Pedestrian Approach To Particle Physics

Pedestrian Approach to Particle Physics

Particle Physics

The 1981 Cargese Summer Institute on Fundamental Interactions was organized by the Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris (M. LEVY and J-L. BASDEVANT), CERN (M. JACOB), the Universite Catholique de Louvain (D. SPEISER and J. WEYERS), and the Kotholieke Universiteit te Leuven (R. GASTMANS), which, since 1975 have joined their efforts and worked in common. It was the 24th Summer Institute held at Cargese and the 8th one organized by the two institutes of theoretical physics at Leuven and Louvain-Ia-Neuve. The 1985 school was centered around two main themes : the standard model of the fundamental interactions (and beyond) and astrophysics. The remarkable advances in the theoretical understanding and experimental confirmation of the standard model were reviewed in several lectures where the reader will find a thorough analysis of recent experiments as well as a detailed comparaison of the standard model with experiment. On a more theoretical side, supersymmetry, supergravity and strings were discussed as well. The second theme concerns astrophysics where the school was quite successful in bridging the gap between this fascinating subject and more conventional particle physics. We owe many thanks to all those who have made this Summer Institute possible ! Thanks are due to the Scientific Committee of NATO and its President and to the "Region Corse" for a generous grant. .. We wish to thank Miss M-F. HANSELER, Mrs ALRIFRAI, Mr and Mrs ARIANO, and Mr BERNIA and all others from Paris, Leuven, Louvain-la-Neuve and especially Cargese for their collaboration.

Relativistic Quantum Invariance

This book describes the invariant nature of the relativistic quantum field theories utilizing the idea of interpolating the instant form dynamics and the light-front dynamics. While the light-front dynamics (LFD) based on the light-front time was proposed by Dirac in 1949, there has not yet been a salient review on the connection between the LFD and the instant form dynamics (IFD) based on the ordinary time. By reviewing the connection between LFD and IFD using the idea of interpolating the two different forms of the relativistic dynamics, one can learn the distinguished features of each form and how one may utilize those distinguished features in solving the complicated relativistic quantum field theoretic problems more effectively. With the ongoing 12-GeV Jefferson Lab experiments, the internal structures of the nucleon and nuclei are vigorously investigated in particular using the physical observables defined in the LFD rather than in the IFD. This book offers a clear demonstration on why and how the LFD is more advantageous than the IFD for the study of hadron physics, illustrating the differences and similarities between these two distinguished forms of the dynamics. It aims at presenting the basic first-hand knowledge of the relativistic quantum field theories, describing why and how the different forms of dynamics (e.g., IFD and LFD) can emerge in them, connecting the IFD and the LFD using the idea of the interpolation, and demonstrating explicit examples of the interpolation in quantum electrodynamics and other field theories. While the level of presentation is planned mainly for the advanced undergraduate students and the beginning graduate students, the topics of the interpolation between the IFD and the LFD are innovative enough for even the experts in the field to appreciate its usefulness.