Particle physics is a branch of physics that studies the elementary constituents of matter and radiations, and the interactions between them. It is also called high energy physics, because many elementary particles do not occur independently in Nature, and can only be detected during energetic collisions of larger particles, as is done in particle accelerators.
Modern particle physics research is focused on subatomic particles, which are smaller than atoms. These include atomic constituents such as electrons, protons, and neutrons (protons and neutrons are actually composite particles, made up of quarks), as well as particles produced by radiative and scattering processes, such as photons, neutrinos, and muons.
Strictly speaking, the term particle is something of a misnomer. The objects studied by particle physics obey the principles of quantum mechanics. As such, they exhibit wave-particle duality, displaying particle-like behavior under certain experimental conditions and wave-like behavior in others. Theoretically, they are described neither as waves nor as particles, but as state vectors in an abstract Hilbert space. For a more detailed explanation, see quantum field theory. Following the convention of particle physicists, we will use "elementary particles" to refer to objects such as electrons and photons, with the understanding that these "particles" display wave-like properties as well.
All the particles observed to date have been catalogued in a quantum field theory called the Standard Model, which is often regarded as particle physics' best achievement to date. The model contains 47 species of elementary particles, some of which can combine to form composite particles, accounting for the hundreds of other species of particles discovered since the 1960s. The Standard Model has been found to agree with almost all the experimental tests conducted to date. However, most particle physicists believe that it is an incomplete description of Nature, and that a more fundamental theory awaits discovery. In recent years, measurements of neutrino mass have provided the first experimental deviations from the Standard Model.
Particle physics has had a large impact on philosophy of science. The reductionist ideas that motivates much of the work in this field has been criticized by various philosophers and scientists. Part of the debate is described below.
The idea that matter is composed on elementary particles dates to at least the 6th century BC. The philosophical doctrine of "atomism" was studied by ancient Greek philosophers such as Leucippus, Democritus, and Epicurus. Although Isaac Newton in the 17th century thought that matter was made up of particles, it was John Dalton who formally stated in 1802 that everything is made from tiny atoms.
Dmitri Mendeleev's first periodic table in 1869 helped cement the view, prevalent throughout the 19th century, that matter was made of atoms. Work by J.J. Thomson established that atoms are composed of light electrons and massive protons. Ernest Rutherford established that the protons are concentrated in a compact nucleus. The nucleus was initially thought to be composed of protons and confined electrons (in order to explain the difference between nuclear charge and mass number), but was later found to be composed of protons and neutrons.
The 20th century explorations of nuclear physics and quantum physics, culminating with proofs of nuclear fission and nuclear fusion, gave rise to an active industry of generating one atom from another, even rendering possible (although not feasible economically) the transmutation of lead into gold. These theories successfully predicted nuclear weapons.
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, a bewildering variety of particles was found in scattering experiments. This was referred to as the "particle zoo". This term was deprecated after the formulation of the Standard Model during the 1970s in which the large number of particles was explained as combinations of a (relatively) small number of fundamental particles.
The current state of the classification of elementary particles is called the "Standard Model". It describes the strong, weak, and electromagnetic fundamental forces, using mediating bosons known as "gauge bosons". The species of gauge bosons are the photon, W- and W+ and Z bosons, and the gluons. The model also contains 24 fundamental particles, which are the constituents of matter. Finally, it predicts the existence of a type of boson known as the Higgs boson, which has yet to be discovered.
In Particle Physics, the major international collaborations are:
Within physics itself, there are some objections to the extreme reductionist approach of attempting to explain everything in terms of elementary particles and their interaction. These objections are usually raised by solid state physicists. While the Standard Model itself is not challenged, it is held that testing and perfecting the model is not nearly as important as studying the emerging properties of atoms and molecules, and especially large statistical ensembles of those. These critics claim that even a complete knowledge of the underlying elementary particles will not give complete knowledge of atoms and molecules, knowledge that arguably is more important to us.
Reductionists typically claim that all progress in the sciences has involved reductionism to some extent.
Experimental results in particle physics are investigated using enormous particle accelerators which typically cost several billion dollars and require large amounts of government funding. Because of this, particle physics research involves issues of public policy.
Many have argued that the potential advances do not justify the money spent, and that in fact particle physics takes money away from more important research and education efforts. In 1993, the US Congress stopped the Superconducting Super Collider because of similar concerns, after $2 billion had already been spent on its construction. Many scientists, both supporters and opponents of the SSC, believe that the decision to stop construction of the SSC was due in part to the end of the Cold War which removed scientific competition with the Soviet Union as a rationale to spend large amounts of money on the SSC.
Some within the scientific community believe that particle physics has also been adversely affected by the aging population. The belief is that the aging population is much more concerned with immediate issues of their health and their parent's health and that this has driven scientific funding away from physics toward the biological and health sciences. In addition, many opponents question the ability of any single country to support the expense of particle physics results and fault the SSC for not seeking greater international funding.
Proponents of particle accelerators hold that the investigation of the most basic theories deserves adequate funding, and that this funding benefits other fields of science in various ways. They point out that all accelerators today are international projects and question the claim that money not spent on accelerators would then necessarily be used for other scientific or educational purposes.
History of particle physics
The Standard Model of particle physics
Experimental particle physics
Many other particle accelerators exist.Objections against particle physics as reductionism
Public policy and particle physics
See also
External Links