Concepts of Particle Physics

volume 2 of this authoritative work follows volume 1 (published in 1973) in tracing the development of quantum electrodynamics, beginning with a review of the theory of the electromagnetic interaction, and continuing with an examination of hadronic structure. The authors then explore the accuracy of the quark model by considering the excited states of baryons and mesons. They introduce the color variable as a prelude to the development of quantum chromodynamics, the theory of the strong interaction, and go on to discuss electroweak interactions--the broken symmetry of which they explain by means of the Higgs mechanism--and conclude with a consideration of grand unification theories.