Non-accelerator particle physics

H. V. Klapdor-Kleingrothaus, A. Staudt0750303050, 9780750303057

The past decade has seen the emergence and rapid development of particle physics experiments performed in underground laboratories and other non-accelerator installations. Such work allows profound questions of particle physics beyond the capabilities of modern accelerators to be attacked. At a time when elementary particle physics has reached a stage at which it places extreme requirements on new generations of accelerators, such work increases in importance. This book provides a comprehensive and accessible introduction to this interdisciplinary field of physics, bringing together research in particle and nuclear physics with astrophysics and cosmology. The first three chapters describe the current Standard Models of particle physics and cosmology, including an account of the limitations of particle accelerators and the need for non-accelerator experiments to tackle many unsolved problems in fundamental physics and astrophysics. Chapters 4-12 discuss in detail major open questions including proton decay, neutron oscillations and electric dipole moment, neutrino mass, double beta decay, neutrino oscillations, magnetic monopoles, dark matter, fractionally charged particles, the fifth force, and time dependence of natural constants. Each chapter gives the theoretical background and discusses experimental techniques currently being used or planned. copy_featured F