Deep Down Things: The Breathtaking Beauty of Particle Physics by Bruce A. Schumm (PDF)

Description

A useful scientific theory, claimed Einstein, must be explicable to any intelligent person. In Deep Down Things, experimental particle physicist Bruce Schumm has taken this dictum to heart, providing in clear, straightforward prose an elucidation of the Standard Model of particle physics―a theory that stands as one of the crowning achievements of twentieth-century science. In this one-of-a-kind book, the work of many of the past century’s most notable physicists, including Einstein, Schrodinger, Heisenberg, Dirac, Feynman, Gell-Mann, and Weinberg, is knit together in a thorough and accessible exposition of the revolutionary notions that underlie our current view of the fundamental nature of the physical world. Schumm, who has spent much of his life emmersed in the subatomic world, goes far beyond a mere presentation of the “building blocks” of matter, bringing to life the remarkable connection between the ivory tower world of the abstract mathematician and the day-to-day, life-enabling properties of the natural world. Schumm leaves us with an insight into the profound open questions of particle physics, setting the stage for understanding the progress the field is poised to make over the next decade or two.Introducing readers to the world of particle physics, Deep Down Things opens new realms within which are many clues to unraveling the mysteries of the universe.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review A fascinating journey into the bizarre, subatomic world of particle physics.―PhysOrg.comQuantum field theory, group theory, Lie algebras, internal symmetry spaces and gauge theory. [Schumm] does a remarkably good job of explaining all this, with a style that is mercifully plain. ―Peter de Groot, New ScientistExplores the world of particle physics in terms laymen can understand. ―Santa Cruz SentinelI expect that any physics undergraduate, bewildered by textbooks and lectures, would find this a delight.―Stephen Battersby, New ScientistOne of several recently published books attempting to provide for interested nonphysicists a relatively nonmathematical account of what has come to be called the standard model of particle physics . . . Schumm’s treatment is perhaps more detailed.―ChoiceThis is definitely a book for your Christmas list, and if it doesn’t excite your mathematics colleagues too, they’ll miss a treat.―Rick Marshall, School Science ReviewThis book is beautifully written and is a didactic masterpiece.―David Watts, Science and Christian BeliefBruce Schumm’s new book on elementary particle physics, Deep Down Things, is an ambitious and very successful non-mathematical description of the nature and significance of the world of elementary particles and forces. The book is for the non-mathematician, the non-scientist interested in elementary particle physics, and the young student who has not yet begun to study physics. The subjects discussed range from the wave-particle duality and basic quantum mechanical ideas, through description of the four fundamental forces, to the inner theoretical world of particle physics―symmetries and gauge theory. The book ends with an exciting discussion of what we don’t know including the recently discovered mystery of neutrino oscillations.―Martin Perl, the 1995 Nobel Laureate in PhysicsThe Standard Model is one of the greatest intellectual achievements of the twentieth century. Everything around us is made of particles called quarks and leptons influencing one another by exchanging bosons. Readers who want more than a surface treatment of this modern paradigm of particle physics should turn to Bruce Schumm’s fine book on the topic.―Michael Riordan, author, The Hunting of the Quark Review The Standard Model is one of the greatest intellectual achievements of the twentieth century. Everything around us is made of particles called quarks and leptons influencing one another by exchanging bosons. Readers who want more than a surface treatment of this modern paradigm of particle physics should turn to Bruce Schumm’s fine book on the topic. — Michael Riordan About the Author Bruce A. Schumm is a professor of physics at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Read more

