Introduction to High Energy Physics 4th Edition by Donald H. Perkins (PDF)

Description

This highly-regarded text provides a comprehensive introduction to modern particle physics. Extensively rewritten and updated, this 4th edition includes developments in elementary particle physics, as well as its connections with cosmology and astrophysics. As in previous editions, the balance between experiment and theory is continually emphasised. The stress is on the phenomenological approach and basic theoretical concepts rather than rigorous mathematical detail. Short descriptions are given of some of the key experiments in the field, and how they have influenced our thinking. Although most of the material is presented in the context of the Standard Model of quarks and leptons, the shortcomings of this model and new physics beyond its compass (such as supersymmetry, neutrino mass and oscillations, GUTs and superstrings) are also discussed. The text includes many problems and a detailed and annotated further reading list.

User’s Reviews

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

⭐This is a textbook which takes time to warm up to ! I ignored it for a time (preferring Griffiths). However, when looked at in a certain manner, reading the text carefully, one can appreciate what Perkins has to offer. Now, my opinion of the text has been realigned. The task is hardly an easy one for any author (that is, extracting as much high-energy physics as possible utilizing a minimum of prerequisites and almost no field theory). The text can be used to great efficacy, but one must remain diligent. Let us take a tour:(1) Of chapter one, a survey of the particle zoo. Reading: “negative energies for free particles appear to be completely meaningless.” (page 13). Also, “Klein-Gordon equation is second order in the derivatives, Schrodinger equation is first-order in time, second-order in space…” (page 17). Finally, “at least 90 % of the matter of the Universe consists of unknown particles.” (page 32). Page 33 presents ten end-of-chapter problems. If these initial problems pose an issue, one must re-read the entire chapter. Otherwise, the remainder of the text will be unassailable.(2) Particles came first, now we get fields (interactions): This second chapter is quite good. “it is the force that is the measured quantity.” (page 35). That line needs repeating time and again. You do get a first glimpse into Feynman diagrams (page 39), gauge invariance and renormalization (page 42) and the concept of ‘crossing’ in particle reactions (page 55). Dimensional analysis is utilized in every available instance to good effect.(3) First chapter was a warm-up, second chapter a bit more challenging, the third chapter is more challenging yet, but even better: invariance principles and conservation laws. We learn: “fermions and anti-fermions have opposite intrinsic parities.” (page 71). There is an excellent discussion of charge conservation: “conservation of energy implies that we cannot create or destroy charge if the potential scale is arbitrary.” (page 76). Also, “there is no evidence for a long range field coupled to local gauge symmetry of Baryon number.” (page 79). CPT introduced, then an excellent exposition of the neutron electric-dipole-moment (page 83-86). Again, excellent utilization of dimensional analysis for purposes of estimation: “first, let us try to guess the magnitude of electric-dipole-moment on dimensional grounds.”(4) Quarks enter in chapter four. Charm, gluon exchange, confinement, magnetic moments, discussed; experimental basis always emphasized. The top quark discovery (CDF detector) is described at conclusion of chapter. An exercise asks the student to “discuss the possible decay modes of the omega-minus hyperon allowed by the conservation laws, showing that weak decay is the only possibility.” (problem #2, page 139).(5) If you enjoy scattering theory, you will enjoy chapter five: lepton and quark scattering. The collisions encompass: electrons with positrons, electrons with muons, neutrinos with electrons, leptons with nucleons. Suffice it to say, an excellent chapter which emphasizes experimental results compared with theoretical predictions. Figure #5.5 shows the results for the angular distributions of the process: ‘electron plus positron’ producing two hadron jets, and, “it is indeed consistent with that expected for spin one-half quark constituents.” (page 146). Perkins does provide hints to the solution of many problems (for instance: #5.1 and 5.13, pages 168, 170, respectively).(6) QCD continued. Reading: “the angular distribution in the three-jet events also allows a determination of the gluon spin.” (page 180). Here, a first introduction to asymptotic freedom: “the transverse components of the gluon field exert a shielding effect, but the longitudinal gluons have an anti-shielding effect that dominates the situation and ‘spreads out’ the color charge, resulting in weaker coupling…” (page 185). Deep inelastic scattering and quark-gluon plasma concludes this chapter.(7) Weak Interactions, next. We begin with Fermi, then to Pauli, then to parity nonconservation. A nice discussion of the CKM Matrix, row by row, is here presented (pages 224-226). About the matrix entries, “there is at present no understanding of their origins.” Neutral Kaon system and CP violation, they are next.(8) Electroweak interactions and standard model, these are explored. Read here: “clearly, the standard model gives an excellent account of all the data…” Higgs mechanism and symmetry breaking will proceed via Lagrangian approach, merely a brief survey. (That is one minor quibble, these sections could be amplified considerably). Following which, we move beyond the standard model (supersymmetry, grand unification, proton decay,neutrino oscillations and magnetic monopoles). Chapter ten touches upon cosmological connections (dark matter, inflation).(9) Chapter eleven, experimental methods (forty pages). A fine discussion. A ten-page Glossary is adequate and useful.Answers to selected exercises, alongside bibliography, concludes the textbook (my edition: fourth, fifth printing 2006). I like this question, page one: “how pointlike is pointlike ? “(10) I confessed at the beginning that I ignored this text for too long. It is not a direct competitor with textbooks such as Griffiths or Kane. Those textbooks are slanted more heavily in a theoretical direction. Perkins is a nice ancillary text alongside Cahn and Goldhaber (Experimental Foundations of Particle Physics) or Henley and Garcia (Subatomic Physics). Perkins takes time to warm-up to, the style is physics-dense, mostly theory-qualitative. Note the frequency with which Perkins makes use of dimensional analysis. Not to everyone’s taste, yet still a worthwhile book to dip into. Recommended for continuing enrichment.

⭐This is a nice book to read. It explains particle physics intuitive way but it also keeps accuracy. I recommend first year graduate students to read this book.

⭐This book is perhaps a little too advanced for some it seems – but it’s absolutely brilliant …the man’s a bloody genius!

⭐This is not just a straightforward update of a successful book, it is a major rewrite, the most comprehensive revision so far. It covers all significant developments of the past 15 years; equally important, it has been thoroughly reorganized, such that the discussion is now firmly embedded into the classification of particles and forces of the Standard Model. A welcome addition are two new chapters which treat ‘Physics beyond the Standard Model’ and ‘Particle physics and cosmology’ in much more detail and present the relevance of particle physics in a wider scientific context.Rüdiger Voss /CERNA complete review is available in CERN Courier, June 2000

⭐As many previous reviewers have already pointed out, this book is not nearly as good an introduction to theoretical high energy physics as Griffiths’ “Introduction to Elementary Particles”. The primary reason for this is that Perkins’ book was never meant to be read as a theoretical course in the first place. This is why Griffiths introduces Feynman rules and gamma matrices near the middle of the book and uses them extensively throughout the rest; Perkins mentions them in passing in the first chapter and then completely forgets them. In Perkins you will find little rigorous math, but a lot of experimental physics. If you want to understand the theory behind T violation, use Griffiths. If you want to know how physicists measured the electric dipole momentum of the neutron ( thus putting an upper limit on the magnitude of T violation ), Perkins will explain it in detail, together with the schematics of the apparatus they used.Overall, this book does not fit its title well – it is not a good introduction to high energy physics ( unless you are so totally averse to math that you can’t manage Griffiths or Peskin/Shroeder ). However, it has its own purpose – that is, to teach experimental methods in high energy physics. It probably should be studied after Griffiths by those who are interested in experimental side of particle physics.

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