The Infinity Puzzle: Quantum Field Theory and the Hunt for an Orderly Universe

by Frank Close

Overview

Speculation is rife that by 2012 the elusive Higgs boson will be found at the Large Hadron Collider. If found, the Higgs boson would help explain why everything has mass. But there's more at stake — what we're really testing is our capacity to make the universe reasonable.

Our best understanding of physics is predicated on something known as quantum field theory. Unfortunately, in its raw form, it doesn't't make sense — its outputs are physically impossible infinite percentages when they should be something simpler, like the number 1. The kind of physics that the Higgs boson represents seeks to "renormalize" field theory, forcing equations to provide answers that match what we see in the real world.

The Infinity Puzzle is the story of a wild idea on the road to acceptance. Only Close can tell it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780465063826
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	06/25/2013
Edition description:	First Trade Paper Edition
Pages:	464
Sales rank:	546,897
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.30(d)
Age Range:	13 - 18 Years

About the Author

Frank Close is a professor of physics at the University of Oxford. A longtime science writer, Close is the author of many books, including The Infinity Puzzle, Neutrino, Nothing, The Void, and The Cosmic Onion. He lives in Abingdon, England.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xi

Prologue: Amsterdam, 1971 1

Part 1 Genesis

1 The Point of Infinity 17

2 Shelter Island and QED 33

3 Feynman, Schwinger,… and Tomonaga (and Dyson) 55

Intermission: 1950 65

4 Abdus Salam: A Strong Beginning 67

5 Yang, Mills,… and Shaw 77

6 The Identity of John Ward 93

7 The Marriage of Weak and Electromagnetic Forces-to 1964 107

Intermission: i960 125

8 Broken Symmetries 127

9 "The Boson That Has Been Named After Me," a.k.a. the Higgs Boson 151

Intermission: Mid-1960s 183

10 1967: From Kibble to Salam and Weinberg 185

11 "And Now I Introduce Mr. 't Hooft" 203

Intermission: Early 1970s 229

Part 2 REVELATION

12 B. J. and the Cosmic Quarks 233

13 A Comedy of Errors 257

Intermission: 1975 281

14 Heavy Light 283

15 Warmly Admired, Richly Deserved 295

16 The Big Machine 313

Intermission: End of the Twentieth Century 333

17 To Infinity and Beyond 335

Epilogue 353

Postscript 357

Glossary 359

Notes 365

Bibliography 413

Index 417

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"An engrossing history that's also accessible for a general audience." —-Publishers Weekly

Editorial Reviews

"Close chronicles the search for the elusive Higgs Boson particle (the 'God Particle').... Throughout, the author chronicles the winners and losers in the annual Nobel sweepstakes, giving them recognition for their achievements and providing a lively thread for readers."—Kirkus Reviews

"The Infinity Puzzle is eminently readable. It has no equations—only a few Feynman diagrams—and a glossary in the back so you don't get your bosons confused with your hadrons.... All of the luminaries of twentieth century particle physics are here, along with many unsung heroes whose contributions Dr. Close explains and puts into context so they can be better appreciated by a public hitherto ignorant of their work.... [T]he entire book is a very manageable introduction to quantum physics for those who are interested in, but possibly intimidated by, understanding the inner workings of the fabric of our Universe."—Ars Technica

"Building the standard model, the flagship theory of modern particle physics, was no mean task. It took decades of painstaking work to bring the forces and elementary particles that make up the universe together in a single framework (which still doesn't include gravity). Close, a theoretical physicist, chronicles this history from an insider's perspective.... the story doesn't unfold as a simple, clearly developing line of thought. Instead, the reader witnesses scientific progress in all its real-world messiness. It's a comedy of errors at times, full of dead ends, missed opportunities and ideas that lie dormant for years, unproven or unnoticed."—Science News

"In his new book, Oxford physicist Frank Close reviews decades' worth of brain-teasing theories and looks ahead to puzzles yet to be solved.... Close's tale illustrates that the course of true science doesn't always run smooth. It may well turn out that the long-sought Higgs boson is a will-o'-the-wisp, and physicists will have to go back to square one. But even that won't render The Infinity Puzzle out of date."—Alan Boyle, MSNBC.com's Cosmic Log

