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Thomas Ray's Reviews > The Theory of Almost Everything: The Standard Model, the Unsung Triumph of Modern Physics
The Theory of Almost Everything: The Standard Model, the Unsung Triumph of Modern Physics
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The Theory of Almost Everything, Robert Oerter, 2006, 327pp. ISBN 0132366789.
In an atom, photon exchange binds electrons to the nucleus. Quantum Electrodynamics tells how (QED). In a nucleus, pion (quark-antiquark pair) exchange binds protons to neutrons. Within a proton or neutron, gluon exchange binds quarks together. Quantum Chromodynamics tells how (QCD). p. 179.
Ordinary matter is made of half-integer-spin fermions: quarks and leptons, including electrons and neutrinos. p. 205. Force-carrying particles such as photons, pions, gluons, W, Z, and Higgs, are whole-number-spin bosons. Any number of bosons, but only one fermion, can be in one place in one quantum state. p. 156. Photons can't interact with each other, but gluons and Higgs can. pp. 177, 206.
The Standard model explains everything. Except gravity. Wait: this just in: neutrinos have mass. Back to the drawing board. p. 221. Oh, and: 85% of the matter in the universe is undetectable dark matter. We'll have to detect it to find out what's up with that. p. 224. Also, the muon's magnetic moment isn't quite as predicted. p. 232.
Writing in 2005: the Higgs particle had not yet been found; its mass was expected to be around 130 GeV. pp. 201, 221, 235, 239. [It was found in 2012, and its mass measured as(view spoiler)]
Commits the unforgivable sin of giving equations without defining the variables or operators. Especially in the last chapter, his explanations are inadequate.
In an atom, photon exchange binds electrons to the nucleus. Quantum Electrodynamics tells how (QED). In a nucleus, pion (quark-antiquark pair) exchange binds protons to neutrons. Within a proton or neutron, gluon exchange binds quarks together. Quantum Chromodynamics tells how (QCD). p. 179.
Ordinary matter is made of half-integer-spin fermions: quarks and leptons, including electrons and neutrinos. p. 205. Force-carrying particles such as photons, pions, gluons, W, Z, and Higgs, are whole-number-spin bosons. Any number of bosons, but only one fermion, can be in one place in one quantum state. p. 156. Photons can't interact with each other, but gluons and Higgs can. pp. 177, 206.
The Standard model explains everything. Except gravity. Wait: this just in: neutrinos have mass. Back to the drawing board. p. 221. Oh, and: 85% of the matter in the universe is undetectable dark matter. We'll have to detect it to find out what's up with that. p. 224. Also, the muon's magnetic moment isn't quite as predicted. p. 232.
Writing in 2005: the Higgs particle had not yet been found; its mass was expected to be around 130 GeV. pp. 201, 221, 235, 239. [It was found in 2012, and its mass measured as(view spoiler)]
Commits the unforgivable sin of giving equations without defining the variables or operators. Especially in the last chapter, his explanations are inadequate.
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Finished Reading
March 7, 2021
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March 8, 2021
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David
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Mar 09, 2021 07:51AM
I'd been thinking about reading this. Thank you for the warning!
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You're welcome. Feynman, Asimov, and Schrödinger understand their subject well enough to explain it to a general audience.
