Elementary Particle Physics

The last few years have seen particular excitement in particle physics, culminating in the experimental confirmation of the W and Z particles. Ian Kenyon, who was involved in the UA1 experiment at CERN that searched for the particles, provides an introduction to particle physics and takes a refreshingly non-historical approach. The aim of the book has been to concentrate on the 'standard model' and the gauge symmetries because these form the core of the subject. Leptons, quarks and forces are introduced at the beginning. After this introduction the gauge theories are dealt with in order of increasing complexity. Attention is then focussed on the hadrons - deep inelastic scattering of hadrons, then hadron spectroscopy and finally hadron interactions. Current developments beyond the standard model appear in the last chapter. This book should be of interest to third year undergraduate students; postgraduates in particle physics, nuclear physics; researchers in nuclear physics.