The theory of almost everything - The Standard Model

311 Pages·2006·2.59 MB·English

by  Oerter

Table of Contents
A PLUME BOOK
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Introduction
Chapter 1 - The First Unifications
Chapter 2 - Einstein’s Relativity and Noether’s Theorem
Chapter 3 - The End of the World As We Know It
Chapter 4 - (Im)probabilities
Chapter 5 - The Bizarre Reality of QED
Chapter 6 - Feynman’s Particles, Schwinger’s Fields
Chapter 7 - Welcome to the Subatomic Zoo
Chapter 8 - The Color of Quarks
Chapter 9 - The Weakest link
Chapter 10 - The Standard Model, At Last
Chapter 11 - The Edge of Physics
Chapter 12 - New Dimensions
Appendix A - Quarks and the Eightfold Way
Appendix B - Asymptotic Freedom
Appendix C - Interactions of the Standard Model
Glossary
References
Further Reading
Acknowledgements
Index
A PLUME BOOK
THE THEORY OF ALMOST EVERYTHING
ROBERT OERTER teaches physics at George Mason
University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of
Maryland. He has done research in the area of
supergravity, especially as applied to superstring theories,
and in the quantum mechanics of chaotic systems. He lives
in Maryland.
“In an era when enormous attention is being paid to the promising
but highly speculative superstring/M-theory, a great triumph of science
has gone nearly unnoticed, except by physicists. Robert Oerter
provides here an accessible introduction to the Standard Model—a
towering example of human creativity. He outlines how the Standard
Model can serve as the launching pad for humanity to—paraphrasing
Einstein—see better the secrets of ‘the Ancient One.’ ”
—S. J. Gates Jr., John S. Toll Professor of Physics and
director of the Center for String and Particle Theory,
University of Maryland
“We always hear about black holes, the big bang, and the search for
life in the universe. But rare is the book that celebrates the Standard
Model of Elementary Particles—a triumph of twentieth-century science
that underpins nearly all we know about physical reality.
Oerter’s The Theory of Almost Everything belongs on anyone’s shelf
who cares about how the universe really works.”
—Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist and author of
Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution
“The tried and true Standard Model of particle physics isn’t getting the respect it
deserves. Physicist Robert Oerter is out to set the record straight, and in this book
he reveals the Standard Model in all its glory.”
—New Scientist
“Accessible and engaging ... This book is for anyone interested in modern
physics and ultimate answers about the universe.”
—Science News
“The material is deep and rich. The exposition is very clear ... interested
laypersons will find this book rewarding reading.”
—Choice
“This highly accessible volume explains the Standard Model to the everyman,
using literary references and easy-to-follow analogies to make clear mind-
bending physics principles.”
—Publishers Weekly

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Published by Plume, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Previously published
in a Pi Press edition.
First Plume Printing, October 2006
Copyright © Robert Oerter, 2006
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In Memory of George William Oerter
Introduction
People are always asking for the latest developments in the unification of this
theory with that theory, and they don’t give us a chance to tell them anything
about one of the theories that we know pretty well... What I’d like to talk about is
a part of physics that is known, rather than a part that is unknown.
—Richard Feynman, QED: The Strange Theory of
Light and Matter
There is a theory in physics that explains, at the deepest
level, nearly all of the phenomena that rule our daily lives. It
summarizes everything we know about the fundamental
structure of matter and energy. It provides a detailed picture
of the basic building blocks from which everything is made.
It describes the reactions that power the sun and the
interactions that cause fluorescent lights to glow. It explains
the behavior of light, radio waves, and X rays. It has
implications for our understanding of the very first moments
of the universe’s existence, and for how matter itself came
into being. It surpasses in precision, in universality, in its
range of applicability from the very small to the
astronomically large, every scientific theory that has ever
existed. This theory bears the unassuming name “The
Standard Model of Elementary Particles,” or the “Standard
Model,” for short. It deserves to be better known, and it
deserves a better name. I call it “The Theory of Almost
Everything.”
The Standard Model has a surprisingly low profile for
such a fundamental and successful theory. It has deeper
implications for the nature of the universe than chaos
theory, and unlike string theory, which is purely speculative
in nature, it has a strong experimental basis—but it is not
as widely known as either. In physics news items, the
Standard Model usually plays the whipping boy. Reports of
successful experimental tests of the theory have an air of
disappointment, and every hint of the theory’s inadequacy
is greeted with glee. It is the Rodney Dangerfield of
physical theories, it “don’t get no respect.” But it is,
perhaps, the pinnacle of human intellectual achievement to
date.
Some of the Standard Model’s architects are perhaps