Alessandro BettiniCambridge University PressEdition: 2, 2/13/2014EAN 9781107050402, ISBN10: 1107050405Hardcover, 492 pages, 24.6 x 18.9 x 2.3 cmLanguage: EnglishThe second edition of this successful textbook is fully updated to include the discovery of the Higgs boson and other recent developments, providing undergraduate students with complete coverage of the basic elements of the standard model of particle physics for the first time. Physics is emphasised over mathematical rigour, making the material accessible to students with no previous knowledge of elementary particles. Important experiments and the theory linked to them are highlighted, helping students appreciate how key ideas were developed. The chapter on neutrino physics has been completely revised, and the final chapter summarises the limits of the standard model and introduces students to what lies beyond. Over 250 problems, including sixty that are new to this edition, encourage students to apply the theory themselves. Partial solutions to selected problems appear in the book, with full solutions and slides of all figures available at www.cambridge.org/9781107050402.Preface to the first editionPreface to the second edition1. Preliminary notions2. Nucleons, leptons and mesons3. Symmetries4. Hadrons5. Quantum electrodynamics6. Chromodynamics7. Weak interactions8. The neutral mesons oscillations and CP violation9. The standard model10. Neutrinos11. EpilogueAppendixesReferencesIndex.Review of the first edition: 'There are many gems within these pages … The author has managed to bring out the importance of experiment in the field, and to explain both the reasoning and the difficulties behind these experiments, but does not get bogged down in minutiae. We are left with an excellent introduction to the thinking behind modern quantum field theory.' Todd Huffman, University of OxfordReview of the first edition: 'He has a talent to render complicated things as simple and clear as possible … Bettini provides the reader with a deep insight of the main steps which have brought to the present formulation of the Standard Model, with its essential ingredients, its limits and open questions.' Il Nuovo SaggiatoreReview of the first edition: '… provides (postgraduate and advanced undergraduate) students with an admirably clear account of the Standard Model … The prose is consistently fluent and interesting, the author's knowledge up to date and detailed and the explanations admirably lucid.' Lewis Ryder, Contemporary PhysicsReview of the first edition: 'Bettini's expertise shines brightly throughout the text … The choice of topics and the level of detail are excellent … The book is extremely well-written, topically informative and easy to read – but best of all it is full of physics … I enjoyed Bettini's book three times – not unlike a fine wine: the first time when admiring its contents; the second when reading it; and a third time when teaching from it. Bravo Sandro!' James W. Rohlf, CERN Courier
