Ian Aitchison's home page

New in 2015

  • Notes of lectures given at the 2015 International Summer Workshop on Reaction Theory at Indiana University, Bloomington, IN. (pdf)
    • These notes aim to provide a simple introduction to how the S-matrix tools of unitarity, analyticity and crossing symmetry can be incorporated into analyses of final state interactions in two- and three-hadron systems. The main focus is on corrections to the isobar model in three-hadron final states.

    The Higgs boson

    The discovery announced on July 4th 2012 at CERN, by the ATLAS and CMS groups at the LHC, of a particle which is most likely the (or, perhaps, a) Higgs boson is the most significant event in particle physics since the discovery of the W and Z bosons in 1983. It represents the culmination of decades of development in accelerator and detector design, and in data analysis, and also the vindication of purely theoretical ideas going back almost 50 years. The discovery opens experimental access to the crucial symmetry-breaking (Higgs) sector of the Standard Model. The symmetry in question requires the quarks, leptons and gauge bosons of the Standard Model to be massless, like the photon. All except the photon acquire mass when the symmetry breaks. Fundamental to the theory is the idea that the symmetry-breaking is due to a property of the physical vacuum - namely, the existence of a field (the Higgs field) which has a non-vanishing value in the vacuum. The Higgs boson is an elementary excitation of this field, and so its discovery promises to provide a probe of an extremely fundamental state of the Universe - the vacuum state - and may ultimately have cosmological consequences. Meanwhile, there will be much further work to be done at the LHC, elucidating the couplings of the Higgs boson to the other SM particles, and perhaps uncovering discrepancies with the SM predictions, which may provide clues to physics beyond the SM.

    New in 2012: a new edition (fourth) of Aitchison and Hey "Gauge Theories in Particle Physics"

    Where better to learn about all this than in the latest edition of this widely recommended book, published in December 2012! As in the previous (third) edition, considerable space is devoted to the phenomenon of "spontaneous symmetry breaking", which is applied to chiral symmetry breaking in QCD and to electroweak symmetry-breaking (the Higgs mechanism) in the Standard Model.
    The exploration of the Higgs sector will occupy several of the coming years. But in the previous decade there has been great progress in two other areas of particle physics: CP violation and neutrino oscillations. This new edition takes full account of this progress with two new chapters, one in each volume; there are also many other new features.
  • What's new in volume 1
    • (i) New chapter on Lorentz transformations and discrete symmetries: Transformations of Klein-Gordon and Dirac wavefunctions under rotations and boosts; demonstration of transformation properties of Dirac bilinear covariants; the discrete transformations P, C, CP, T and CPT for K-G and Dirac wavefunctions; Majorana fermions; elementary physical examples of P, C and CP violation; consequences of T-invariance and of T-violation.
    (ii)Extension of quantum field theory formalism to include Majorana fermions and discrete symmetries in qft.
    (iii) Updates on nucleon structure functions and on status of QED.
    (iv) Numerous minor corrections and improvements.
  • What's new in volume 2
    • (i) New chapter on CP violation and oscillation phenomena: Detailed discussion of basic formalism and key experiments concerning (a) CP violation in B-meson decays, particularly the determination of the angles of the unitarity triangle from B-meson oscillations; CP-violation in K-decays, and D-decays. (b) Neutrino oscillations: determination of the mass-squared differences, and mixing angles of the PMNS matrix.
    (ii) New section on 3-generation quark mixing and phenomenology of the the CKM matrix
    (iii) Improved discussion of 2-jet cross section in electron-positron collisions
    (iv) New section on jet algorithms
    (v) Inclusion of recent lattice QCD calculations with dynamical fermions
    (vi) New section on effective Lagrangians for spontaneously broken chiral symmetry, including the 3-flavour case, meson mass relations, and Chiral Perturbation Theory
    (vii) Asymptotic freedom update
    (vii) Current Higgs search results
    (viii) Numerous minor corrections and improvements

    Buying the Fourth Edition

    The two volumes are published by CRC Press. The books have their own CRC websites, and may be ordered directly from these sites: volume 1 , volume 2 , and the two-volume set. The books are also available from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

    New in 2014


  • List of misprints and minor corrections for `Gauge Theories in Particle Physics', 4th edtn, vol. 1 (pdf)
  • List of misprints and minor corrections for `Gauge Theories in Particle Physics', 4th edtn, vol. 2 (pdf)

    • Supersymmetry and Gauge Theories

    New in 2009/2010 was a
  • list of misprints and minor corrections for my book `Supersymmetry in Particle Physics An Elementary Introduction'
    • (see below) in pdf format.
    New in 2007 were
    (i) `Supersymmetry in Particle Physics An Elementary Introduction' by Ian J R Aitchison, published by Cambridge University Press, 2007. See details below, under `Books'.
    (ii) `An Informal Introduction to Gauge Field Theories' by Ian J R Aitchison, published by Cambridge University Press, 2007. This is a digitally printed re-issue (with additional corrections) of the book originally published by CUP in 1982, and reprinted with corrections in 1984. See further below, under `Books'.
    (iii)
  • Solutions to problems in `Gauge Theories in Particle Physics', 3rd edtn, vol. 2.

