Particle physics

File:First Gold Beam-Beam Collision Events at RHIC at 100 100 GeV c per beam recorded by STAR.jpg

Collision of 2 beams of gold atoms recorded by RHIC

Particle physics is a branch of physics that studies the existence and interactions of particles that are the constituents of what is usually referred to as matter or radiation. In current understanding, particles are excitations of quantum fields and interact following their dynamics. Most of the interest in this area is in fundamental fields, each of which cannot be described as a bound state of other fields. The current set of fundamental fields and their dynamics are summarized in a theory called the Standard Model, therefore particle physics is largely the study of the Standard Model's particle content and its possible extensions.

Subatomic particles

The Standard Model of Physics.

Modern particle physics research is focused on subatomic particles, including atomic constituents such as electrons, protons, and neutrons (protons and neutrons are composite particles called baryons, made of quarks), produced by radioactive and scattering processes, such as photons, neutrinos, and muons, as well as a wide range of exotic particles. To be specific, the term particle is a misnomer from classical physics because the dynamics of particle physics are governed by quantum mechanics. As such, they exhibit wave-particle duality, displaying particle-like behavior under certain experimental conditions and wave-like behavior in others. In more technical terms, they are described by quantum state vectors in a Hilbert space, which is also treated in quantum field theory. Following the convention of particle physicists, elementary particles refer to objects such as electrons and photons as it is well known that these types of particles display wave-like properties as well.

All particles and their interactions observed to date can be described almost entirely by a quantum field theory called the Standard Model. The Standard Model has 17 species of elementary particles: 12 fermions or 24 if distinguishing antiparticles, 4 vector bosons (5 with antiparticles), and 1 scalar boson. These elementary particles can combine to form composite particles, accounting for the hundreds of other species of particles discovered since the 1960s. The Standard Model has been found to agree with almost all the experimental tests conducted to date. However, most particle physicists believe that it is an incomplete description of nature, and that a more fundamental theory awaits discovery (See Theory of Everything). In recent years, measurements of neutrino mass have provided the first experimental deviations from the Standard Model.

Particle physics has affected the philosophy of science greatly. Some particle physicists adhere to reductionism, a point of view that has been criticized and defended by philosophers and scientists. Other physicists may defend the philosophy of holism, which has commonly been viewed to be reductionism's opposite.

History

The idea that all matter is composed of elementary particles dates to at least the 6th century BC. The philosophical doctrine of atomism and the nature of elementary particles were studied by ancient Greek philosophers such as Leucippus, Democritus, and Epicurus; ancient Indian philosophers such as Kanada, Dignāga, and Dharmakirti; medieval scientists such as Alhazen, Avicenna, and Algazel; and early modern European physicists such as Pierre Gassendi, Robert Boyle, and Isaac Newton. The particle theory of light was also proposed by Alhazen, Avicenna, Gassendi, and Newton. These early ideas were founded in abstract, philosophical reasoning rather than experimentation and empirical observation.

In the 19th century, John Dalton, through his work on stoichiometry, concluded that each element of nature was composed of a single, unique type of particle. Dalton and his contemporaries believed these were the fundamental particles of nature and thus named them atoms, after the Greek word atomos, meaning "indivisible". However, near the end of the century, physicists discovered that atoms are not, in fact, the fundamental particles of nature, but conglomerates of even smaller particles. The early 20th-century explorations of nuclear physics and quantum physics culminated in proofs of nuclear fission in 1939 by Lise Meitner (based on experiments by Otto Hahn), and nuclear fusion by Hans Bethe in the same year. These discoveries gave rise to an active industry of generating one atom from another, even rendering possible (although not profitable) the transmutation of lead into gold (alchemy). They also led to the development of nuclear weapons. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, a bewildering variety of particles were found in scattering experiments. This was referred to as the "particle zoo". This term was deprecated after the formulation of the Standard Model during the 1970s in which the large number of particles was explained as combinations of a (relatively) small number of fundamental particles.

