Nature's Blueprint: Supersymmetry and the Search for a Unified Theory of Matter and Force

by Dan Hooper

The first accessible book on a theory of physics that explains the relationship between the particles and forces that make up our universe.

For decades, physicists have been fascinated with the possibility that two seemingly independent aspects of our world--matter and force--may in fact be intimately connected and inseparable facets of nature. This idea, known as supersymmetry, is considered by many physicists to be one of the most beautiful and elegant theories ever conceived. According to this theory, however, there is much more to our universe than we have witnessed thus far. In particular, supersymmetry predicts that for each type of particle there must also exist others, called superpartners. To the frustration of many particle physicists, no such superpartner particles have ever been observed. As the world's most powerful particle accelerator--the Large Hadron Collider--begins operating in 2008, this may be about to change. By discovering the forms of matter predicted by supersymmetry, this incredible machine is set to transform our current understanding of the universe's laws and structure, and overturn the way that we think about matter, force, space, and time. "

Nature's Blueprint" explores the reasons why supersymmetry is so integral to how we understand our world and describes the incredible machines used in the search for it. In an engaging and accessible style, it gives readers a glimpse into the symmetries, patterns, and very structure behind the universe and its laws.

Genres: Science, Physics, Nonfiction, Quantum Mechanics

244 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2008

About the author

Daniel Wayne Hooper is an American cosmologist and particle physicist specializing in the areas of dark matter, cosmic rays, and neutrino astrophysics.

He is a Senior Scientist at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and an Associate Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Chicago.

Hooper received his PhD in physics in 2003 from the University of Wisconsin, under the supervision of Francis Halzen. He was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford between 2003 and 2005, and the David Schramm Fellow at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) from 2005 until 2007.

Reviews

[Gendou · Rating 5 out of 5]

The argument for beauty rears its ugly face in the first chapter.
Hooper admits that "beauty" is not an objective measure, but fails to clearly admit this obviates the argument for beauty of a scientific theory.
Theories aren't better because they are elegant or beautiful.
A theory is better if it can be disproved by experiment, has fewer free parameters, and has favorable economy explanation.
Arguing for Supersymmetry based on it's beauty is an excuse NOT to mention the dirty secrets it carries with it!
Namely, continued revision to survive inside ever encroaching experimental thresholds, 120 free parameters, etc.
Don't get me wrong, I like Supersymmetry, because it has some serious explanatory power.
But let's not exaggerate or be unfairly prejudice.
Hooper bashes the Standard Model, labeling it as having serious "sickness" in reference to the Hierarchy Problem.
I've never really *felt* the hierarchy problem to be a real *problem*, but I accept that it is a quirk that merit investigation.
What I'm taking issue with here is Hooper's prejudice in using a strong word like "sickness" for the Standard Model, which sits on far more sturdy ground, scientifically.
Then he gushes poetic about the "beauty" of Supersymmetry, dispute it's many ugly and downright (taken as-is) damning flaws.
This is not honest or fair.

In any case, this was a very good book with comprehensive and clear introductions to quantum field theory and gauge symmetry. Good stuff.

[Paul Cihunka · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very accessible physics book

This book does a good job of summarizing the background of supersymmetry and the key discoveries that lead to supersymmetry. Not a lot of complex math so easy to follow. The choose your own adventure ending is a nice touch.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has a lot of useful information on relativity, quantum and supersymmetry, this last being the book's main topic. It's written for the general public so wasn't lost on me and won't be on you if you walk in with some basic knowledge on these topics.

[Murray Brockman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A worthwhile history of science

It is a nasty habit of ebooks to hide the date of publication. This one was published in 2007, and data from the LHC has made it obsolete. It’s a good book, although now of mostly historical interest as the story of a good idea that nature does not apparently follow. However, the ebook publisher is cheating their purchasers by hiding the publication date.

[C. Allen Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Beauty can be a difficult thing to understand, and an even more difficult thing to define. Although we all have some idea of what it means for something to be beautiful, it is very hard to put our fingers on the appeal of a beautiful sound, image, or idea.” This is just a snippet of a long and beautiful passage that acts as a forerunner to a book written by a man whose passion for physics and love for science transcends that of most science authors.

Dan Hooper captures so beautifully not only the wonder of physics, but its incredibly rich history. Covering such scientific innovators as Heisenberg, Einstein, James Clerk Maxwell, Paul Dirac, Niels Bohr, and many more, Hooper unfolds the amazing history of quantum field theory and particle physics over the last 100+ years. A slow and grueling process all aimed at defining the built in and unseen mosaic of subatomic particles, energies and vacuums around us all of the time, whether we know about it and understand it or not.

His descriptions and analogies of how these particles work, interact with one another, makeup many other necessary particles and even make up the building blocks of every fermion piece of matter around us, is legible, articulate, and seems, at many times, to transcend a science book, and more resemble a personal autobiography.

The book mainly revolves around supersymmetry (SUSY), which is a theory of physics relating to masons and baryons (bosons) in the context of hadronic physics. In essence, supersymmetry relates to elementary particles and their superpartners which differ by one-half unit of spin. This original theory was the forerunner of our understanding of quarks, antimatter, the resolution of quantum gravity and Einstein’s special theory of relativity, as well as a possible future understanding of dark matter.

Dan Hooper provides analogies, interpretations of all kinds, diagrams, and much more to help the reader better understand these quantum particles which encompass the book, and these devices also make this book a very light read that would be very easy to pick up by anyone unfamiliar with quantum physics, physics, theoretical physics, or even basic science. I, for one, though I’ve always had a fondness for physics, have always struggled with the concept of antimatter, how it’s created, and quite frankly, where it all is, as our universe consists of mainly matter. If matter cannot exist without a partnering antimatter, then where is all of it? Why is our universe almost entirely made up of matter? Well, now I know the answer, simply because of the way this book is written.

Honestly, I would have to give this book and easy 5-stars in Nerd Factor, and because of the way it’s written, an easy 5-stars in general. While Dan Hooper is also the author of Dark Cosmos, this book makes me wish I could master warp drive, allowing me to fly at 99% the speed of light for a couple of years, and return to earth (40 actual years having passed) so that I could read future pieces by this brilliant physicist and beyond-brilliant author.

Critic’s Note: Dan Hooper is from my home state, but I assure you that this review holds no bias because of this. While he was born in Cold Spring, Minnesota, he attended college at the University of Wisconsin, which, for further note, actually brought my review down a couple of pegs.

[Rachael · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are interested in learning some basic facts about supersymmetry (for every boson there is a fermion, and vice versa), why they invented it and what explanatory power it could have, this is a decent overview. I found it particularly interesting given the LHC hasn't given any hints of SUSY at the moment, and instead of seeing it confirmed we may see the death of the idea. So what's at stake? Hooper gives fairly clear explanations and while not getting too deep does give enough information for appreciation of the ideas in question and how they are tested.

[Citra Cas]

This book is wonderful and it certainly on my (top) list. :D