    (iv) An updated
  • List of misprints and minor corrections for `Gauge Theories in Particle Physics', 3rd edtn, vol. 2.

    • Recent other additions are
  • Solutions to problems in `Gauge Theories in Particle Physics', 3rd edtn, vol. 1. and
  • List of misprints and minor corrections for `Gauge Theories in Particle Physics', 3rd edtn, vol. 1.
    • (all ps format; pdf versions can be supplied on request).

    Relativistic Quantum Mechanics

    New in 2008 was a
  • list of misprints and corrections for my book `Relativistic Quantum Mechanics' (Macmillan, 1972).
    • This has been out of print for a long time, but it is still recommended for some courses and a posting of my (not short) Errata list (in pdf format) seems worthwhile.

    Research Interests

    Books

    I. Fourth Edition of `Gauge Theories in Particle Physics' (CRC Press) - see above.

    II. New in 2007: 'Supersymmetry in Particle Physics An Elementary Introduction' (Cambridge University Press, 2007)

    This book is based on lectures I gave at Oxford in 2004-7. Here is the blurb:

    ``Supersymmetry has been a central topic in particle physics since the early 1980s, and represents the culmination of the search for fundamental symmetries that has dominated particle physics for the last 50 years. Traditionally, the constituents of matter (fermions) have been regarded as essentially different from the particles (bosons) that transmit the forces between them. In supersymmetry, however, fermions and bosons are unified.

    This is the first textbook to provide a simple pedagogical introduction to what has been a formidably technical field. The elementary and practical treatment brings readers to the frontier of contemporary research, in particular to the confrontation with experiments at the Large Hadron Collider. Intended primarily for first-year graduate students in particle physics, both experimental and theoretical, this volume will also be of value to researchers in experimental and phenomenological supersymmetry. Supersymmetric theories are constructed through an intuitive `trial and error' approach, rather than being formal and deductive. The basic elements of spinor formalism and superfields are introduced, allowing readers to access more advanced treatments. Emphasis is placed on physical understanding, and on detailed, explicit derivations of all important steps. Many short exercises are included making for a valuable and accessible self-study tool.''

    The book may be ordered direct from its CUP website , or from Amazon in the UK here or from Amazon in the USA here .

    As this is the first printing of this book, I am particularly keen to hear of any errors that readers may find: please email me (i.aitchison1@physics.ox.ac.uk) when you find any! The above-mentioned
  • list of misprints and minor corrections for this book
    • was first posted in February 2009, and is regularly updated following input from readers.

    III. A digitally printed re-issue (with further corrections) in 2007 of the book `An Informal Introduction to Gauge Field Theories',

    first published by Cambridge University Press in 1982, and reprinted with corrections in 1984. The book's website at CUP is here , at Amazon in the UK is here and at Amazon in the USA is here .

    IV. Third Edition of Aitchison and Hey: `Gauge Theories in Particle Physics' in two volumes

    Volume 1: From Relativistic Quantum Mechanics to QED

  • List of misprints and minor corrections for vol. 1.
  • Solutions to vol. 1 problems

    • Volume 2: QCD and the Electroweak Theory.

  • List of misprints and minor corrections for vol. 2.
  • Solutions to vol. 2 problems


    • Buying the third edition

    This book was originally published by Institute of Physics Publishing (IOPP), but is now (mid-2005) published by Taylor and Francis, following a decision by IOPP to cease book publication. T&F are part of CRC Press. The books have their own web sites: volume 1 , and volume 2 . You can download the corrections and the solutions to the problems from these sites. There is also a US site ; click on `Physics', then on `Particle/High Energy Physics', and scroll down. You can buy the two volumes together, or either volume separately. Alternatively, you can go to Amazon: the two-volume set is here ; volume 1 is here ; and volume 2 is here .
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    Please do not hesitate to email me (i.aitchison1@physics.ox.ac.uk) with any queries you might have if you are reading these books - e.g. bits
    you don't understand, or *misprints* you've found. A list of misprints and minor corrections for volume 1 can be found here (ps format), and those for volume 2 are here (ps format).
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    Lecture Courses (pdf versions of anything listed below can be supplied on request)