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.
| ISBN: | 9789400724631 |
| Publication date: | 16th November 2011 |
| Author: | Sylvie Braibant, Giorgio Giacomelli, Maurizio Spurio |
| Publisher: | Springer |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Pagination: | 498 pages |
| Series: | Undergraduate Lecture Notes in Physics |
| Genres: |
Particle and high-energy physics Atomic and molecular physics Mathematical physics Astrophysics |