From Quarks and Gluons to Quantum Gravity


Book Description

In August/September 2002, a group of 78 physicists from 50 laboratories in 17 countries met in Erice, Italy, to participate in the 40th Course of the International School of Subnuclear Physics. The purpose of the School was to focus attention on the theoretical and phenomenological developments in gauge theories, as well as in all the other sectors of subnuclear physics. Experimental highights from the most relevant sources of new data were presented and discussed, including the latest news on theoretical developments in quantizing the gravitational forces. This volume constitutes the proceedings of the School. It is dedicated to the memory of Victor Frederick Weisskopf, a founder OCo together with John Stewart Bell, Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett and Isidor Isaac Rabi OCo of the OC Ettore MajoranaOCO Centre for Scientific Culture, this School being the first of its 114 Schools now in existence. Contents: Mini-Courses on Basics: Physics of QCD Instantons (E V Shuryak); Confinement and Duality (M J Strassler); Status of Super String Theory (E Verlinde); Perturbative Quantum Gravity (G ''t Hooft); Experimental Highlights: Highlights from Gran Sasso Laboratory (A Bettini); Experimental Highlights from Super-Kamiokande (Y Totsuka); The Fermilab Experimental Physics Program (R Tschirhardt); Special Sessions for New Talents: Application of the Large- N c Limit to a Chiral Lagrangian with Resonances (O Cata); Towards the Finite Temperature Gluon Propagator in Landau Gauge YangOCoMills Theory (A Maas); Hermes Measurements of the Nucleon Spin Structure (J Wendland); and other papers. Readership: High energy, experimental and theoretical physicists."




Quarks, Gluons and Lattices


Book Description

This 1983 book, reissued as OA, introduces the lattice approach to QFT for elementary particle and solid state physicists.




From Quarks and Gluons to Quantum Gravity


Book Description

In August/September 2002, a group of 78 physicists from 50 laboratories in 17 countries met in Erice, Italy, to participate in the 40th Course of the International School of Subnuclear Physics. The purpose of the School was to focus attention on the theoretical and phenomenological developments in gauge theories, as well as in all the other sectors of subnuclear physics. Experimental highights from the most relevant sources of new data were presented and discussed, including the latest news on theoretical developments in quantizing the gravitational forces.This volume constitutes the proceedings of the School. It is dedicated to the memory of Victor Frederick Weisskopf, a founder ? together with John Stewart Bell, Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett and Isidor Isaac Rabi ? of the ?Ettore Majorana? Centre for Scientific Culture, this School being the first of its 114 Schools now in existence.




The Theory of Almost Everything


Book Description

There are two scientific theories that, taken together, explain the entire universe. The first, which describes the force of gravity, is widely known: Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. But the theory that explains everything else—the Standard Model of Elementary Particles—is virtually unknown among the general public. In The Theory of Almost Everything, Robert Oerter shows how what were once thought to be separate forces of nature were combined into a single theory by some of the most brilliant minds of the twentieth century. Rich with accessible analogies and lucid prose, The Theory of Almost Everything celebrates a heretofore unsung achievement in human knowledge—and reveals the sublime structure that underlies the world as we know it.




The Logic of Nature, Complexity and New Physics


Book Description

From August 29 to September 7, 2006, a large group of distinguished lecturers and young physicists coming from various countries around the world met in Erice, Italy, at the Ettore Majorana Foundation and Centre for Scientific Culture (EMFCSC) for the 44th course of the International School of Subnuclear Physics: OC The Logic of Nature, Complexity and New Physics: From Quark-Gluon Plasma to Superstrings, Quantum Gravity and BeyondOCO.This book is a collection of lectures given during the course, covering the most recent advances in theoretical physics and the latest results from current experimental facilities. Following one of the aims of the School, which is to encourage and promote young physicists to achieve recognition at an international level, the students who have distinguished themselves for their excellence in research have been given the opportunity to publish their presentations in this volume.




