James D. Wells

The Standard Model of elementary particle physics was tentatively outlined in the early 1970s. The concepts of quarks, leptons, neutrinos, gauge symmetries, chiral interactions, Higgs boson, strong force, weak force, and electromagnetism were all put together to form a unifying theory of elementary particles. Furthermore, the model was developed within the context of relativistic quantum field theory, making it compatible with all of the laws of Einstein's Special Relativity. The successes of the Standard Model over the years have been tremendous and enduring, leading up to the recent discovery and continuing study of the Higgs boson. This book is a comprehensive and technical introduction to Standard Model physics. Martin and Wells provide readers who have no prior knowledge of quantum field theory or particle physics a firm foundation into the fundamentals of both. The emphasis is on obtaining practical knowledge of how to calculate cross-sections and decay rates. There is no better way to understand the necessary abstract knowledge and solidify its meaning than to learn how to apply it to the computation of observables that can be measured in a laboratory. Beginning graduate students, both experimental and theoretical, and advanced undergraduate students interested in particle physics, will find this to be an ideal one-semester textbook to begin their technical learning of elementary particle physics.

The Standard Model of elementary particle physics was tentatively outlined in the early 1970s. The concepts of quarks, leptons, neutrinos, gauge symmetries, chiral interactions, Higgs boson, strong force, weak force, and electromagnetism were all put together to form a unifying theory of elementary particles. Furthermore, the model was developed within the context of relativistic quantum field theory, making it compatible with all of the laws of Einstein's Special Relativity. The successes of the Standard Model over the years have been tremendous and enduring, leading up to the recent discovery and continuing study of the Higgs boson. This book is a comprehensive and technical introduction to Standard Model physics. Martin and Wells provide readers who have no prior knowledge of quantum field theory or particle physics a firm foundation into the fundamentals of both. The emphasis is on obtaining practical knowledge of how to calculate cross-sections and decay rates. There is no better way to understand the necessary abstract knowledge and solidify its meaning than to learn how to apply it to the computation of observables that can be measured in a laboratory. Beginning graduate students, both experimental and theoretical, and advanced undergraduate students interested in particle physics, will find this to be an ideal one-semester textbook to begin their technical learning of elementary particle physics.

The goal of this essay is to discuss the future of discovery in particle physics. Its primary motivation is the 2019 European Strategy update, which aims to determine the future experimental and theoretical priorities for particle physics. A key question is to understand what the standard theory (Standard Model) of particle physics really is, which the author argues has been a foggy notion for several decades which he clarifies. It then is to decide what motivated beyond the Standard Model theories are to be targeted by experiment. This book brightly exposes these theories, and puts current particle physics research into its historical context and points the way toward future work.

This open access book…There is significant interest in the Philosophy of Science community to understand the role that "effective theories" have in the work of forefront science. The ideas of effective theories have been implicit in science for a long time, but have only been articulated well in the last few decades. Since Wilson's renormalization group revolution in the early 1970's, the science community has come to more fully understand its power, and by the mid-1990's it had gained its apotheosis. It is still one of the most powerful concepts in science, which has direct impact in how one thinks about and formulates theories of nature. It is this power that this Brief sets out to emphasize through historical analysis and current examples.This is an open access book.