Lectures On Unitary Symmetry And Elementary Particles

Unitary Symmetry and Elementary Particles

Unitary Symmetry and Elementary Particles discusses the role of symmetry in elementary particle physics. The book reviews the theory of abstract groups and group representations including Eigenstates, cosets, conjugate classes, unitary vector spaces, unitary representations, multiplets, and conservation laws. The text also explains the concept of Young Diagrams or Young Tableaux to prove the basis functions of the unitary irreducible representations of the unitary group SU(n). The book defines Lie groups, Lie algebras, and gives some examples of these groups. The basis vectors of irreducible unitary representations of Lie groups constitute a multiplet, which according to Racah (1965) and Behrends et al. (1962) can have properties of weights. The text also explains the properties of Clebsch-Gordan coefficients and the Wigner-Eckart theorem. SU(3) multiplets have members classified as hadrons (strongly interacting particles), of which one characteristic show that the mass differences of these members have some regular properties. The Gell-Mann and Ne-eman postulate also explains another characteristic peculiar to known multiplets. The book describes the quark model, as well as, the uses of the variants of the quark model. This collection is suitable for researchers and scientists in the field of applied mathematics, nuclear physics, and quantum mechanics.

Symmetries and Group Theory in Particle Physics

Symmetries, coupled with the mathematical concept of group theory, are an essential conceptual backbone in the formulation of quantum field theories capable of describing the world of elementary particles. This primer is an introduction to and survey of the underlying concepts and structures needed in order to understand and handle these powerful tools. Specifically, in Part I of the book the symmetries and related group theoretical structures of the Minkowskian space-time manifold are analyzed, while Part II examines the internal symmetries and their related unitary groups, where the interactions between fundamental particles are encoded as we know them from the present standard model of particle physics. This book, based on several courses given by the authors, addresses advanced graduate students and non-specialist researchers wishing to enter active research in the field, and having a working knowledge of classical field theory and relativistic quantum mechanics. Numerous end-of-chapter problems and their solutions will facilitate the use of this book as self-study guide or as course book for topical lectures.

Lectures on Unitary Symmetry and Elementary Particles