Supersymmetry: Unveiling The Ultimate Laws Of Nature [Paperback]

Gordon Kane (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 3, 2001

"A fascinating account of the theoretical ideas behind supersymmetry...told by someone who has contributed deeply to the development of the field." -NatureFor most of human history, man has been trying to discover just how the universe works. In this groundbreaking work, renowned physicist Gordon Kane first gives us the basics of the Standard Model, which describes the fundamental constituents and forces of nature. He then explains the next great leap in understanding: the theory of supersymmetry, which implies that each of the fundamental particles has a "superpartner" that can be detected at energies and intensities only now being achieved in the giant accelerators. If Kane and his colleagues are correct, these superpartners will also help solve many of the puzzles of modern physics-such as the existence of the Higgs boson-as well as one of the biggest mysteries is cosmology: the notorious "dark matter" of the universe.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Call it a preview of coming attractions. The physical theory called "supersymmetry" is as yet unproven, but its proof will unite the four fundamental forces of nature--electromagnetism, gravity, and the strong and weak nuclear forces--and lead to the so-called Grand Unified Theory that physicists have long quested after. The theory underlying supersymmetry posits that every particle has a "superpartner" (a quark has a "squark," an electron a "selectron," and so on), whose existence can be adduced by observable behavior. Some of these superpartners, such as the conjectured Higgs bosons, are "really a new kind of matter," suggests physicist Gordon Kane in Supersymmetry.

The experimental proof required to validate supersymmetry will soon be available, when reconfigured particle accelerators at the Fermilab in Illinois and CERN in Switzerland go on line. These accelerators will be powerful enough to "smash" particles at hitherto unknown levels of energy. They will also be enormously expensive, Kane adds, a cost he justifies by insisting that "Society always comes out ahead, even from a purely financial perspective, when it builds such facilities, because new developments lead to 'spinoffs' that in turn lead to multibillion-dollar industries." Society will come out ahead in another way, Kane confidently predicts, with supersymmetry's providing knowledge of how the world really works. Accessible and thought-provoking, Kane's book offers a glimpse of that knowledge to come. --Gregory McNamee --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Physicists have, for years, used something called the "standard model" to explain the behavior of elementary particles and of the basic forces that connect them--to generally give "a complete description of how our physical world works." But the model also creates questions it can't answer: why are we made of matter and not antimatter? And why is there more gravity in the universe than all the objects we know about can produce? Kane, who teaches physics at the University of Michigan, explained the standard model in his first book for nonscientists, The Particle Garden; in this very readable follow-up, he shows how something else--"supersymmetry"--might answer the questions the standard model can't. He begins his careful map of difficult territory with an explanation of very basic terms like "particle," "equation," "structure" and "symmetry." Then he surveys what supersymmetry does: it interacts intriguingly, for example, with the recent, also speculative--but better publicized--superstring theory, and it's just now becoming testable in the newest, snazziest particle accelerators. Kane also devotes one chapter to "Testing Supersymmetry Experimentally," and another to its implications for questions about the cosmos: "Can We Really Understand the Origin of the Universe?" Equipped with his remarkable gifts for turning abstruse concepts and hard math into good English prose, he's careful to differentiate between accepted theories, currently testable hypotheses and speculations. A compact glossary gives easy access to quick definitions: many readers will need it. The same readers will probably be grateful for Kane's sophisticated, accessible guide to one of the frontiers of physics. Line illus. throughout.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; 1St Edition edition (July 3, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738204897
• ISBN-13: 978-0738204895
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,135,754 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning, brilliant, and important, May 30, 2000

By 

Frank Paris (Beaverton, OR USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Supersymmetry : Unveiling the Ultimate Laws of Nature (Hardcover)

If I had not previously read Gordon Kane's "Particle Garden" and had only read the Amazon editorial reviews and single customer review that is currently on the site, I would not have bought and read this book. Then my understanding of the significance of symmetry, supersymmetry, and string theory and the relationships among them all would have remained fuzzy and incoherent. I have to admit that some of this stuff is still fuzzy and incoherent in my mind, but this exciting and important book cleared up so much for me that I have to regard it as one of the most enlightening books of popular science I have ever read, ranking with Guth's "Inflationary Universe" and Brian Green's "The Elegant Universe", to mention two outstanding books on related topics that have recently been published.

I have to admit that a lot of the stuff in this book is so strange and unfamiliar that I really need to go back and read the book again to pick up more of it. But this book is far superior to every other book I've read that has tried to explain Supersymmetry to me, including various Scientific American articles. Maybe I had finally collected enough background understanding for this stuff to suddenly start sinking in, but this is the first book on Supersymmetry that I've read that seems to take the subject head-on, and not back away from the daunting challenge of explaining the actual mechanics of the theory in terms a layperson can understand. And why not? Professionally, Gordon Kane is right in the middle of this, and he has a profound understanding of both the theory and the practice of particle physics. He took me deep enough into the intricacies of the theory that suddenly all kinds of things started falling into place, not just the facts of Supersymmetry Theory themselves, but the concepts and terminology that I had encountered so many times before that I had found completely befuddling.

