Quarks, Leptons and the Big Bang

CHOICE: Highly Recommended Quarks, Leptons and The Big Bang, Third Edition, is a clear, readable and self-contained introduction to particle physics and related areas of cosmology. It bridges the gap between non-technical popular accounts and textbooks for advanced students. The book concentrates on presenting the subject from the modern perspective of quarks, leptons and the forces between them. This book willappeal to students, teachers and general science readers interested in fundamental ideas of modern physics. This edition brings the book completely up to date by including advances in particle physics and cosmology, such as the discovery of the Higgs boson, the LIGO gravitational wave discovery and the WMAP and PLANCK results.

The Standard Model. Relativity for Particle Physics. Quantum Theory. The Leptons. Antimatter. Hadrons. Hadron Reactions. Particle Decays. The Evidence for Quarks. Experimental Techniques. Exchange Forces. The Big Bang. The Geometry of Space.Contributions to . Inflation – a Cure for All Ills. Precision Cosmology. Conclusion. Appendix 1: CERN. Appendix 2: Discovering the Higgs. Appendix 3: A Brief History of Cosmology. Appendix 4: Particle Data Tables.

Jonathan Allday has taught physics in schools for 30 years, latterly at the Royal Hospital School in the UK. After completing his Natural Sciences degree at Cambridge, he moved to Liverpool University for a PhD in particle physics, working on one of the last bubble chamber experiments at CERN. During this time, he was invited to join a group developing particle physics resources and syllabuses for examination at 16-18 level in the UK. From this work came the conviction that a book on particle physics and cosmology could be written that covered the material at a more detailed level than traditional popular accounts, yet still be accessible to those with a school-level understanding of maths and physics. Quarks, Leptons and the Big Bang was the result. Dr Allday has since gone on to write a range of other books on the Apollo missions, quantum theory and textbooks for schools. He regularly contributes articles to Physics Review magazine and spent a period as co-editor of Physics Education. He lives just outside Ipswich in the UK with his wife and three children who are much sportier than he is, and one of whom is currently studying Physics at Bristol University.