Deep Down Things: The Breathtaking Beauty of Particle Physics

This is a terrific overview of the arc of particle physics from "the beginning"--pretty much the 20th century. For late returnees to physics like myself, does a really nice job of helping with the mathematical aspects (especially group theory) that I "kinda" understood before; my prior understanding was at the mechanistic level and I pretty much shrugged at how the match up came about. This much improved my understanding of how the pioneers grabbed various mathematical tools to "explain" or at least make calculable the workings of quantum. Love his modesty: "your guess is as good as mine!" on various bizarre features of nature at the level of tiny. Physicists unlikely to find at all useful, but "early" students of any age likely to enjoy.

I am a mathematician. One day, I felt like to study on gauge theory. I searched the internet and I found the Wiki recommending this book. I ordered it on Amazon. I have a habit of carefully reading books from its preface. But I nearly stopped reading because as a non-native speaker, I find the book's English introduction difficult. I flipped the book and tried to read the final chapter, but that seems to be more difficult as well. But after skipping the introduction and reading chapter 2, I felt comfortable. And I found this book really helpful (although imperfect as you would agree with me below) to understand gauge theory.I've read books like Brian Green's Elegant Universe and Susskind's Theoretical Minimum: Classical Mechanics. But this book does not overlap with the two aforementioned famous books in the main points, particularly on gauge theory and gives more comprehensive information on gauge theory in detail from the scratch. In fact, in my opinion, I think, it doesn't overlap with Modern Physics in the physics department curriculum. The author starts right with modern quantum mechanics rather than with Rutherford's scattering and Bohr's atom model as many general science books do. He guides us rapidly into quantum field theory. One of the merits of this book is that after you read it, you might be able to understand, at least to your own taste, the key words in physical literature like quantum field theory, non-Abelian gauge theory, spin of a particle, isospin, quantization of fields, gauge invariant, coupling strength, the symmetry groups U(1), SU(2), SU(3), Feynman diagram, renormalization, Higgs mechanism, etc. I really appreciate the author for that. In particular, the explanation about the meaning of being invariant under symmetry and renormalization was extremely beautiful.I'd like to share these with the Amazon readers, some good and bad points and some curious points according to page orders.1. On page 28 and 29, the author figuratively explains why the overall phase is irrelevant. I think the example is confusing. "However, he cannot believe that you went to all the trouble to measure and report the phase to him (p29)" I don't understand this sentence and around it.2. Pages 74 and 75's explanation of the Feynman's interpretation of antimatter as a matter travelling backward in time was beautiful and amazing. I majored in physics in a university, but as far as I remember, I've never seen this easy and concrete explanation of Feynman's interpretation (about twenty years have passed since I learned physics. So it might be possible that I've already seen it. ^_^).3. On page 166, it reads "Mathematically, they (R(3) and SU(2)) are the same. This epiphany is almost, but not quite, correct" But this sentence is also confusing. Mathematically, they are not the same. I hope the author writes the second edition (I really hope so because if some points are improved, then this book would be a classic in this area like Brian Green's Elegant Universe) and replace the sentence with "Mathematically, they are almost the same."4. On page 181, the author teaches us that "... you can't very well ... measure its spin by watching it turn in a circle about its axis. The best you can do is ... the direction of magnetic field ... determine the projection of the particle's spin along that axis". Sentences like these were helpful to me with the understanding about what working physicists do in laboratories.5. On page 184 and 185, it says that the set of operations that change the spin-projection probabilities of a spin-1/2 particle is SU(2) since the wave function has a complex value at each point of space-time. But I don't understand this part.6. Here is I mostly want to know more clearly. On page 196 and afterwards, the author explains the representations of the Lie group R(3) and SU(2). But what exactly does he mean by the representation of a Lie group? I think if something is a representation of another thing, then the first thing has many aspects of the latter. But I don't understand how just a few finitely many points in the line and the plane can be called a representation of such big groups.7. On page 202, the author explains why particles of any given representation have almost the same mass. But it is also confusing. Why is the binding energy the sole (I mean unique) property that determines mass? How should we think about the masses of quarks themselves? In the middle of page 306, there is a similar argument. By the same reason, it is hard to understand.8. On page 283 and 284, it explains the Weinberg's model. But the symmetry group of the model is not so clear. Is it U(1) direct sum SU(2)? Or the model must satisfy U(1) and SU(2) independently? What is the number of cheating terms? 3? 4?Or do we have two equations such that one has 3 cheating terms and the other has one cheating terms? In what respect is the SU(2) model of Weinberg's different from the SU(2) that was introduced in earlier chapters?9. This time I'd like to say one of the merits of this book. On page 289, it is explained how electrons interact with each other at high energy beginning to show weak-force interaction. This seems very original to me and I didn't know such a beautiful fact. Aside this, there are many passages having this kind of merits.10. On page 304, it shows how quanta acquire their mass by Higgs mechanism. But I think this was not so satisfactory. Suppose the nature chooses the lower component of Higgs doublet as the Higgs field. According to this book, the leftover neutral component is the one that has developed the Higgs field. And it says that the leftover component can deviate the Higgs field. How does anything deviate from itself? It's difficult to understand. And after reading this book, I found that I still don't understand how matter particles acquire their mass by Higgs mechanism. The masses of matter particles are already there in the Schroedinger equation, so in my opinion, any gauge symmetry or cheating term or introducing any other field can not determine the masses.11. At the second sentence from the end of page 313, it reads "If the W- forms minimal interaction vertices solely with right-handed particles, the forward-to-backward ratio will be two to one". But why two to one? Isn't it right to say that the ratio will be one (any number) to zero because there would be no particle moving backward?As I said, if in the second edition, all the points above are reasonably established to non-physicist readers, I'll genuinely recommend this book to anyone I meet in my mathematical society.

