QUARKS AND GLUONS: A CENTURY OF PARTICLE CHARGES

by M.Y. Han

Book by Han, M. Y.

Genres: Science, Physics

158 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

Reviews

[Jose Brox · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very introductory book (simpler than Particle Physics: A Very Short Introduction) which is a bit outdated (it says neutrinos have no mass) and overenthusiastic at times, but overall motivating, well thought out and with clear explanations (I particularly enjoyed the presentation of the photon spin, which I did not found elsewhere). For a very first book in particle physics, I think you cannot find anything better than this. It incorporates two interesting appendices: one with short reviews of the most important discoveries in particle physics (some of them not included in the main text due to their complexity) and another with the complete list of Nobel Prizes awarded in physics up to 1999.

[Sagar Jethani · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful, concise, readable account of the discovery of the standard model. Han is no mere popularizer: he discovered the color property of quarks and therefore writes of their discovery with an insider's knowledge. I need to re-read the last 30 pages as it gets a bit tricky at the end when he introduces gluons and the extended properties of quarks. Highly, highly recommended.

[Kirk · Rating 3 out of 5]

A layman's description of modern physics, defined by the revolution of our understanding of matter that occurred through a slew of discoveries from 1897 to the 1990s. This book is brief (150 pages), but covers a lot including the discovery of:

- Atomic structure and subatomic components (proton, electron, neutron)
- The strong and weak nuclear forces, plus 'color' charges of quarks
- Particles that mediate forces (photons, pions, gluons)
- A host of other smaller particles (neutrinos, quarks and mesons)
...and the creation of the new fields of quantum mechanics, relativity, nuclear physics and more.

He does this while keeping the material extremely light, stating just the model and leaving out experiments and formulae. The arc of the book is chronological, showing how new discoveries throughout the 20th century continuously required redefining thinking and creating entirely new models. He mostly sticks to describing matter as it is familiar to us - protons, neutrons and electrons (and their interactions) and mostly glossing over antimatter and a slew of other nonconventional particles.

Overall it was pretty easy to follow, though the condensed format led to bouncing between entirely new concepts before you had time to fully digest the previous one. He is clear and easy to follow.

This book was published in 1999, meaning it misses out on discoveries in particle physics from the last 15 years (notably the Higgs). However, it is an excellent simple primer on matter for anyone with zero knowledge of non-classical physics.

I had the pleasure of taking a class from MY Han while he was a professor at Duke University. The class (Modern Physics) was one of my favorites, giving an overview of 20th Century discoveries in non-Newtonian physics in a simple way for non math or physics majors. Everyday was just listening to MY Han lecture and having your mind blown and requiring little work on your own part. He was also hilarious but sadly his humor is not present in this book. He was able to explain complicated concepts in a very simple way. I'm sure he never gave us the full story, but the simple story was all I was looking for. This book is much like that.

I recently decided (several years after graduating) to finally get to the optional reading for this class. This book describes the very small (the components of matter) while the other assigned reading (After The First Three Minutes) describes the very large: the creation of the universe. Both are free from math or jargon and as a pair did an excellent job explaining the 20th century physics to someone with no background in the field.

[Tsunami Noai · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read. Mostly about charges and the history of the discovery of the sub-structure of particles. While a basic overview was nice, it did not go into much detail about what the particles 'are' but rather how their charges interact (and then only so far as zero-sum rules were affected). I would have liked a more in depth look into how we come to the conclusions that the book offers. Some actual particle tracks that he alludes to would have been nice. It also became confusing when he described the strong force as being mediated by pions but then later as being mediated by gluons and the color force. A better explanation would have been nice. But overall, the book was good for beginners and was written in a down to earth way that I think even my mom might be able to read without her head exploding in a pile of goo.