three spatial dimensions and what constitutes the "missing" matter in the universe, to name just a few. By attempting to cover it all, Lincoln produces a very large but largely unsatisfying volume. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

CHOICE Review

Lincoln is a senior experimental physicist at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and one of the people responsible for detecting the top quark (one of the fundamental particles in the universe). The nominal subject of his revised work (1st ed., CH, Jul'05, 42-6550) is the modern theory of fundamental particles with an extended discussion of the predicted Higgs boson, but it also includes very readable descriptions of some related physical theories. Unfortunately, the book's publication predates, by only a few months, the announcement that CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) scientists may have detected the Higgs boson using the Large Hadron Collider. Nonetheless, this book does an exceptional job of explaining this exotic physics. Readers will gain an appreciation for the significance of the discoveries at CERN and an excellent grasp of the preceding science going all the way back to the discovery of cathode rays in the 19th century. Lincoln's writing is engaging and very lucid. Readers will find his description of the fundamental forces and the way they mediate interparticle interactions extremely accessible. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through graduate students; informed general audiences. A. Spero formerly, University of California