Modern Elementary Particle Physics 1st Edition by Gordon L. Kane (PDF)

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Revised and updated from the 1987 version. Rather than giving a historical treatment, the author explains the modern standard model and the gauge theory of the interactions of quarks and leptons via exchange of photons, W and Z bosons, and gluons.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: About the Author Gordon Kane is an internationally acclaimed particle physicist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He is a popular public lecturer and the author of The Particle Garden.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Now that the existence of Higgs particle has been confirmed by the experiments at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC), I thought that I should take another look at this topic. And where better for a relative novice to go for these insights than Gordon Kane–the guy who won a $100 bet with Stephen Hawking over whether the Higgs particle exists! This book was written to provide advanced undergraduate physics majors with an introduction to elementary particle physics–particularly within the context of the Standard Model.Kane does his best to avoid getting bogged down in the details of quantum field theory (QTF), though it is impossible to avoid QTF-related concepts altogether. For this reason, I believe that the reader who has not read a QTF textbook should read the first half of Ryder’s

⭐along with Kane. Ryder, which is one of the easiest to read and most introductory QTF textbooks, comes in particularly handy in guiding the reader through the Gauge Theories that Kane often employs.Kane also makes extensive use of the concept of Isotopic Spin–also known as Isospin. Of special importance is the role of Isospin in determining the energy or Hamiltonian corresponding to the decay or interaction of elementary particles. The reader would benefit, however, by a more detailed explanation of Isospin than that provided by this book. For a more detailed discussion of the concept of Isospin the reader should read Chapter 10 of Tomonaga’s very accessible book

⭐.Kane makes a genuine effort to blend intuitive ideas related to symmetry into his discussion of the Standard Model. Nevertheless, some of the topics explored in this book would naturally benefit from a more mathematically detailed treatment. In particular, a better understanding of the role of the Higgs particle, particularly in weak interactions, is provided by Chapter 20 of Peskin and Schroeder’s

⭐.

⭐The typesetting and diagrams are humble, but this book delivers big. It was, for me, a superb refresher on real nuts-and-bolts particle physics. The book is a little dated: some of the unknowns, like the mass of the Top quark, are now known. Despite that, the content wears well.It is absolutely essential to have a background in simple Lagrangian (& Hamiltonian) mechanics, and an advanced undergraduate intro to quantum mechanics course already well in hand. Also necessary is advanced science/engineering math, which would have come naturally in the quantum mechanics course.Kane leads the reader through the standard model with smooth explication, and presents mathematical derivation of many — perhaps all — crucial predictions of the standard model. His derivations have the merit of being in greatly simplified form, after which he states the “real” answer, which is always close. Best of all, the math had no errors that I could find. Wow.This is a great text for a first-year graduate course in particle physics, but will require occasional in-class updates by the instructor.

⭐Gordon Kane, 2017 recipient of APS J.J. Sakurai Prize For Theoretical Particle Physics: “For instrumental contributions to the theory of the properties, reactions, and signatures of the Higgs boson. “March 2017 sees the publication of an updated edition of this 1993 classic ! The 1993 classic, which I here review, is an outstanding pedagogic and introductory masterpiece. Upon re-reading the book (which I had purchased in 1996) I am even more impressed with Gordon Kane’s achievement. A solid dose of Quantum Mechanics (third year university level) will prepare one for this reading. A survey of content:(1) As is customary, begin with a survey of the ‘particle zoo’ and conclude with so-called natural units. Brief, but sweet.(2) Second chapter: Lagrangians, notation, and all that. This should be assimilated and learned with ease. There is nothing here that could, or should, be ignored. This sets the stage for the entire enterprise ! Read: “The Lagrangian defines the theory” (page 19). Recall, here, a bit of contour integration (page 28).(3) Gauge Invariance, chapter three. Short but sweet. Each problem, at the end-of-chapter, is meaningful. Reading: “…known for a long time, it was treated as a curiosity until the 1960’s…Classical Electrodynamics is seldom viewed as a gauge theory.” (page 36). Climb up the ladder of technical complexity: Non-Abelian Gauge Theory. Yang-Mills defined. Covariant derivative defined. A most useful derivation of field changes brought about through gauge transformation. Internal spaces defined. Recall matrix multiplication, handy throughout. Group theory carries one quite far (so, read appendix B).(4) Dirac and Spin. Read: “Spin…treats Fermions whose spin is parallel to their momentum differently from Fermions whose spin is anti-parallel to their momentum.” (page 55). I am unaware of a more simple exposition of this material. Read: “…this is the subtle means nature uses to violate parity invariance”and “…a mass term is equivalent to a helicity flip…” (pages 66 and 67).(5) Sixth chapter: SU(3) x SU(2) X U(1) discussed, along with discussion of leptons, quarks and gluons. Concluding the chapter is “the full Lagrangian of the fermions (equation #6.10)” and read: “All presently known experimental information on quarks and lepton interactions is consistent with the predictions from the fermion Lagrangian.”(6) Seventh chapter begin study (piece by piece) of the Lagrangian “to see the connection to experiment.” A breathtaking view ! Kane is master expositor and this chapter is tour de force ! Do not neglect problem sets ! Higgs boson, Spontaneous symmetry breaking, too: several examples presented at increasing levels of technicality. Read: “Any deviation from ‘rho=1’ would be an important sign of new physics.” (page 109).(7) Ninth chapter: learn ” how to calculate with the Standard Model…determine its predictions and relate them to experiment.” Cross sections, decay widths, lifetimes. The numerical factor of three (representing color) is our first prediction (page 126). A beautiful exposition. “For particle physics, where essentially all interactions are point-like, the simplest derivations are satisfactory.”(8) Gauge bosons, W’s and Z’s ! Then, “How would you interpret the event ? ” (problem #10.1, page 143), ever-so meaningful ! This completes the tour of the first half of the book. The second half: more details, more experiments. An interplay of theory and experiment. More quantum chromodynamics, jets, hadronization. Read: “No evidence for structure has appeared,” in answer to this question: “How well has the point-like nature of quarks, leptons and gluons been tested ? ” You will be introduced to asymptotic freedom (page 237) and the Kabayashi-Maskawa matrix (page 259) and the reasoning behind “Why the top quark must exist.”(9) Open questions and grand unification concludes the book. Here: supersymmetry and neutrino masses given succinct exposition. Vast amount of information between these covers. The book was exciting at the time I initially perused it (1996). The book remains a beautiful example of thoughtful and introductory exposition of elementary particle physics. I am compelled to purchase the latest edition (2017) !Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in elementary particle physics.

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