The fascinating story of science in pursuit of the ghostly, ubiquitous
subatomic particle--the neutrino.
Isaac Asimov once observed of the neutrino: "The only reason scientists
suggested its existence was their need to make calculations come out
even. And yet the nothing-particle was not a nothing at all." In fact,
as one of the most enigmatic and most populous particles in the
universe--about 100 trillion are flying through you every second--the
neutrino may hold the clues to some of our deepest cosmic mysteries. In
Ghost Particle, Alan Chodos and James Riordon recount the dramatic
history of the neutrino--from the initial suggestion that the particle
was merely a desperate solution to a puzzle that threatened to undermine
the burgeoning field of particle physics to its modern role in
illuminating the universe via neutrino telescopes.
Alan Chodos and James Riordon are deft and engaging guides as they
conduct readers through the experiences of intrepid scientists and the
challenges they faced, and continue to face, in their search for the
ghostly neutrino. Along the way, the authors provide expert insight into
the significance of neutrino research from the particle's first,
momentous discovery to recent, revolutionary advances in neutrino
detection and astronomy. Chodos and Riordon describe how neutrinos may
soon provide clues to some of the biggest questions we encounter today,
including how to understand the dark matter that makes up most of the
universe--and why anything exists in the universe at all.
