Supersymmetry and Beyond: From the Higgs Boson to the New Physics

by Gordon Kane

Overview

The epic story of the quest to uncover a fully unified theory of physics, revised to reflect the possible discovery of the Higgs Boson.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780465082971
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	05/14/2013
Edition description:	Revised Edition
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.20(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	13 - 18 Years

About the Author

Gordon Kane is an internationally acclaimed particle physicist at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He is a popular public lecturer and the author of The Particle Garden.

Table of Contents

Foreword Edward Witten xi

Preface xv

1 Toward the Big Questions 1

To understand nature we need to know particles, forces, and rules

Research in progress

Equations?

Prediction, postdiction, and testing

Where are the superpartners?

The boundaries of science have moved

2 A Little Bit About the Standard Model of Particle Physics 19

The forces: Mass, decays, quanta

The particles: Do we know the fundamental constituents?

Particles and fields

There are more particles: Antiparticles, neutrinos, more quarks and leptons, Higgs boson(s)

New ideas and remarkable predictions of the Standard Model

Experimental foundations of the Standard Model

Spin, fermions, and bosons

Beyond the Standard Model

3 Why Physics Is the Easiest Science: Effective Theories 45

Organizing effective theories by distance scales

Supersymmetry is an effective theory, too

The physics of the Planck scale

The human scale

4 Supersymmetry and Sparticles: What Supersymmetry Adds 61

Supersymmetry as a space-time symmetry: Superspace

Hidden or "broken" supersymmetry

5 Finding and Studying Supersymmetry 81

Detectors and colliders

Recognizing superpartners

Sparticles and their personalities, backgrounds, and signatures

Future colliders?

Can we do the experiments we need to do?

6 What Is the Universe Made Of? 95

What particles are there in the universe?

Is the lightest superpartner the cold dark matter of the universe?

7 Why Is Higgs Physics So Exciting and Important? 107

The Higgs field, mechanism, and boson

Not the Standard Model Higgs boson

8 M/String Theory! 117

What is M/string theory?

Hidden or broken or partial supersymmetry

The role of data

9 How Much Can We Understand? 129

Testing string theory and the final theory

Practical limits?

Anthropic questions and string theory

The cosmological constant

The role of extra dimensions

The end of science?

Appendix: Predicting the Higgs Boson Mass from Compactified M-Theory 149

Glossary 153

Some Recommended Reading 187

Index 189

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Brian Greene, professor of physics and mathematics, Columbia University, and author of The Elegant Universe
“Supersymmetry and Beyond is the fascinating account of the search for nature’s fundamental building blocks, told by a modern day pioneer. The stakes are high and the story dramatic: if experiments should establish that nature is supersymmetric, we would have finally glimpsed the quantum nature of space and time.”

David Gross, Nobel Laureate in Physics, and Frederick W. Gluck Chair, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara
“A great introduction to the frontiers of modern physics, from the discovery of the Higgs to the prospects for supersymmetry and beyond.”

Editorial Reviews

Brian Greene, professor of physics and mathematics, Columbia University, and author of The Elegant Universe
“Supersymmetry and Beyond is the fascinating account of the search for nature’s fundamental building blocks, told by a modern day pioneer. The stakes are high and the story dramatic: if experiments should establish that nature is supersymmetric, we would have finally glimpsed the quantum nature of space and time.”

David Gross, Nobel Laureate in Physics, and Frederick W. Gluck Chair, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara
“A great introduction to the frontiers of modern physics, from the discovery of the Higgs to the prospects for supersymmetry and beyond.

From the Publisher