A Zeptospace Odyssey: A Journey into the Physics of the LHC
Author(s): Gian Francesco Giudice (Author)
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication Date: January 25, 2010
Edition: 1st
Language: English
Print length: 284 pages
ISBN-10: 0199581916
ISBN-13: 9780199581917
Book Description
This book provides a simple and understandable guide for appreciating the discoveries that are about to take place at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, the world’s largest particle accelerator. A CERN physicist leads the lay reader into the world of particle physics, from the astonishing technological innovations that were necessary to build the LHC, through the speculative theories invented to describe the ultimate laws governing the universe. The result is an extraordinary journey inside the fabric of matter, an exciting adventure inside a strange and bewildering space, through which one can appreciate the scale of the intellectual revolution that is about to happen. Does the mysterious Higgs boson exist? Does space hide supersymmetry or extend into extra dimensions? How can colliding protons at the LHC unlock the secrets of the origin of our universe? These questions are all framed and then addressed by an expert in the field. While making no compromises in accuracy, this cutting-edge material is presented in a friendly, accessible style. The book’s aim is not just to inform, but to give the reader the physicist’s sense of awe and excitement, as we stand on the brink of a new era in understanding the world in which we all live.
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Gian Giudice has, as one would expect from such a clear and original thinker, produced a book which both challenges and excites, providing fresh insights into the domain of particles and their interactions.” –Ken Peach, John Adams Institute for Accelerator Science, University of Oxford and Royal Holloway University of London
“This fascinating book is entertaining and comprehensible, leading the reader to the world of extremes: the high technology of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN and its huge particle detectors, the quest for the Higgs particle and the mysterious Dark Matter, and the theories of superstrings and extra dimensions at the verge of human imagination.” –Thomas Lohse, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany
“Gian Giudice provides a comprehensive introduction to the LHC as only a physicist working in the field could do.” — Lisa Randall, Harvard University, author of the book
Warped Passages
“I enjoyed this book tremendously. The weaving of important information with fun facts and anecdotes was awesome.” — Savas Dimopoulos, Stanford University, Winner of the 2006 Sakurai Prize in Theoretical Physics
“Gian Giudice has given us a charming, comprehensive, and deep yet easily readable description of the history, technology, and scientific aspirations of the Large Hadron Collider, perhaps the greatest scientific experiment ever.” — Gordon Kane, University of Michigan
“This book shows that it is possible to describe to non-experts the frontiers of modern physics, in a way which is both faithful and comprehensible. I almost envy the author his right-on-the-bull’s-eye explanatory metaphors. I believe that this book will become required reading for anyone interested in the reality of our world and in scientific human endeavour.” — Riccardo Barbieri, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy
“… engaging and frequently witty, speckled with original analogies and pithy quotations from physicists and cultural figures alike… The result is an excellent introduction to the LHC.” —
Physics World
“…enjoyable reading, with the important information that it carries mixed in with many fun facts and anecdotes of all sorts. Not to mention the spot-on explanatory metaphors that are distributed profusely throughout almost every chapter… a successful effort to make clear the astonishing technological innovations involved in the LHC enterprise. This is useful reading for everybody… To whom do I recommend its reading? To everybody, experts or non-experts. I would in particular encourage young people, starting from those who are nearing the end of their high-school studies. I am sure that their efforts will be highly rewarded, not to mention the pleasure they will find. I believe, and I certainly wish, that this book will become required reading for anyone interested in scientific human endeavor, in the reality of our world.” — CERN Courier
“This book, written by one of the leaders of the field, has a number of outstanding qualities: it is brilliant, original, comprehensive, entertaining and clear. It is a must for cultivated, non specialist readers who want to get an introduction to contemporary particle physics and to the exciting programme of the Large Hadron Collider of CERN.” — Guido Altarelli, University of Rome and CERN
“Gian Giudice has drawn on his deep understanding of physics to write a wonderful book, presenting the central ideas underlying the grand intellectual adventure of particle physics in an engaging and thought-provoking way. A must read for anyone who wants to understand the big questions we face in fundamental physics, and the ways we are tackling them.” — Nima Arkani-Hamed, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton
Book Description
This book provides an everyman’s guide for understanding and following the discoveries that will soon take place at the famous Large Hadron Collider experiments at CERN.
About the Author
Dr. Gian Francesco Giudice is a theoretical particle physicist and has been a member of the Theoretical Physics Division at CERN since 1993. Born in 1961, he graduated from the University of Padua and obtained his PhD in theoretical physics from ISAS in Trieste. His career has always been closely related to collider research: before coming to CERN he worked at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, near Chicago, as well as at the University of Texas, in the group of Prof. S. Weinberg, during the construction phase of the SSC. He has contributed to our present understanding of particle physics and cosmology with more than a hundred articles published in refereed scientific journals.More information about “A Zeptospace Odyssey” can be found at cern.ch/giudice/zeptospace/zepto-eng.html