The Mystery of the Missing Antimatter

by Quinn, Helen R.; Nir, Yossi

• ISBN13: 9781400835713
• ISBN10: 1400835712
• Copyright: 2010-02-10
• Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr

Summary

In the first fractions of a second after the Big Bang lingers a question at the heart of our very existence: why does the universe contain matter but almost no antimatter? The laws of physics tell us that equal amounts of matter and antimatter were produced in the early universe--but then, something odd happened. Matter won out over antimatter; had it not, the universe today would be dark and barren. But how and when did this occur? Helen Quinn and Yossi Nir guide readers into the very heart of this mystery-and along the way offer an exhilarating grand tour of cutting-edge physics. They explain both the history of antimatter and recent advances in particle physics and cosmology. And they discuss the enormous, high-precision experiments that particle physicists are undertaking to test the laws of physics at their most fundamental levels-and how their results reveal tantalizing new possibilities for solving this puzzle at the heart of the cosmos. The Mystery of the Missing Antimatteris at once a history of ideas and an exploration of modern science and the frontiers of human knowledge. This exciting, accessible book reveals how the interplay of theory and experimentation advances our understanding and redefines the questions we ask about our universe.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. xi
Prelude: The Mystery of the Missing Antimatter	p. 1
Constant Physics in an Evolving Universe	p. 7
Universal Laws	p. 7
Hubble and the Expanding Universe	p. 8
Red-shifts: Evidence for an Expanding Universe	p. 12
Numbers Large and Small	p. 17
What Do We Mean by "Universe"?	p. 19
As the Universe Expands	p. 21
Running the Clock Forward: Radiation	p. 21
Running the Clock Forward: Dark Matter	p. 26
Running the Clock Forward: Light Nuclei	p. 29
Running the Clock Forward: Matter and Antimatter	p. 32
What Is Antimatter?	p. 36
What Is Matter?	p. 36
Dirac Introduces Antimatter	p. 42
Experiments Confirm That Antimatter Exists	p. 45
Radioactive Decays of Nuclei	p. 48
Enter Neutrinos	p. 51
Pauli: The Beta Decay Puzzle	p. 51
Fermi: The Theory of Neutrinos Develops	p. 53
Cowan and Reines: Neutrinos Detected	p. 55
Mesons	p. 57
Yukawa and the Pi-Meson	p. 57
Strange Mesons, Strange Quantum Concepts	p. 61
Through the Looking Glass	p. 63
What Physicists Mean by the Term Symmetry	p. 63
A Gedanken Experiment	p. 64
The Actual Experiment	p. 67
Through the Looking Antiglass	p. 73
Another Gedanken Experiment	p. 73
Cronin and Fitch: Matter and Antimatter Do Not Follow the Same Laws	p. 75
The Survival of Matter	p. 80
Pauli's Other Letter: Initial Conditions on the Universe	p. 80
Sakharov: The Conditions Needed to Develop an Imbalance	p. 84
Cosmology with Sakharov's Conditions Met: Baryogenesis	p. 88
Enter Quarks	p. 91
Quarks	p. 91
Why Don't We See the Quarks?	p. 96
What about Dark Matter?	p. 100
The Missing Charm, the Surprising Tau	p. 101
The Standard Model: Particles and Interactions	p. 107
Energy Rules	p. 111
Stored Energy, Forces, and Energy Conservation	p. 111
Force Fields Permeating Space	p. 114
Field Theory and the Energy Function	p. 116
Symmetry Rules	p. 121
Symmetries as Answers to the Question "Why?"	p. 121
Symmetries and Conservation Laws	p. 123
Space-Time Symmetries	p. 124
Gauge Symmetries	p. 126
Discrete Symmetries	p. 128
Baryon and Lepton Number Conservation?	p. 130
Standard Model Gauge Symmetries	p. 132
The Symmetry behind the Electromagnetic Interaction	p. 132
The Symmetry behind the Strong Interaction	p. 134
The Symmetry behind the Weak Interaction	p. 137
A Missing Piece	p. 140
The Puzzle of Particle Masses	p. 140
How Do We Describe Nothing?	p. 146
At Last, CP Violated in the Standard Model	p. 153
It Still Doesn't Work!	p. 159
Running the Clock Forward: The Standard Model	p. 159
Now What?	p. 163
Tools of the Trade	p. 168
Accelerators	p. 168
Detectors	p. 172
Data Handling and Analysis	p. 177
How Projects Develop	p. 178
Searching for Clues	p. 180
Where Are We Now?	p. 180
Testing the Standard Model in B-Meson Decays	p. 182
Oddone: How to Build B Factories?	p. 184
Running the B Factories: The First Test	p. 190
Speculations	p. 194
Why Are We Never Satisfied?	p. 194
Grand Unified Theories	p. 195
Supersymmetry	p. 201
Way beyond the Standard Model	p. 204
Neutrino Surprises	p. 206
Davis, Bahcall, Koshiba: Solar Neutrinos	p. 206
Quantum Neutrino Properties	p. 214
Following the New Clues	p. 222
Some Things We Know	p. 222
Some Things We Speculate About	p. 225
Fitting It All Together	p. 227
Finale	p. 231
Appendix: A Timeline of Particle Physics and Cosmology	p. 233
Perspective	p. 233
Relevant Nineteenth-Century Developments	p. 234
1900-1930: Development of Quantum Ideas, Beginnings of Scientific Cosmology	p. 238
1930-1950: New Particles, New Ideas	p. 245
1930-1960s: The Advent of Accelerator Experiments--The Particle Explosion; Implications of Expanding Universe Explored	p. 249
1964-1973: Formulation of the Modern View of Particles and the Universe	p. 256
Two Standard Models Emerge--Particles and Cosmology	p. 263
Index	p. 273
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