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

⭐I am a mathematician. One day, I felt like to study on gauge theory. I searched the internet and I found the Wiki recommending this book. I ordered it on Amazon. I have a habit of carefully reading books from its preface. But I nearly stopped reading because as a non-native speaker, I find the book’s English introduction difficult. I flipped the book and tried to read the final chapter, but that seems to be more difficult as well. But after skipping the introduction and reading chapter 2, I felt comfortable. And I found this book really helpful (although imperfect as you would agree with me below) to understand gauge theory.I’ve read books like Brian Green’s Elegant Universe and Susskind’s Theoretical Minimum: Classical Mechanics. But this book does not overlap with the two aforementioned famous books in the main points, particularly on gauge theory and gives more comprehensive information on gauge theory in detail from the scratch. In fact, in my opinion, I think, it doesn’t overlap with Modern Physics in the physics department curriculum. The author starts right with modern quantum mechanics rather than with Rutherford’s scattering and Bohr’s atom model as many general science books do. He guides us rapidly into quantum field theory. One of the merits of this book is that after you read it, you might be able to understand, at least to your own taste, the key words in physical literature like quantum field theory, non-Abelian gauge theory, spin of a particle, isospin, quantization of fields, gauge invariant, coupling strength, the symmetry groups U(1), SU(2), SU(3), Feynman diagram, renormalization, Higgs mechanism, etc. I really appreciate the author for that. In particular, the explanation about the meaning of being invariant under symmetry and renormalization was extremely beautiful.I’d like to share these with the Amazon readers, some good and bad points and some curious points according to page orders.1. On page 28 and 29, the author figuratively explains why the overall phase is irrelevant. I think the example is confusing. “However, he cannot believe that you went to all the trouble to measure and report the phase to him (p29)” I don’t understand this sentence and around it.2. Pages 74 and 75’s explanation of the Feynman’s interpretation of antimatter as a matter travelling backward in time was beautiful and amazing. I majored in physics in a university, but as far as I remember, I’ve never seen this easy and concrete explanation of Feynman’s interpretation (about twenty years have passed since I learned physics. So it might be possible that I’ve already seen it. ^_^).3. On page 166, it reads “Mathematically, they (R(3) and SU(2)) are the same. This epiphany is almost, but not quite, correct” But this sentence is also confusing. Mathematically, they are not the same. I hope the author writes the second edition (I really hope so because if some points are improved, then this book would be a classic in this area like Brian Green’s Elegant Universe) and replace the sentence with “Mathematically, they are almost the same.”4. On page 181, the author teaches us that “… you can’t very well … measure its spin by watching it turn in a circle about its axis. The best you can do is … the direction of magnetic field … determine the projection of the particle’s spin along that axis”. Sentences like these were helpful to me with the understanding about what working physicists do in laboratories.5. On page 184 and 185, it says that the set of operations that change the spin-projection probabilities of a spin-1/2 particle is SU(2) since the wave function has a complex value at each point of space-time. But I don’t understand this part.6. Here is I mostly want to know more clearly. On page 196 and afterwards, the author explains the representations of the Lie group R(3) and SU(2). But what exactly does he mean by the representation of a Lie group? I think if something is a representation of another thing, then the first thing has many aspects of the latter. But I don’t understand how just a few finitely many points in the line and the plane can be called a representation of such big groups.7. On page 202, the author explains why particles of any given representation have almost the same mass. But it is also confusing. Why is the binding energy the sole (I mean unique) property that determines mass? How should we think about the masses of quarks themselves? In the middle of page 306, there is a similar argument. By the same reason, it is hard to understand.8. On page 283 and 284, it explains the Weinberg’s model. But the symmetry group of the model is not so clear. Is it U(1) direct sum SU(2)? Or the model must satisfy U(1) and SU(2) independently? What is the number of cheating terms? 3? 4?Or do we have two equations such that one has 3 cheating terms and the other has one cheating terms? In what respect is the SU(2) model of Weinberg’s different from the SU(2) that was introduced in earlier chapters?9. This time I’d like to say one of the merits of this book. On page 289, it is explained how electrons interact with each other at high energy beginning to show weak-force interaction. This seems very original to me and I didn’t know such a beautiful fact. Aside this, there are many passages having this kind of merits.10. On page 304, it shows how quanta acquire their mass by Higgs mechanism. But I think this was not so satisfactory. Suppose the nature chooses the lower component of Higgs doublet as the Higgs field. According to this book, the leftover neutral component is the one that has developed the Higgs field. And it says that the leftover component can deviate the Higgs field. How does anything deviate from itself? It’s difficult to understand. And after reading this book, I found that I still don’t understand how matter particles acquire their mass by Higgs mechanism. The masses of matter particles are already there in the Schroedinger equation, so in my opinion, any gauge symmetry or cheating term or introducing any other field can not determine the masses.11. At the second sentence from the end of page 313, it reads “If the W- forms minimal interaction vertices solely with right-handed particles, the forward-to-backward ratio will be two to one”. But why two to one? Isn’t it right to say that the ratio will be one (any number) to zero because there would be no particle moving backward?As I said, if in the second edition, all the points above are reasonably established to non-physicist readers, I’ll genuinely recommend this book to anyone I meet in my mathematical society.

