Particle Accelerators, Colliders, and the Story of High Energy Physics - by Raghavan Jayakumar (Paperback)

About the Book

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Book Synopsis

This book takes the readers through the science behind particle accelerators, colliders and detectors: the physics principles that each stage of the development of particle accelerators helped to reveal, and the particles they helped to discover. The book culminates with a description of the Large Hadron Collider, one of the world's largest and most complex machines operating in a 27-km circumference tunnel near Geneva.

The book provides the material honestly without misrepresenting the science for the sake of excitement or glossing over difficult notions. The principles behind each type of accelerator is made accessible to the undergraduate student and even to a lay reader with cartoons, illustrations and metaphors. Simultaneously, the book also caters to different levels of reader's background and provides additional materials for the more interested or diligent reader.

From the Back Cover

The Nordic mythological Cosmic Serpent, Ouroboros, is said to be coiled in the depths of the sea, surrounding the Earth with its tail in its mouth. In physics, this snake is a metaphor for the Universe, where the head, symbolizing the largest entity - the Cosmos - is one with the tail, symbolizing the smallest - the fundamental particle.

Particle accelerators, colliders and detectors are built by physicists and engineers to uncover the nature of the Universe while discovering its building blocks. "Charming the Cosmic Snake" takes the readers through the science behind these experimental machines: the physics principles that each stage of the development of particle accelerators helped to reveal, and the particles they helped to discover. The book culminates with a description of the Large Hadron Collider, one of the world's largest and most complex machines operating in a 27-km circumference tunnel near Geneva. That collider may prove or disprove many of our basic theories about the nature of matter.

The book provides the material honestly without misrepresenting the science for the sake of excitement or glossing over difficult notions. The principles behind each type of accelerator is made accessible to the undergraduate student and even to a lay reader with cartoons, illustrations and metaphors. Simultaneously, the book also caters to different levels of reader's background and provides additional materials for the more interested or diligent reader.

Review Quotes

From the reviews:

"Jayakumar, an experienced accelerator scientist, tells the story of scientists' growing understanding of high-energy particles through the lens of the accelerators and colliders built to explore the diverse phenomena of high-energy physics. ... The author writes lucidly, often revealing his passion for both the giant accelerators and the scientists' mission to explore the world at the highest energies achievable. ... Summing Up: Recommended. All general readers and undergraduate students." (J. R. Burciaga, Choice, Vol. 49 (11), July, 2012)

About the Author

Raghavan Jayakumar is an accelerator scientist who was involved in the Superconducting Supercollider project that was cancelled by the the US congress in 1993.