The Physics of the Quark-Gluon Plasma


Book Description

The aim of this book is to offer to the next generation of young researchers a broad and largely self-contained introduction to the physics of heavy ion collisions and the quark-gluon plasma, providing material beyond that normally found in the available textbooks. For each of the main aspects - QCD thermodynamics and global features of the QGP, collision hydrodynamics, electromagnetic probes, jet and quarkonium production, color glass condensate, and the gravity connection - the present volume provides extensive and pedagogical lectures, surveying the present status of both theory and experiment. A particular feature of this volume is that all lectures have been written with the active assistance of selected students present at the course in order to ensure the adequate level and coverage for the intended readership.




Quark-Gluon Plasma


Book Description

Quark-Gluon Plasma introduces the primordial matter, composed of two types of elementary particles, created at the time of the Big Bang. During the evolution of the universe, Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) undergoes a transition to hadronic matter governed by quantum chromodynamics, the law of strong interactions. After an introduction to gauge theories, various aspects of quantum chromodynamic phase transitions are illustrated in a self-contained manner. The cosmological approach and renormalization group are discussed, as well as the cosmological and astrophysical implications of QGP, on the basis of Einstein's equations. Recent developments towards the formation of QGP in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions are also presented in detail. This text is suitable as an introduction for graduate students, as well as providing a valuable reference for researchers already working in this and related fields. It includes eight appendices and over a hundred exercises.




An Assessment of U.S.-Based Electron-Ion Collider Science


Book Description

Understanding of protons and neutrons, or "nucleons"â€"the building blocks of atomic nucleiâ€"has advanced dramatically, both theoretically and experimentally, in the past half century. A central goal of modern nuclear physics is to understand the structure of the proton and neutron directly from the dynamics of their quarks and gluons governed by the theory of their interactions, quantum chromodynamics (QCD), and how nuclear interactions between protons and neutrons emerge from these dynamics. With deeper understanding of the quark-gluon structure of matter, scientists are poised to reach a deeper picture of these building blocks, and atomic nuclei themselves, as collective many-body systems with new emergent behavior. The development of a U.S. domestic electron-ion collider (EIC) facility has the potential to answer questions that are central to completing an understanding of atoms and integral to the agenda of nuclear physics today. This study assesses the merits and significance of the science that could be addressed by an EIC, and its importance to nuclear physics in particular and to the physical sciences in general. It evaluates the significance of the science that would be enabled by the construction of an EIC, its benefits to U.S. leadership in nuclear physics, and the benefits to other fields of science of a U.S.-based EIC.




The Particle Zoo


Book Description

What is everything really made of? If we split matter down into smaller and infinitesimally smaller pieces, where do we arrive? At the Particle Zoo - the extraordinary subatomic world of antimatter, ghostly neutrinos, strange-flavoured quarks and time-travelling electrons, gravitons and glueballs, mindboggling eleven-dimensional strings and the elusive Higgs boson itself. Be guided around this strangest of zoos by Gavin Hesketh, experimental particle physicist at humanity's greatest experiment, the Large Hadron Collider. Concisely and with a rare clarity, he demystifies how we are uncovering the inner workings of the universe and heading towards the next scientific revolution. Why are atoms so small? How did the Higgs boson save the universe? And is there a Theory of Everything? The Particle Zoo answers these and many other profound questions, and explains the big ideas of Quantum Physics, String Theory, The Big Bang and Dark Matter... and, ultimately, what we know about the true, fundamental nature of reality.




Logic Of Nature, Complexity And New Physics, The: From Quark-gluon Plasma To Superstrings, Quantum Gravity And Beyond - Proceedings Of The International School Of Subnuclear Physics


Book Description

From August 29 to September 7, 2006, a large group of distinguished lecturers and young physicists coming from various countries around the world met in Erice, Italy, at the Ettore Majorana Foundation and Centre for Scientific Culture (EMFCSC) for the 44th course of the International School of Subnuclear Physics: “The Logic of Nature, Complexity and New Physics: From Quark-Gluon Plasma to Superstrings, Quantum Gravity and Beyond”.This book is a collection of lectures given during the course, covering the most recent advances in theoretical physics and the latest results from current experimental facilities. Following one of the aims of the School, which is to encourage and promote young physicists to achieve recognition at an international level, the students who have distinguished themselves for their excellence in research have been given the opportunity to publish their presentations in this volume.