⭐With the large number of ‘over-the-top’ accounts of modern physics available on the bookshelves it is quite refreshing to see an author give an account of the concepts behind High Energy Physics without diverging from known facts and speculating about esoteric ideas such as parallel worlds and the like.Schumm does an outstanding job of making the complex ideas surrounding the standard model of particle physics accessible to the average lay reader. It is hard to recall another work that presented such abstract mathematical concepts as Lie Groups and Gauge Symmetry in a way that is comprehensible to a reader who possesses no prior knowledge of the subjects. The author presents the reader with just enough of the informal concepts necessary to understand how the patterns observed in nature correlate to and can be derived from the patterns observed in the mathematical structures.The first few chapters are devoted to the basic principles of modern physics that are necessary to understand the eventual framework on which the laws governing the world of elementary particles are built. Schumm presents the subjects in an informal and non-technical manner but does so in a way that hints at the underlying mathematical relationships. The author then gives an account of the complex array of objects in the ‘particle zoo’ that are known to exist directly through experiment or are theorized to exist based on inductive inference. Due to the sheer number of inhabitants of this zoo an author could quickly lose the interest of the reader with a tedious and matter-of-fact presentation of the subject. Schumm manages to remain informative while keeping the reader engaged and interested.A large portion of the book is devoted to the presentation of the underlying concepts behind groups, symmetry, and gauge theory. The author sums it all up into one cohesive package by putting all the pieces together and presents the theory known as the Standard Model of particle physics.Due to the experimental limitations inherent in this field of study scientists have had to rely more heavily on theory than they have in the past when forming a paradigm. In the absence of physical evidence it would become tempting for some to infer the nature of the reality underlying the phenomenon based solely on mathematical inferences and conjectures(String Theory). When this happens science loses it’s identity and simply becomes another branch of mathematics. Science is an empirical undertaking and theory and mathematics will always be a means to an end. In the scientific enterprise theoretical reasoning is always subservient to observation. The ultimate litmus test of any theory is always experimentation. Schumm makes this perfectly clear. There are hopes that the opening of the LHC in 2006 will provide more insights and perhaps verify the existence of the so far elusive Higgs Boson which is pivotal in the Standard Model. However, as with all other periods in this relatively young field it would be a surprise if what comes out of the LHC does not raise as many questions as it answers. Every time an advancement is made in accelerator technology something always seems to come out of the woodwork that throws everyone for a loop.The author concludes by taking note of the fact that experimental efforts to dig further down towards the Planck scale will eventually reach an insurmountable technological hurdle and will ultimately come to an end. What makes the subject so fascinating, however is the journey itself and not so much the destination. If all the questions were firmly answered it would be a rather boring undertaking and would fail to hold our attention for long. Its hard to get excited about a mystery novel when you already know ‘who done it’.If you want to read a sensationalist account about what happens when Schrodinger’s cat falls into a wormhole then this book will be a disappointment. Everyone else will most likely find this account of the Standard Model highly engrossing. A work like this was long overdue and it is comforting to know there are scientist-authors who feel they can stick to the known facts without having to appeal to tales of parallel worlds and other speculative oddities to keep the lay public interested. The facts themselves are odd enough to be entertaining.Highly recommended.

⭐Despite reading a multitude of books on the same subject, this is the first to explain how exactly we can see. Obvious, one might think. But I now know exactly how photons affect our eyes and as a result produce the required wavelengths to make out eyes see our surroundings. I can’t wait to see what I’m going to discover tomorrow in this marvellous book.

⭐The best book on the subject I have ever read. There is some mathematics, but it is introduced gently and with clarity, with some contemplation it should be fully accessible to readers with no more than a school mathematics education. The introduction and explanation of the role of groups in the model is especially good.The subject is tackled in layers, gradually increasing in richness and complexity, but without excessive/tedious repetition of previously covered material.The book was published prior to the confirmation of the Higgs, but it still covers its background and role, and it does it better than the majority of post-Higgs material that I’ve read.This is an author able and eager to communicate the deep down things to the rest of us.There are a couple of typos that editing should have caught, but the only real quibble I have is the kindle edition suffers from dropped symbols and truncated notes, but not enough to drop the overall rating.

⭐This book is certainly not meant for people who do not have some background in mathematics and physics. You need to have some acquaintance with things such as imaginary numbers, quantum physics, relativity, otherwise you will have a tough time.That being said the author explains very well the most abstract concepts of elementary particles. He works gradually but persistently to that one goal: the unified theory on electric, weak and strong forces. He deliberately skips parts which are very interesting, gravitons for example, but would spoil the coherence of the matter described in this book. What he writes down feels rock solid. It makes indeed clear what a grand achievement physics has made since let’s say 1870.For me it was an eye opener how deceptively simple the basics are for this theory. Of course, the mathematical exercises to get it all proven and correct are far beyond my comprehension but after reading this book the concepts are crystal clear to me. In a matter of days my understanding has grown immensely.I highly recommend this book.

⭐This is simply a brilliant book. After years of not fully appreciating the significance of Gauge Theory I now feel , having read Schumms book that I have a coherent understanding of this arcane subject. Schumm is one of those uniquely gifted authors who have that knack of writing clearly and entertainingly about complex subjects. I wonder if he can cook?!

⭐A very well written book which explains the topic of particle physics in a fun and everyday language without getting too technical. Highly recommended.

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