1 Quarks and leptons and their interactions .................. 1
1.1 Preamble ................................................... 1
1.2 Quarks and leptons ......................................... 2
1.3 Fermions and bosons: the spin-statistics theorem:
supersymmetry .............................................. 5
1.4 Antiparticles .............................................. 6
1.5 The fundamental interactions: boson exchange ............... 8
1.6 The boson couplings to fermions ........................... 10
1.7 The quark-gluon plasma .................................... 16
1.8 The interaction cross section ............................. 16
1.9 Examples of elementary particle cross sections ............ 18
1.10 Decays and resonances ..................................... 23
1.11 Examples of resonances .................................... 26
1.12 New particles ............................................. 28
1.13 Summary ................................................... 29
Problems ....................................................... 29
2 The expanding universe .................................... 32
2.1 The Hubble expansion ...................................... 32
2.2 Olbers' paradox ........................................... 37
2.3 The Friedmann equation .................................... 38
2.4 The sources of energy density ............................. 41
2.5 Observed energy densities: the age of the universe ........ 43
2.6 The deceleration parameter: the effects of vacuum
energy/cosmological constant .............................. 47
2.7 Cosmic microwave radiation ................................ 48
2.8 Radiations in the early universe .......................... 51
2.9 Radiation and matter eras ................................. 52
2.10 Primordial nucleosynthesis ................................ 56
2.11 Baryogenesis and the matter-antimatter asymmetry of
the universe .............................................. 59
2.12 Summary ................................................... 62
Problems ....................................................... 63
3 Conservation rules and symmetries ......................... 65
3.1 Preamble .................................................. 65
3.2 Rotations ................................................. 66
3.3 The parity operation ...................................... 66
3.4 Parity conservation and intrinsic parity .................. 67
3.5 Parity violation in weak interactions ..................... 69
3.6 Helicity and helicity conservation ........................ 71
3.7 Charge conjugation invariance ............................. 72
3.8 Gauge transformations and gauge invariance ................ 73
3.9 Gauge invariance in the electro weak theory ............... 77
3.10 The Higgs mechanism of spontaneous symmetry breaking ...... 79
3.11 Running couplings; the comparison of electroweak theory
with experiment ........................................... 81
3.12 Grand unified theories (GUTs) and supersymmetry ........... 84
3.13 CPT theorem and CP and T symmetry ......................... 88
3.14 CP violation in neutral kaon decay ........................ 88
3.15 CP violation in the Standard Model ........................ 91
3.16 Summary ................................................... 93
Problems ....................................................... 94
4 Dark matter and dark energy in the universe ............... 96
4.1 Dark matter in galaxies and clusters ...................... 96
4.2 Gravitational lensing ..................................... 98
4.3 Ampiification by gravitational lenses: microiensing and
MACHOs ................................................... 100
4.4 The lensing probability: optical depth ................... 102
4.5 Baryonic dark matter ..................................... 103
4.6 Neutrinos ................................................ 104
4.7 Axions ................................................... 105
4.8 WIMPs .................................................... 106
4.9 Expected WIMP cross sections and event rates ............. 109
4.10 Experimental WIMP searches ............................... 111
4.11 Dark energy: the Hubble plot at large red shifts ......... 112
4.12 Vacuum energy: the Casimir effect ........................ 116
4.13 Problems with the cosmological constant and dark
energy ................................................... 117
4.14 Summary .................................................. 119
Problems ...................................................... 120
5 Development of structure in the early universe ........... 122
5.1 Horizon and flatness problems ............................ 122
5.2 Inflation ................................................ 124
5.3 Chaotic inflation ........................................ 128
5.4 Quantum fluctuations and inflation ....................... 130
5.5 The spectrum of primordial fluctuations .................. 131
5.6 Large-scale structures; gravitational collapse and
the Jeans mass ........................................... 133
5.7 The growth of structure in an expanding universe ......... 135
5.8 Evolution of fluctuations during the radiation era ....... 137
5.9 Temperature and density fluctuations in cosmic
microwave background ..................................... 140
5.10 Summary .................................................. 146
Problems ...................................................... 147
6 Cosmic particles ......................................... 148
6.1 The spectrum and composition of cosmic rays .............. 148
6.2 Geomagnetic and solar effects ............................ 152
6.3 Acceleration of cosmic rays .............................. 155
6.4 Secondary cosmic radiation: hard and soft components ..... 157
6.5 Electromagnetic cascades and air showers ................. 159
6.6 Ultra-high energy cosmic ray showers ..................... 164
6.7 Radio galaxies and quasars ............................... 165
6.8 Point sources of γ-rays; γ-ray bursts .................... 166
6.9 Atmospheric neutrinos: neutrino oscillations ............. 170
6.10 Solar neutrinos .......................................... 173
6.11 Neutrino oscillations in matter .......................... 176
6.12 Point neutrino sources ................................... 179
6.13 Gravitational radiation .................................. 181
6.14 The binary pulsar ........................................ 184
6.15 Detection of gravitational waves ......................... 185
6.16 Summary .................................................. 186
Problems ...................................................... 188
7 Particle physics in the stars ............................ 190
7.1 Introduction ............................................. 190
7.2 Stellar evolution—the early stages ....................... 190
7.3 Hydrogen burning: the pp cycle in the sun ................ 193
7.4 Helium burning and the production of carbon and oxygen ... 195
7.5 Production of heavy elements ............................. 196
7.6 Electron degeneracy pressure and stellar stability ....... 197
7.7 White dwarf stars ........................................ 200
7.8 Stellar collapse: Type II supernovae ..................... 201
7.9 Neutrinos from SN 1987A .................................. 204
7.10 Neutron stars and pulsars ................................ 207
7.11 Black holes .............................................. 209
7.12 Hawking radiation from black holes ....................... 211
7.13 Summary .................................................. 212
Problems ...................................................... 213
A Table of physical constants ................................ 214
B Relativistic transformations ............................... 216
B.1 Coordinate transformations ............................. 216
B.2 The equivalence principle: clocks in gravitational
fields ................................................. 218
B.3 Relativistic kinematics ................................ 220
B.4 Fixed target and colliding beam accelerators ........... 221
C The Robertson-Walker line element .......................... 223
C.1 The line element ....................................... 223
C.2 Distances in cosmology ................................. 224
C.3 Angle subtended at the earth by the horizon ............ 227
C.4 Hubble plot for an expanding or contracting universe ... 228
D Yukawa theory and the boson propagator ..................... 229
E Perturbative growth of structure in the early universe ..... 231
E.1 Growth in the matter-dominated era ..................... 234
Answers to problems ........................................ 235
References ................................................. 249
Bibliography ............................................... 251
Index ...................................................... 253
| 
