From the Bookshelf of Science and Inquiry…

The Particle at the End of the Universe: How the Hunt for the Higgs Boson Leads Us to the Edge of...

Sean Carroll

Start date: November 1, 2013

Finish date: November 30, 2013

Discussion: Book Club 2013

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 26 topics — 537 comments total

Book Club 2013

December 2013: "The Strangest Man"
By David · 22 posts · 150 views

last updated Jan 03, 2016 10:51AM

June 2013 - Cosmos
By Betsy , co-mod · 45 posts · 171 views

last updated Mar 11, 2014 04:07PM

showing 1 of 1 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Nov 05, 2013 David Rubenstein rated it really liked it

Shelves: science, nonfiction, physics

Sean Carroll is a theoretical physicist, and he has written an engaging book about the history of the search for the Higgs boson. This is a fundamental particle that cannot be observed directly, but can only be surmised by indirect evidence in a high-energy accelerator. Its existence was proved by two experiments at the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) at CERN, on the border between Switzerland and France.

Sean Carroll tells the story of the LHC wonderfully. He tells the story of the predecessors to L Sean Carroll is a theoretical physicist, and he has written an engaging book about the history of the search for the Higgs boson. This is a fundamental particle that cannot be observed directly, but can only be surmised by indirect evidence in a high-energy accelerator. Its existence was proved by two experiments at the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) at CERN, on the border between Switzerland and France.

Sean Carroll tells the story of the LHC wonderfully. He tells the story of the predecessors to LHC, the inception of the machine and the efforts of Lyn Evans in building it. Color illustrations give the reader a clue of the complexity and immensity of the largest machine ever built by man. Over six thousand scientists worked together on the two experiments, proving the existence of the Higgs boson. This is big science at its biggest. While there is still room in physics for small-scale experiments, high-energy particle physics demands enormous machines, and large-scale international efforts.

The book also describes the context of the Higgs boson in particle physics. Several chapters go into considerable detail about the hierarchy of particles, their characteristics and interactions. It gets complicated--very complicated. To tell the truth, there are several places where I got lost. I re-read those sections, but I still didn't "get it". There are three appendices that explain the physics in more detail (with no equations at all). In the first appendix, I was understanding the descriptions of particle spin, degrees of freedom and symmetry-breaking. But the last step in which Carroll jumps to the characteristic of mass being imparted by the Higgs field simply left me behind. I think that something crucial is missing from Carroll's descriptions here.

On the whole, Carroll's descriptions of the physics are excellent. He engages in lots of metaphors from everyday experiences to give some concreteness to the very abstract notions. For example, the inverted pendulum gives a good, intuitive approach to the level of energy of a Higgs boson. Carroll also uses some apt--and fun--metaphors. For example, he describes how Angelina Jolie walking across a party room full of people will be slowed down by fans wanting an autograph. She "breaks the symmetry" because if Carroll were to walk across the same room, he would not be approached and would cross the room unhindered. Carroll also writes about how dropping Mentos into bottles of Diet Coke will have the same result when you are sitting still, as when you are in a train going 100 miles per hour.

This book was written before the Nobel Prize in physics was awarded in 2013. So, Carroll devotes a chapter to the stories of all of the contenders. One of the sections describes the landmark work by Guralnik, Hagen and Kibble. This section is particularly interesting to me, as Gerald Guralnik is the father of a colleague of mine. As a result, I have heard quite a lot about this topic, and while it turns out that Guralnik did not receive the Nobel Prize, he was a very strong contender.

I enjoyed reading the historical aspects of the theory and experiments. But, the descriptions of the theory itself--the so-called "Standard Model" of quantum physics--go into such a level of detail that I got lost. Carroll himself points out at one point that without going through the equations, you just have to "trust him" on certain points. Therein lies a gap, and I couldn't quite make the leap. ...more

26 likes · Like · see review

Apr 12, 2015 Cassandra Kay Silva rated it really liked it

Shelves: science

Grats everyone we found the Higgs! Our money wasn't wasted, and we will continue to learn from the data gathered at the LHC for a long time. The author takes a look at the pioneering work that went into the building of the accelerators and the scientific work of those leading up to this finding and what it will mean for us in the long term. I read this back to back with Lee Smolins work "the trouble with physic". I find this an interesting companion to this work and highly advise to read the two ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Dec 03, 2013 Charlene rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, mindgasms, chaos-complexity-emergence, philosophy, physics, general-science

Explaining the Higgs is a challenge at best. Thanks to Sean M Carroll's talent for taking incredibly complex concepts and making them accessible to the masses, this is one of the best science books I have ever had the pleasure to read. It can be enjoyed by a seasoned physicist as well as someone who has never had a physics class but is curious about the universe in which they live. Often it is the case that books offer too much or too little detail. Carroll gets it just right. He does condense i ...more

1 like · Like · see review