From Quarks to the Cosmos: Tools of Discovery

Abstract

It was a joy to receive a book that promised to be a pleasure, rather than a chore, to review. This book, written by two of the world's experts in particle physics and cosmology, has much in common with the best children's books that I so much regret having to grow out of: a good story, well told, illustrated in full colour on attractively laid-out pages. But this is definitely a book for the grown-ups. The authors begin with a brief summary of our current understanding of particle physics and cosmology ('inner space and outer space') and the connections between them, then devote the rest of the book to the story of how we got there, starting with Galileo and ending with a look to the future. Energy conservation, relativity (special and general) and other fundamental areas of physics all contribute to the story, and are introduced fairly early in the historical narrative. Later, there are discussions of quantum chromodynamics, parity, Higgs fields, unification, gravity waves, inflation...in fact pretty well all the `buzz-words' of present-day particle physics and cosmology. The final chapter `tools for the 1990s' brings the reader right up to date with an account of telescopes and accelerators planned or in operation as of August 1995, and in the Epilogue the authors speculate as to the future `When will we know it all? Is the end in sight?'. Like all Scientific American publications, the book is beautifully produced and is almost worth buying for the pictures alone, which are not just the same old ones that are normally recycled from book to book. The many full-colour graphics are clear and well drawn, and historical and recent photographs enhance the text (though there is somewhat of a bias towards pictures of particle accelerators in the latter - why no Hubble pictures?). The appearance and readable style are seductive, and I certainly enjoyed it - I read the first quarter on a long train journey and it passed the time very nicely. Much of the story was familiar, at least in the earlier chapters, but as one might expect from authors so heavily involved in the subject, there were new insights and anecdotal details. For example, binding energy is introduced via the hydrogen atom, illustrated by the mass difference between the atom and that of a free proton and electron - a faintly shocking reminder that the interrelationship between mass and energy is not restricted to the sub-nuclear scale. And did you know that the German physicist (and soldier) Schwarzschild `invented' black holes while dying in hospital during World War I, having just heard of Einstein's theory of general relativity? However, as an introduction for someone coming to particle physics and cosmology for the first time, this book probably covers too much ground all in one go. The reader, who is assumed in Chapter 3 to need a full-page explanation of energy conservation in terms of objects falling from towers, is expected in Chapter 4 to keep abreast of parity violation, symmetry breaking and the Higgs field. While the level of discussion is not particularly technical, it is quite a lot to get to grips with. (This problem is common to many books written for the lay-reader, where simple ideas are explained while complex ones are taken for granted.) So, who should buy this book? Anyone with an interest in particle physics and cosmology who already has some basic knowledge of the subject will enjoy it as a good read and will learn something new. In particular, I can recommend it to teachers teaching particle physics or cosmology options at A-level, and to sixth-formers who have studied these topics and are particularly interested in finding out more.