Particles and Nuclei

This well-known introductory textbook gives a uniform presentation of nuclear and particle physics from an experimental point of view.

The new edition has been extensively revised and updated.
The first part, Analysis, is devoted to disentangling the substructure of matter. This part shows that experiments designed to uncover the substructures of nuclei and nucleons have a similar conceptual basis, and lead to the present picture of all matter being constructed from a small number of elementary building blocks and a small number of fundamental interactions.
The second part, Synthesis, shows how the elementary particles may be combined to build hadrons and nuclei. The fundamental interactions, which are responsible for the forces in all systems, become less and less evident in increasingly complex systems. Such systems are in fact dominated by many-body phenomena. A section on neutrino oscillations and one on nuclear matter at high temperatures bridge the field of "nuclear and particle physics" and "modern astrophysics and cosmology".
New developments are covered, e. g. in sections on the double beta decay including a discussion of the possibility for a neutrinoless decay and its implications for the standard model. The concise text is based on lectures held at the University of Heidelberg. It has been translated into many languages and has become a standard reference for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses and includes numerous exercises with worked answers.

• Baryon
• Beta decay
• Boson
• Gluon
• Hadron
• Hadrons
• Neutrino
• Neutrino Oscillations
• Nuclear Physics
• Nucleon
• Particle Physics
• Quark
• Strong Interaction
• Substructure of Nuclei and Nucleons
• Weak Interaction

From the reviews

"...an excellent introduction to nuclear and particle physics... A very clear presentation... I thus recommend this book as a very good phenomenological approach to the physics of particles and nuclei..."

PHYSICALIA (REVIEW OF FIRST EDITION)

"…An excellent introduction to nuclear and particle physics…A very clear presentation is given of the basic knowledge concerning the constituents of matter at the infra-atomic scale and the fundamental forces between them (except for gravitation)…Intended for undergraduate students, [Particles and Nuclei] also offers a pleasant and instructive lecture for more advanced scientists, in particular Ph.D. students." Physicalia

This introductory textbook - now in its third edition - gives a uniform presentation of nuclear and particle physics. The first part is devoted to disentangling the substructure of matter. The part shows that experiments designed to uncover the substructures of nuclei and nucleons have a similar conceptual basis, and lead to the present picture of all matter being built out of a small number of elementary building blocks and a small number of fundamental interactions. The second part shows how the elementary particles may be combined to build hadrons and nuclei. The fundamental interactions responsible for the forces in all systems become less and less evident in increasingly complex systems. In the third edition a new section on neutrino oscillations and one on nuclear matter at high temperatures bridges the fields of modern astrophysics and cosmology. This concise text is well suited for advanced and undergraduate courses.|| Some praise for the previous editions:||" . . . An excellent introduction to nuclear and particle physics . . . A very clear presentation . . . I thus recommend this book as a very good phenomenological approach to the physics of particles and nuclei . . . "|- Physicalia

• Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Heidelberg, Germany

  Bogdan Povh

• Physikalisches Institut, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany

  Klaus Rith

• SAP AG, Walldorf, Germany

  Christoph Scholz

• Universität Hamburg und Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, Hamburg, Germany

  Frank Zetsche

Policies and ethics