Standard Model

The very current state of the classification of elementary particles is the Standard Model. It describes the strong, weak, and electromagnetic fundamental interactions, using mediating gauge bosons. The species of gauge bosons are the gluons,
W⁻
,
W⁺
and
Z
bosons, and the photons. The model also contains 24 fundamental particles, (12 particles and their associated anti-particles), which are the constituents of matter . Finally, it predicts the existence of a type of boson known as the Higgs boson, which is yet to be discovered.

Experimental laboratories

In particle physics, the major international laboratories are:

• Brookhaven National Laboratory (Long Island, United States). Its main facility is the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), which collides heavy ions such as gold ions and polarized protons. It is the world's first heavy ion collider, and the world's only polarized proton collider.
• Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics (Novosibirsk, Russia). Its main projects are now the electron-positron colliders VEPP-2000, operated since 2006, and VEPP-4, started experiments in 1994. Earlier facilities include the first electron-electron beam-beam collider VEP-1, which conducted experiments from 1964 to 1968; the electron-positron colliders VEPP-2, operated from 1965 to 1974; and its successor VEPP-2M, performed experiments in 1974-2000.
• CERN, (Franco-Swiss border, near Geneva). Its main project is now the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which had its first beam circulation on 10 September 2008, and is now the world's most energetic collider of protons. It will also be the most energetic collider of heavy ions when it begins colliding lead ions in 2010. Earlier facilities include the Large Electron–Positron Collider (LEP), which was stopped in 2001 and then dismantled to give way for LHC; and the Super Proton Synchrotron, which is being reused as a pre-accelerator for LHC.
• DESY (Hamburg, Germany). Its main facility is the Hadron Elektron Ring Anlage (HERA), which collides electrons and positrons with protons.
• Fermilab, (Batavia, United States). Its main facility is the Tevatron, which collides protons and antiprotons and was the highest-energy particle collider in the world until the Large Hadron Collider surpassed it on 29 November 2009.
• KEK, (Tsukuba, Japan). It is the home of a number of experiments such as the K2K experiment, a neutrino oscillation experiment and Belle, an experiment measuring the CP violation of B mesons.

Many other particle accelerators exist.

The techniques required to do modern experimental particle physics are quite varied and complex, constituting a sub-specialty nearly completely distinct from the theoretical side of the field.

Theory

Theoretical particle physics attempts to develop the models, theoretical framework, and mathematical tools to understand current experiments and make predictions for future experiments. See also theoretical physics. There are several major interrelated efforts in theoretical particle physics today. One important branch attempts to better understand the Standard Model and its tests. By extracting the parameters of the Standard Model from experiments with less uncertainty, this work probes the limits of the Standard Model and therefore expands our understanding of nature's building blocks. These efforts are made challenging by the difficulty of calculating quantities in quantum chromodynamics. Some theorists working in this area refer to themselves as phenomenologists and may use the tools of quantum field theory and effective field theory. Others make use of lattice field theory and call themselves lattice theorists.

Another major effort is in model building where model builders develop ideas for what physics may lie beyond the Standard Model (at higher energies or smaller distances). This work is often motivated by the hierarchy problem and is constrained by existing experimental data. It may involve work on supersymmetry, alternatives to the Higgs mechanism, extra spatial dimensions (such as the Randall-Sundrum models), Preon theory, combinations of these, or other ideas.

A third major effort in theoretical particle physics is string theory. String theorists attempt to construct a unified description of quantum mechanics and general relativity by building a theory based on small strings, and branes rather than particles. If the theory is successful, it may be considered a "Theory of Everything".

There are also other areas of work in theoretical particle physics ranging from particle cosmology to loop quantum gravity.

This division of efforts in particle physics is reflected in the names of categories on the arXiv, a preprint archive [1]: hep-th (theory), hep-ph (phenomenology), hep-ex (experiments), hep-lat (lattice gauge theory).

Practical applications

As generations build upon others, potential applications increase in the use of particle physics technology. In 1930, the first hand-held cyclotron was built at Berkeley, California by Ernest O. Lawrence. More powerful accelerators were built soon after. The Berkeley cyclotron was later used to produce medical isotopes for research and treatment. The first application of this technology in the treatment of cancer was by Lawrence himself with his own mother as a patient. Medical science now uses particle beams in life saving technologies.

