The original edition of Introduction to Nuclear and Particle Physics was
used with great success for single-semester courses on nuclear and
particle physics offered by American and Canadian universities at the
undergraduate level. It was also translated into German, and used
overseas. Being less formal but well-written, this book is a good
vehicle for learning the more intuitive rather than formal aspects of
the subject. It is therefore of value to scientists with a minimal
background in quantum mechanics, but is sufficiently substantive to have
been recommended for graduate students interested in the fields covered
in the text.In the second edition, the material begins with an
exceptionally clear development of Rutherford scattering and, in the
four following chapters, discusses sundry phenomenological issues
concerning nuclear properties and structure, and general applications of
radioactivity and of the nuclear force. This is followed by two chapters
dealing with interactions of particles in matter, and how these
characteristics are used to detect and identify such particles. A
chapter on accelerators rounds out the experimental aspects of the
field. The final seven chapters deal with elementary-particle phenomena,
both before and after the realization of the Standard Model. This is
interspersed with discussion of symmetries in classical physics and in
the quantum domain, bringing into full focus the issues concerning CP
violation, isotopic spin, and other symmetries. The final three chapters
are devoted to the Standard Model and to possibly new physics beyond it,
emphasizing unification of forces, supersymmetry, and other exciting
areas of current research.The book contains several appendices on
related subjects, such as special relativity, the nature of symmetry
groups, etc. There are also many examples and problems in the text that
are of value in gauging the reader's understanding of the material.