This is _the_ book I wish I'd known about when I started out reading up on particle physicsand the Standard Model, and wanted to understand the mathematics found in actual textbooks,as opposed to popularizations that skim the surface with simple analogies but provide no depth.The problem with textbooks, of course, is that they're the other extreme: obliterating levelsof depth but very little background on the concepts used.In particular, very few books I've read cover the basic mathematical ideas used to constructthe theories, and do so in a manner that allows readers of all levels to climb aboardand/or skim based on their level of experience.This book does that, and does it well. It covers topics such as: - groups, in particular Lie groups and Lie "algebras" and what they are - symmetry (i.e. what it _really_ means in physics, not just handwaving about mirror reflections and rotations) - what U(1), SU(2), and SU(3) stand for, and how they're used - gauge theories, including non-Abelian (non-commutative) theories - Feynman diagrams and interaction vertices, and their relationship to gauge terms in the Standard Model - the approaches used to develop the pieces of the Standard Model (electromagnetic, electroweak, strong) - what hidden/broken symmetry is, and how the Higgs particle/potential fits inAll this and more, in a thorough, approachable style with useful analogies that help you latch ontothe actual math used in physics. The way everything is put together here, step by step, gives thereader a real sense of how the Standard Model, for all its flaws and dependence on constantsderived from experiment, is not merely a collection of random bits of group theory, but is actuallya delineation of All There Can Be (apart from gravity, of course, which we're still working on).About the only piece of physics terminology the book doesn't name-check is the "commutator relation"[A,B] = AB - BA, which is basically another name for the Lie "algebra" defining the non-commutativityof the generators of a Lie group, which this book _does_ describe, and very lucidly. And I onlybring it up because "the commutator" is often mentioned in advanced physics, but _never_ definedas clearly as it is here, even if only indirectly, so making this link would only add to the book'svalue to a newcomer.So, to sum up, this book is well worth reading if you're interested in having a real understandingfor the math behind the Standard Model, and particle physics in general, presented in a style thatis thorough but nevertheless approachable, regardless of your background.

Despite reading a multitude of books on the same subject, this is the first to explain how exactly we can see. Obvious, one might think. But I now know exactly how photons affect our eyes and as a result produce the required wavelengths to make out eyes see our surroundings. I can't wait to see what I'm going to discover tomorrow in this marvellous book.

The best book on the subject I have ever read. There is some mathematics, but it is introduced gently and with clarity, with some contemplation it should be fully accessible to readers with no more than a school mathematics education. The introduction and explanation of the role of groups in the model is especially good.The subject is tackled in layers, gradually increasing in richness and complexity, but without excessive/tedious repetition of previously covered material.The book was published prior to the confirmation of the Higgs, but it still covers its background and role, and it does it better than the majority of post-Higgs material that I've read.This is an author able and eager to communicate the deep down things to the rest of us.There are a couple of typos that editing should have caught, but the only real quibble I have is the kindle edition suffers from dropped symbols and truncated notes, but not enough to drop the overall rating.

This book is certainly not meant for people who do not have some background in mathematics and physics. You need to have some acquaintance with things such as imaginary numbers, quantum physics, relativity, otherwise you will have a tough time.That being said the author explains very well the most abstract concepts of elementary particles. He works gradually but persistently to that one goal: the unified theory on electric, weak and strong forces. He deliberately skips parts which are very interesting, gravitons for example, but would spoil the coherence of the matter described in this book. What he writes down feels rock solid. It makes indeed clear what a grand achievement physics has made since let's say 1870.For me it was an eye opener how deceptively simple the basics are for this theory. Of course, the mathematical exercises to get it all proven and correct are far beyond my comprehension but after reading this book the concepts are crystal clear to me. In a matter of days my understanding has grown immensely.I highly recommend this book.

This is simply a brilliant book. After years of not fully appreciating the significance of Gauge Theory I now feel , having read Schumms book that I have a coherent understanding of this arcane subject. Schumm is one of those uniquely gifted authors who have that knack of writing clearly and entertainingly about complex subjects. I wonder if he can cook?!

A very well written book which explains the topic of particle physics in a fun and everyday language without getting too technical. Highly recommended.