Higgs The Invention and Discovery of the 'God Particle'

by Baggott, Jim

• ISBN13: 9780199603497
• ISBN10: 0199603499
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2012-09-06
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

The hunt for the Higgs particle has involved the biggest, most expensive experiment ever. So what is this particle called the Higgs boson? Why does it matter so much? What does this "God particle" tells us about the Universe? And was finding it really worth all the effort? The short answer is yes, and there was much at stake: our basic model for the building blocks of the Universe, the Standard Model, would have been in tatters if there was no Higgs particle. The Higgs field had been proposed as the way in which particles gain mass - a fundamental property of matter. Little wonder the hunt and discovery have produced such intense media interest. Here, Jim Baggott explains the science behind the discovery, looking at how the concept of a Higgs field was invented, how it ispart of the Standard Model, and its implications on our understanding of all mass in the Universe.

Author Biography

Jim Baggott is a freelance science writer. He was a lecturer in chemistry at the University of Reading but left to pursue a business career, where he first worked with Shell International Petroleum Company and then as an independent business consultant and trainer. His many books include Atomic: The First War of Physics (Icon, 2009), Beyond Measure: Modern Physics, Philosophy and the Meaning of Quantum Theory (OUP, 2003), A Beginner's Guide to Reality (Penguin, 2005), and A Quantum Story: A History in 40 Moments (OUP, 2010).

Table of Contents

About the Author	p. x
Preface	p. xi
Foreword	p. xiv
Prologue: Form and Substance	p. 1
Invention
The Poetry of Logical Ideas	p. 19
In which German mathematician Emmy Noether discovers the relationship between conservation laws and the deep symmetries of nature
Not a Sufficient Excuse	p. 38
In which Chen Ning Yang and Robert Mills try to develop a quantum field theory of the strong nuclear force and annoy Wolfgang Pauli
People Will Be Very Stupid About It	p. 54
In which Murray Gell-Mann discovers strangeness and the 'Eightfold WayÆ, Sheldon Glashow applies Yang-Mills field theory to the weak nuclear force, and people are very stupid about it
Applying the Right Ideas to the Wrong Problem	p. 73
In which Murray Gell-Mann and George Zweig invent quarks and Steven Weinberg and Abdus Salam use the Higgs mechanism to give mass to the W and Z particles (finally!)
I Can Do That	p. 96
In which Gerard't Hooft proves that Yang-Mills field theories can be renormalized and Murray Gell-Mann and Harald Fritzsch develop a theory of the strong force based on quark colour
Discovery
Alternating Neutral Currents	p. 117
In which protons and neutrons are shown to have an internal structure and the predicted neutral currents of the weak nuclear force are found, and then lost, and then found again
They Must Be Ws	p. 135
In which quantum chromodynamics is formulated, the charm-quark is discovered, and the W and Z particles are found, precisely where they were predicted to be
Throw Deep	p. 154
In which Ronald Reagan throws his weight behind the Superconducting Supercollider, but when the project is cancelled by Congress six years later all that remains is a hole in Texas
A Fantastic Moment	p. 169
In which the Higgs boson is explained in terms that a British politician can understand, hints of the Higgs are found at CERN, the Large Hadron Collider is switched on, and then blows up
The Shakespeare Question	p. 191
In which the LHC performs better than anyone expected (except Lyn Evans), a year's data is gathered in a few months and the Higgs boson runs out of places to hide
Epilogue: The Construction of Mass	p. 220
Endnotes	p. 222
Glossary	p. 229
Bibliography	p. 254
Index	p. 257
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