Future Directions in Particle Physics
Several questions still remain unresolved with respect to the standard model:
- Why are there three pairs of quarks when it appears that only one pair is needed to make matter?
- What gives particles (also atoms and matter) mass?
- Why is the top quark (which is 35 times bigger than the bottom quark) so massive compared to the others?
These are but a few questions that are being pursued in the world of particle physics.
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For more information on particle accelerators and particle physics, check out the links below.
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More Great Links
General Information
- Fundamental Forces
- CNN.com: Experiment Challenges Long-Standing Physics Model
- USA Today: Physicists Put 'Spin' on Theory
Particle Physics Laboratories
- U.S. Department of Energy: Exploring Matter and Energy
- Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab)
- CERN
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
- Brookhaven National Laboratory
- Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC)
- Argonne National Laboratory
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory
- Los Alamos National Laboratory
- Particle Accelerators Around the World
Tutorials
- American Institute of Physics Exhibit: A Look Inside the Atom
- Journey into the Atom - learn about the atom and particle physics
- The Particle Adventure
- PBS A Science Odyssey: Atom Builder - You Try It!
- The Subatomic Zoo
- ABCs of Nuclear Science
- Fermilab: The Science of Matter, Space and Time
- American Institute of Physics Exhibit: The Discovery of the Electron
Accelerators
Books
- The Physical Sciences: An Integrated Approach, by Robert M. Hazen and James S. Trefil
- Atom: Journey Across the Subatomic Cosmos, by Isaac Asimov, D.F. Bach (Illustrator)
- A Tour of the Subatomic Zoo: A Guide to Particle Physics, by Cindy Schwarz, Sheldon Glashow (Introduction)
- Six Easy Pieces: Essentials of Physics Explained by Its Most Brilliant Teacher, by Richard Phillips Feynman, Paul Davies (Introduction), Robert B. Leighton (Editor)
- A Brief History of Time, by Stephen Hawking
- The Search For Superstrings, Symmetry, and The Theory Of Everything, by John R. Gribbin
- The Second Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Twentieth-Century Physics, by Robert P. Crease, Charles C. Mann (Contributor), Timothy Ferris
- The Quest for Unity: The Adventure of Physics, by Etienne Klein, Marc Lachieze-Rey, Axel Reisinger (Translator)