Promotional Information

Bruce Schumm's new book on elementary particle physics, Deep Down Things, is an ambitious and very successful non-mathematical description of the nature and significance of the world of elementary particles and forces. The book is for the non-mathematician, the non-scientist interested in elementary particle physics, and the young student who has not yet begun to study physics. The subjects discussed range from the wave-particle duality and basic quantum mechanical ideas, through description of the four fundamental forces, to the inner theoretical world of particle physics-symmetries and gauge theory. The book ends with an exciting discussion of what we don't know including the recently discovered mystery of neutrino oscillations. -- Martin Perl, the 1995 Nobel Laureate in Physics The Standard Model is one of the greatest intellectual achievements of the twentieth century. Everything around us is made of particles called quarks and leptons influencing one another by exchanging bosons. Readers who want more than a surface treatment of this modern paradigm of particle physics should turn to Bruce Schumm's fine book on the topic. -- Michael Riordan, author, The Hunting of the Quark

Table of Contents

Preface
1. Introduction
2. The True Movers & Shakers: The Forces of Nature
3. The Great Reawakening: The Modern Physics Revolution
4. The Marriage of Relativity & Quantum Theory: Relativistic Quantum Field Theory
5. Patterns in Nature: The Fundamental Building Blocks
6. Mathematical Patterns: Lie Groups
7. The World Within: Internal Symmetries
8. Physics by Pure Thought: Gauge Theory
9. The Current Paradigm: Hidden Symmetry, the Standard Model & the Higgs Boson
10. Into the Unknown: What Lies Ahead
Appendix: Exponential Notation
Notes
Index

About the Author

Bruce A. Schumm is a professor of physics at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

Reviews

A fascinating journey into the bizarre, subatomic world of particle physics. PhysOrg.com Quantum field theory, group theory, Lie algebras, internal symmetry spaces and gauge theory. [Schumm] does a remarkably good job of explaining all this, with a style that is mercifully plain. -- Peter de Groot New Scientist Explores the world of particle physics in terms laymen can understand. Santa Cruz Sentinel I expect that any physics undergraduate, bewildered by textbooks and lectures, would find this a delight. -- Stephen Battersby New Scientist One of several recently published books attempting to provide for interested nonphysicists a relatively nonmathematical account of what has come to be called the standard model of particle physics... Schumm's treatment is perhaps more detailed. Choice This is definitely a book for your Christmas list, and if it doesn't excite your mathematics colleagues too, they'll miss a treat. -- Rick Marshall School Science Review This book is beautifully written and is a didactic masterpiece. -- David Watts Science and Christian Belief