From Current Algebra to Quantum Chromodynamics: A Case for Structural Realism

by Tian Yu Cao

• ISBN13: 9780521889339
• ISBN10: 0521889332
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-11-22
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The advent of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) in the early 1970s was one of the most important events in twentieth-century science. This 2010 book examines the conceptual steps that were crucial to the rise of QCD, placing them in historical context against the background of debates that were ongoing between the bootstrap approach and composite modeling, and between mathematical and realistic conceptions of quarks. It explains the origins of QCD in current algebra and its development through high-energy experiments, model-building, mathematical analysis and conceptual synthesis. Addressing a range of complex physical, philosophical and historiographical issues in detail, this book will interest graduate students and researchers in physics and in the history and philosophy of science.

Author Biography

Tian Yu Cao is the author of Conceptual Developments of 20th Century Field Theories (1997) and the editor of Conceptual Foundations of Quantum Field Theory (1999), also published by Cambridge University Press.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
The rise of current algebra	p. 14
Context	p. 14
Gell-Mann's proposal of current algebra	p. 33
Current algebra and quark model	p. 38
Remarks	p. 41
Sum rules	p. 49
The Fubini-Furlan method and the Adler-Weisberger sum rule	p. 49
Adler's local current algebra sum rules	p. 53
Bjorken's inequality for electroproduction	p. 58
Remarks	p. 60
Saturation and closure	p. 64
Saturation: Adler's empirical analysis	p. 65
Saturation: Bjorken's constructive approach	p. 66
Closure: Chew's questioning	p. 77
Remarks	p. 84
Scaling	p. 88
Hypothesis	p. 89
Experiment	p. 91
Interpretation	p. 98
Remarks	p. 102
Theorizations of scaling	p. 106
The parton model	p. 107
Broken scale invariance	p. 112
Light-cone current algebra	p. 123
Remarks	p. 131
The advent of QCD	p. 133
Color	p. 134
The rise of non-abelian gauge theory	p. 142
The first articulation of QCD	p. 147
Remarks	p. 153
Early justifications and explorations	p. 160
Asymptotic freedom	p. 161
"Advantages of the color octet gluon picture"	p. 170
Early signs of confinement	p. 175
Early successes in phenomenology	p. 183
Theoretical probing into deep structures	p. 191
Remarks	p. 196
Structural realism and the construction of QCD	p. 202
Fundamental entities in theoretical sciences	p. 203
Structural approach to fundamental entities	p. 216
The construction of QCD	p. 232
Remarks	p. 237
Structural realism and the construction of the CA-QCD narrative	p. 242
Objectivity and progress in science	p. 244
Historical enquiries of science	p. 250
Major concerns in the CA-QCD narrative	p. 261
In defense of conceptual history of science	p. 268
References	p. 275
Author index	p. 296
Subject index	p. 300
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