"As someone who can deftly explain abstruse quantum field theory to a lay reader, Frank Close is a rarity among physicists. Rarer still, he knows how to weave a compelling tale—that of the 'infinity problem,' which has bedeviled the field of quantum electrodynamics and subsequent attempts to unify the forces of nature. The result is a great scientific whodunit, replete with a large, engaging cast of characters, behind-the-scenes maneuvering, and unexpected twists and turns. Here is proof that Close belongs among the very first rank of scientist-authors. I strongly recommend The Infinity Puzzle."—Steve Nadis, coauthor of The Shape of Inner Space

"It is a pleasure to read a book on recent advances in our understanding of the structure of matter by an author who not only understands the subject but also takes care to investigate conflicting accounts of how these advances came about."—Peter Higgs, emeritus professor of physics, The University of Edinburgh

"Superb.... The Infinity Puzzle presents in light and fetching prose a (and you should pardon the pun) close-up of a wonderful set of episodes in contemporary science centered around one of the single most beautiful edifices of modern theoretical physics, quantum field theory, and leading up to the hottest example of big science to be found on the globe today."—MAA Reviews

"Mr Close, an accomplished particle physicist in his own right, enjoyed unprecedented access to all the principal players, many of whom he either knows well or, like Mr Higgs, has spoken to at length. He also appears to have left no relevant academic paper, no conference proceedings, memoir or other publicly available source unturned. This painstaking attention to historical detail yields many gems.... Mr Close's magisterial work is sure to become the definitive account of the story. It offers no unambiguous advice to the Nobel committee. But the judges would be wise to give it a thorough read anyway."—Economist

"[A] thoroughly researched and well-crafted narrative.... [Close] focuses on the triumphs and failures of the physicists behind the equations, providing a realistic view of how theoretical physics really progresses—the all-too-human endeavour fraught with personal ambitions, rivalries, alliances, errors and plain historical accident.... It's refreshing to read a popular physics book that doesn't revisit the same well-trodden ground of so many before it."—New Scientist

From the Publisher

Close (The Cosmic Onion) explains the science behind the billion international effort to discover the Higgs boson: a fundamental subatomic particle that scientists believe could account for the origins of our universe. Under the auspices of CERN in Switzerland, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was constructed to accelerate particles near to the speed of light. By creating miniature matter/anti-matter collisions in "a small region of space, what the universe as a whole was like in the first moments after the Big Bang." Close voyages through the major scientific discoveries in high energy physics that began in 1928, when Paul Dirac married quantum mechanics with Special Relativity, laying the basis for the major technical advances from which we benefit in today's digital world. Along the way we meet some major figures in the field whose breakthroughs have illuminated the deepest mysteries of physics and cosmology, resulting in an engrossing history that's also accessible for a general audience. Agency: Conville & Walsh. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

Close (Theoretical Physics; Oxford Univ./Neutrino, 2010, etc.) chronicles the search for the elusive Higgs Boson particle (the "God Particle"). The author begins with Quantum Electrodynamics, Paul Dirac's groundbreaking but flawed 1928 model that unified Special Relativity and Quantum theory, and examines how it led to a succession of important discoveries: gauge invariance, renormalization, parity violations, the existence of quarks, symmetry breaking and the existence of new weird particles such as the Higgs Boson. Experiments to verify the theories needed larger and larger accelerators, with high-energy particles colliding at speeds of 300,000 kilometers per second. A major thread of the story is the interaction between the key scientists, many of whom the author knew personally, as they vied for recognition and the final accolade of a Nobel Prize. Close explains that it is not only necessary to make a great discovery but to be the first to publish it. Waiting for confirming results before publishing may prove disastrous in the competition. Throughout, the author chronicles the winners and losers in the annual Nobel sweepstakes, giving them recognition for their achievements and providing a lively thread for readers who may be struggling to comprehend the science. The story culminates with the Large Hadron Collider, which has been fully operational since 2009 but has yet to produce results. Its effort to verify the existence of the Higgs Boson by "recreat[ing] the conditions of the early universe in the laboratory" comes with a hefty price tag. In the author's view, the 60-year effort to confront "the paradox of the Infinity Puzzle has brought us to the threshold of being able to address the question of existence itself." Close ably demonstrates the stakes in this perhaps misplaced, hubristic effort.

Kirkus Reviews