Yuval Ne'eman - Böcker

The first edition of this popular book on particle physics received universal acclaim for its clear and readable style. In this second edition the authors have brought the subject right up to date, including the discovery of the 'top quark' and the search for the Higgs particle. The book is the result of a collaboration between a world-famous elementary particle physicist and a physicist specialising in popular science writing. Together they have produced a fascinating account of the search for the fundamental building blocks of matter. This lucid and entertaining accountwill fascinate anyone wishing to keep pace with this part of the progress of human knowledge, from scientifically educated general readers through to professional physicists.

The interest in membranes and higher dimensional extended geometrical objects was inspired by the great successes of the string and superstring, first in 1968-73 as a theory of hadrons and then since 1984 as a “theory of everything” — a unified theory of all interactions, including quantum gravity. In particular, membranes, “supermembranes” and “spinning membranes” have been studied since 1985; an unexpected connection with supergravity opened in 1988 some new prospects for a quantized theory. General theorems about higher dimensional “p-branes” or “extendons” were also derived. The subject is very promising, whether as a more comprehensive fundamental unification or as a description of composite hadrons.Where there are now probably some fifty texts of all kinds dealing with strings, this is the first treatise on membranes and higher dimensional extendons.

The interest in membranes and higher dimensional extended geometrical objects was inspired by the great successes of the string and superstring, first in 1968-73 as a theory of hadrons and then since 1984 as a “theory of everything” — a unified theory of all interactions, including quantum gravity. In particular, membranes, “supermembranes” and “spinning membranes” have been studied since 1985; an unexpected connection with supergravity opened in 1988 some new prospects for a quantized theory. General theorems about higher dimensional “p-branes” or “extendons” were also derived. The subject is very promising, whether as a more comprehensive fundamental unification or as a description of composite hadrons.Where there are now probably some fifty texts of all kinds dealing with strings, this is the first treatise on membranes and higher dimensional extendons.