A01=Timothy Paul Smith
Alpha decay
Alpha particle
Antimatter
Argon
Atomic nucleus
Atomic physics
Atomic theory
Author_Timothy Paul Smith
Baryon
Beta decay
Boson
Bottom quark
Category=PHN
Category=PHP
Category=PHQ
Cathode ray
Color charge
Cosmic ray
Current quark
DESY
Deuterium
Down quark
Electronvolt
Elementary particle
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_science
Ernest Rutherford
Excited state
Exotic matter
Fermilab
Fermion
Feynman diagram
Geiger counter
Gluon
Graviton
Helium-3
Isospin
J. J. Thomson
Lepton
Linear particle accelerator
Measurement
Meson
Muon
Neutrino
Neutron
Nuclear physics
Particle decay
Particle physics
Parton (particle physics)
Pauli exclusion principle
Photon
Physicist
Pion
Positron
Quantum mechanics
Quantum number
Quark
Quark model
Quark-gluon plasma
Relativistic quantum mechanics
Resonance
Richard Feynman
Scattering
Scintillator
Spectrometer
Strange matter
Strange quark
Strangeness
Strong interaction
Uncertainty principle
Up quark
Van der Waals force
Virtual particle
Weak interaction
Wire chamber
X-ray
Product details
- ISBN 9780691122410
- Weight: 28g
- Dimensions: 152 x 235mm
- Publication Date: 27 Mar 2005
- Publisher: Princeton University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
No one has ever seen a quark. Yet physicists seem to know quite a lot about the properties and behavior of these ubiquitous elementary particles. Here a top researcher introduces us to a fascinating but invisible realm that is part of our everyday life. Timothy Smith tells us what we know about quarks--and how we know it. Though the quarks that make science headlines are typically laboratory creations generated under extreme conditions, most quarks occur naturally. They reside in the protons and neutrons that make up almost all of the universe's known matter, from human DNA to distant nebulae, from books and tables to neutron stars. Smith explains what these quarks are, how they act, and why physicists believe in them sight unseen. How do quarks arrange themselves? What other combinations can nature make? How do quarks hold nuclei together? What else is happening in their hidden worlds? It turns out that these questions can be answered using a few simple principles, such as the old standby: opposites attract.
With these few principles, Smith shows how quarks dance around each other and explains what physicists mean when they refer to "up" and "down" quarks and talk about a quark's color, flavor, and spin. Smith also explains how we know what we know about these oddly aloof particles, which are eternally confined inside larger particles. He explains how quark experiments are mounted and how massive accelerators, targets, and detectors work together to collect the data that scientists use to infer what quarks are up to. A nonmathematical tour of the quark world, this book is written for students, educators, and all who enjoy scientific exploration--whether they seek a taste of subnuclear physics or just wonder about nature on the smallest of scales.
Timothy Paul Smith is Assistant Research Professor at Dartmouth College and was previously a Research Scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Bates Linear Accelerator Center.
