Particle Astrophysics Second Edition
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OXFORD MASTER SERIES IN PARTICLE PHYSICS, ASTROPHYSICS, AND COSMOLOGY OXFORD MASTER SERIES IN PHYSICS The Oxford Master Series is designed for final year undergraduate and beginning graduate students in physics and related disciplines. It has been driven by a perceived gap in the literature today. While basic undergraduate physics texts often show little or no connection with the huge explosion of research over the last two decades, more advanced and specialized texts tend to be rather daunting for students. In this series, all topics and their consequences are treated at a simple level, while pointers to recent developments are provided at various stages. The emphasis in on clear physical principles like symmetry, quantum mechanics, and electromagnetism which underlie the whole of physics. At the same time, the subjects are related to real measurements and to the experimental techniques and devices currently used by physicists in academe and industry. Books in this series are written as course books, and include ample tutorial material, examples, illustrations, revision points, and problem sets. They can likewise be used as preparation for students starting a doctorate in physics and related fields, or for recent graduates starting research in one of these fields in industry. CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS 1. M.T. Dove: Structure and dynamics: an atomic view of materials 2. J. Singleton: Band theory and electronic properties of solids 3. A.M. Fox: Optical properties of solids 4. S.J. Blundell: Magnetism in condensed matter 5. J.F. Annett: Superconductivity, superfluids, and condensates 6. R.A.L. Jones: Soft condensed matter 17. S. Tautz: Surfaces of condensed matter 18. H. Bruus: Theoretical microfluidics ATOMIC, OPTICAL, AND LASER PHYSICS 7. C.J. Foot: Atomic physics 8. G.A. Brooker: Modern classical optics 9. S.M. Hooker, C.E. Webb: Laser physics 15. A.M. Fox: Quantum optics: an introduction 16. S.M. Barnett: Quantum information PARTICLE PHYSICS, ASTROPHYSICS, AND COSMOLOGY 10. D.H. Perkins: Particle astrophysics, second edition 11. Ta-Pei Cheng: Relativity, gravitation and cosmology STATISTICAL, COMPUTATIONAL, AND THEORETICAL PHYSICS 12. M. Maggiore: A modern introduction to quantum field theory 13. W. Krauth: Statistical mechanics: algorithms and computations 14. J.P. Sethna: Statistical mechanics: entropy, order parameters, and complexity Particle Astrophysics Second Edition D. H. PERKINS Particle and Astrophysics Department Oxford University 1 3 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York © Oxford University Press 2003, 2009 The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First Edition 2003 Second Edition 2009 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose the same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Data available Typeset by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham, Wiltshire ISBN: 978–0–19–954545–2 ISBN: 978–0–19–954546–9 10987654321 To my family For their patience and encouragement This page intentionally left blank Preface to Second Edition This is an enlarged and updated version of the first edition published in 2003. In a rapidly evolving field, emphasis has of course been placed on the most recent developments. However, I have also taken the opportunity to re-arrange the material and present it in more detail and at somewhat greater length. For convenience, the text has been divided into three parts. Part 1, containing Chapters 1–4, deals basically with the fundamental particles and their interactions, as observed in laboratory experiments, which are covered by the so-called Standard Model of particle physics. This model gives an extremely exact and detailed account of an immense mass of experimental data obtained at accelerators worldwide, although some postulated phenomena such as the Higgs boson have still to be observed. Developments beyond the original Standard Model, particularly the subject of neutrino masses and flavour oscillations, are included, as well as possible extensions of the model, such as supersymmetry and the grand unification of the fundamental interactions. I have also taken the opportunity to present in Chapter 2, a short account of relativistic transformations, the equivalence principle and solutions of the field equations of general relativity which are important for astrophysics. Part 2 (Chapters 5–8) describes the present picture of the cosmos in the large, with emphasis on the basic parameters of the early universe, which are now becoming more accurately known and expressed in the so-called Concordance Model of cosmology. This part also underlines the great questions and mysteries in cosmology: the nature of dark matter; the nature of dark energy and the magnitude of the cosmological constant; the matter–antimatter asymmetry of the universe; the precise mechanism of inflation; and, just as is the case for the 20 or so parameters describing the Standard Model of particles, the arbitrary nature of the parameters in the Concordance Model. Part 3 (Chapters 9 and 10) is concerned with the study of the particles and radiation which bombard us from outer space, and to the stellar phenomena, such as pulsars, active galactic nuclei, black holes, and supernovae which appear to be responsible for this ‘cosmic rain’. We encounter here some of the most energetic and bizarre processes in the universe, with new experimental discoveries being made on an almost daily basis. By and large, the above division of the subject matter in a sense also reflects the state of our knowledge in the three cases. One could say that particle physics at accelerators in Part 1 is an extremely well-understood subject, with agreement between theory and experiment better than one part per million in the case of quantum electrodynamics. Whatever the form might be of an ultimate ‘theory of everything’—-if there ever is one—-the Standard Model of particle physics viii Preface to Second Edition will surely be part of it, even if it only accounts for a paltry 4% of the energy density of the universe at large. Our knowledge of the basic parameters of cosmology in Part 2, while less exact is now, as compared with just a decade ago, reaching quite remarkable levels of precision, as described in the Concordance Model. In contrast, the wide-ranging study of the particles and radiation in Part 3 leaves very many open questions and is probably the least well-understood aspect of particle astrophysics. For example, a century after they were first discovered, it is only recently that we have gained some idea on how the cosmic rays are accelerated to the very highest energies (of the order of 1020 eV) that can be detected and, more than 30 years after their first detection, we still do not know what is the underlying mechanism of γ-ray bursts, perhaps the most violent events taking place in the present universe. Some subjects appropriate to particle astrophysics have been left out, either through lack of space or because I thought they might be too advanced or too speculative. As in the first edition, the general theory of relativity has been omitted, although in Chapter 2, I have tried to give some plausibility arguments, based on the equivalence principle and special relativity, to illustrate important solutions of the Einstein field equations. General relativity is in any case adequately covered by the companion volume on Gravitation, Relativity and Cosmology by T.P. Cheng in the Oxford Master Series. As for the first edition, the text is intended for physics undergraduates in their third or later years, so I have kept the presentation and mathematical treatment at a reasonable level. I believed that it was more important to concentrate on the outstanding developments and the burning questions in a very exciting and very wide-ranging subject, rather than spend time and space on long theoretical discussion. At no point have I hesitated to sacrifice mathematical rigour for the sake of brevity and clarity. Again, I have sprinkled a few worked examples throughout the text, which is supplemented with sets of problems at the end of chapters, with answers and some worked solutions at the end of the book. Acknowledgements For permission to reproduce photographs, figures and diagrams I am indebted to the authors cited in the text and to the following individuals, laboratories, journals and publishers: Addison Wesley Publishers for Figure 5.9, from The Early Universe,by E.W. Kolb and M.S. Turner (1990); for Figure 10.1, from Introduction to Nuclear Physics, by H.A. Enge (1972); for Figures 1.12, 1.13, 1.14, 5.4, 5.7, 5.10, 9.8 and 9.9 from Introduction to High Energy Physics,3rd edition, by D.H.