Several things really stand out in my mind about this book, not necessarily the most important points, but items that just seemed to click in me. First, Supersymmetry presents a solid theory behind what the Dark Matter of the universe might consist of, and why Dark Matter doesn't seem to interact with ordinary matter except gravitationally. It just seems so logical the way Kane presents it, that Supersymmetry provides the source for Dark Matter, and I finally have some kind of understanding of what all these strangely named supersymmetry particles are and how they relate to ordinary matter, and how they aren't so strangely named after all. Of course the theory might be completely wrong, but Kane brilliant manages to convey to an ordinary reader like myself the compelling nature that its theoreticians feel about this theory. After reading this book, I would be astonished, as its current theoreticians also would be, to later learn that experimental evidence had been discovered that disproved it. It just explains too much for it not to be true. Yet, as Kane clearly points out, we don't yet have the experimental evidence to say one way or the other. All we currently have are the elegance and completeness of its explanations.

This brings up another wonderful concept that I learned from Kane: the idea of an "effective theory." This is a theory that has a domain only within certain limits and is effective (in effect) only within those limits. Supersymmetry is an effective theory. It doesn't go "all the way down." Only String Theory does that. String Theory is at the bottom, explaining the basis of everything at the indivisible Planck scales of space and time. String Theory is sometimes in fact called the "Theory of Everything", but (and this is another highly appreciated insight from Kane) Kane much more accurately calls it the Primary Theory, the first theory, the theory that explains the "why" of everything. String Theory is not an effective theory. Effective theories must have inputs, "givens". The mass of an electron is a given in Quantum Theory, but it is *predicted* by String Theory. So String Theory doesn't have any inputs. Each of its basic principles *must* be true if the universe is constructed the way particle physics has discovered it to be. This is why it is a "Primary Theory". It consists of the first principles by which our universe is physically governed.

Supersymmetry sits right above String Theory, between String Theory and Quantum Theory. It bridges the gap between the Planck scale of things and the scale of quarks, electrons, and photons. Appreciating these relationships is one of the most valuable insights I got out of this book. On hindsight, I'm amazed that I never had this understanding before. But in reading another popular science book just recently published, I found the distinction between Supersymmetry and String Theory completely muddled, so I'm not the only one, and I'm not a professional science writer, either. After read the Kane, it was immediately obvious to me that this other science writer should have done a little more brushing up on the topics before commenting on them and treating the theories as if they were virtually interchangeable.

Quantum Theory is one of the most securely established scientific theories ever discovered. But when we go below that, we have yet to discover whether the best theories we have are actually true, namely Supersymmetry and String Theory. Both of these theories are what Kane calls "RIP" sciences, "research in progress." What this means is that this book is about the hottest topics going on in physics today, topics that have not yet become "textbook" science.

The exciting thing is that Supersymmetry Theory is on the verge of achieving this status, either that or of being refuted by actual experimental results. As Kane so lovingly portrays, these results will come from the most advanced existing particle accelerators in the world today, as well as a few even more powerful machines that will be built in the next five years. We will soon know for sure whether Supersymmetry is true. That is, we will know that, assuming that these future particle accelerators are actually funded and built. This also assumes that there will exist a critical mass of scientists capable of building them. Kane expresses concern that there will not be enough public interest to generate the funding to complete this experimental research, and therefore, there will not be the draw into the field required to maintain this critical mass of talent capable of doing the work. This is actually a critical moment in the history of human thought and understanding. Humanity has the opportunity to unlock the ultimate laws of the universe. But it has to take that opportunity now, or it may simply lose the expertise to do it, for the tragic reason that there isn't enough blasted funding for it! What an opportunity that is at our front door! I wish this book could be read by the widest audience possible, so that the urgency and importance of Kane's plea could be understood by the critical mass of lay people necessary to make sure scientists like Kane are able to take these next few steps that will reveal to humanity why the universe is construct the way it is. We do it now, or it may never happen.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Superymmetry at the wrong level, November 24, 2000

By 

John C. McClure (El Paso, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Supersymmetry : Unveiling the Ultimate Laws of Nature (Hardcover)

In his review of Gordon Kane's book Supersymetry, R.J. Fokkink bad raps Witten. The book doesn't claim to be co-authored by Witten and states only that the Forward was written by Witten--which he did.

The correct level for a book on a complicated subject such as supersymmetry is, of course, the author's first challenge and I believe that Kane shot too low. The "layman" will probably find the whole subject pretty dull and the "informed layman" familiar with the basics of the standard model won't find much that he or she didn't already know. I wish Kane and the physicists at Fermilab luck in finding a super particle in the next few years, but will be on the lookout for a more informative book on supersymmetry.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Very Disappointed, August 22, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Supersymmetry: Unveiling The Ultimate Laws Of Nature (Paperback)

I was looking forward to this book. Supersymmetry is such a fascinating subject, it is even more fascinating if nature turns out to be indeed supersymmetric. However this book, is written in such a style that it assumes that the readers IQ is below 50. The author throughout the book tells the reader that some of the details are too complicated for the reader to comprehend. He avoids using any equations, or in that case any significant mathematical examples that are above the level of a 5th grader. However he does explain the Higgs Boson pretty well. I was disappointed that the book is not more technical, I don't mean at the undergraduate senior level, but something that you would get a great read with basic calculus skill level.