This technology is also used in the superconducting of wires and cables. This is used for magneticic resonance, imaging magnets and ultimately the World Wide Web. Less known uses also include behavioral study of fluids and motions.

Additional applications are found in medicine, homeland security, industry, computing, science, and workforce development illustrate a long and growing list of beneficial practical applications with contributions from particle physics.

Future

The overarching goal, which is pursued in several distinct ways, is to find and understand what physics may lie beyond the standard model. There are several powerful experimental reasons to expect new physics, including dark matter and neutrino mass. There are also theoretical hints that this new physics should be found at accessible energy scales. Furthermore, there may be unexpected and unpredicted surprises that will give us the most opportunity to learn about nature.

Much of the efforts to find this new physics are focused on new collider experiments. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) was completed in 2008 to help continue the search for the Higgs boson, supersymmetric particles, and other new physics. An intermediate goal is the construction of the International Linear Collider (ILC), which will complement the LHC by allowing more precise measurements of the properties of newly found particles. In August 2004, a decision for the technology of the ILC was taken but the site has still to be agreed upon.

In addition, there are important non-collider experiments that also attempt to find and understand physics beyond the Standard Model. One important non-collider effort is the determination of the neutrino masses, since these masses may arise from neutrinos mixing with very heavy particles. In addition, cosmological observations provide many useful constraints on the dark matter, although it may be impossible to determine the exact nature of the dark matter without the colliders. Finally, lower bounds on the very long lifetime of the proton put constraints on Grand Unified Theories at energy scales much higher than collider experiments will be able to probe any time soon.

See also

• Atomic physics
• Fundamental interaction
• High pressure physics
• Introduction to quantum mechanics
• List of accelerators in particle physics
• List of particles
• Magnetic Monopole
• Micro black hole
• Physics beyond the Standard Model
• Resonance (particle physics)
• Rochester conference
• Standard model (mathematical formulation)
• Stanford Physics Information Retrieval System
• Subatomic particle
• Timeline of particle physics
• Unparticle physics

Further reading

General readers

• Frank Close (2004) Particle Physics: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-280434-0.
• Template:Cite isbn
• Ford, Kenneth W. (2005) The Quantum World. Harvard Univ. Press.
• Oerter, Robert (2006) The Theory of Almost Everything: The Standard Model, the Unsung Triumph of Modern Physics. Plume.
• Schumm, Bruce A. (2004) Deep Down Things: The Breathtaking Beauty of Particle Physics. John Hopkins Univ. Press. ISBN 0-8018-7971-X.
• Riazuddin, PhD. "An Overview of Particle Physics and Cosmology". NCP Journal of Physics. 1 (1). Dr. Professor Riazuddin, High Energy Theory Group, and senior scientist at the National Center for Nuclear Physics: 50. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

Gentle texts

• Frank Close (2006) The New Cosmic Onion. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 1-58488-798-2.

Harder

A survey article:

• Robinson, Matthew B., Gerald Cleaver, and J. R. Dittmann (2008) "A Simple Introduction to Particle Physics" - Part 1, 135pp. and Part 2, nnnpp. Baylor University Dept. of Physics.

Texts:

• Griffiths, David J. (1987). Introduction to Elementary Particles. Wiley, John & Sons, Inc. ISBN 0-471-60386-4.
• Kane, Gordon L. (1987). Modern Elementary Particle Physics. Perseus Books. ISBN 0-201-11749-5.
• Perkins, Donald H. (1999). Introduction to High Energy Physics. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-62196-8.
• Povh, Bogdan (1995). Particles and Nuclei: An Introduction to the Physical Concepts. Springer-Verlag. ISBN 0-387-59439-6.
• Boyarkin, Oleg (2011). Advanced Particle Physics Two-Volume Set. CRC Press. ISBN 978-1-4398-0412-4.

External links

• The Particle Adventure - educational project sponsored by the Particle Data Group of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL)
• symmetry magazine
• Particle physics – it matters - the Institute of Physics
• Nobes, Matthew (2002) "Introduction to the Standard Model of Particle Physics" on Kuro5hin: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3a, Part 3b.
• CERN - European Organization for Nuclear Research
• Fermilab