Foundations of Physics, VoL 21, No. 5, 1991

Book Review Particle Physics and Cosmology. By P. D. B. Collins, A. D. Martin, and E. J. Squires. Wiley-Interscience, New York, 1989, x + 4 9 6 pp., $59.95 (cloth). The purpose of this book, in the authors' words, is to provide "an introduction to particle theory and cosmology that goes beyond their respective standard models, presented in the most simple and accessible terms possible." It is quite clear that the authors have been successful in doing just that. The authors begin (Chaps. 1-6) by providing a quick, yet thorough review of the standard SU(3)c x SU(2)L x U(1)y model which provides essentially background and motivation for later chapters. What I particularly liked about this overview is that both the successes and failures of the model are given more equal weight than one usually sees. Except for the inevitable briefness of this discussion, its only weakness is that it contains no mention of the many new tests of the standard electroweak model provided by data from the SLC and LEP over the past year, e.g., the determination of the Z boson mass (to 30 MeV), the result that there are only three neutrino generations, and a lower bound on the Higgs boson mass of -~44 GeV. Having motivated the need to go beyond the standard electroweak model, the authors present concise introductions to GUTS, Technicolor and Composite models, and SUSY (in Chaps. 7-10). The presentation on GUTS is particularly clear and detailed, except, perhaps, for the rather strong statement (on p. 167) that SU(5), SO(10), and E 6 a r e the "only natural candidates" for a GUTS group. This conclusion rests on the rather stringent requirements set forth by the authors a few pages earlier and is probably just a result of expediency on their part. The discussion of Technicolor is "classical" in the sense that so-called "Walking Technicolor," which avoids many of the difficulties mentioned by the authors, is not discussed. The SUSY presentation is clear and straightforward with a nice introduction to extended SUSY at the end of Chap. 10. After a short introduction to general relativity from the gauge theory viewpoint in Chap. 11, the authors push on to supergravity (Chap. 12) 631 0015-9018/91]0500-0631506.50/0 (Q 1991 Plenum PublishingCorporation

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and higher-dimensional theories (Chap. 13) with the advantages and disadvantages of both approaches clearly discussed. The discussion of non-abelian Kaluza-Klein theories is particularly clear and well-motivates the discussion of E8 × E8 and SO(32) gauge groups in the string theories (Chap. 14) context. The survey of strings is presented in pedagogical manner which is very readable and can be easily understood by a novice; it is surely one of the best presentations I have seen on the subject. Chapter 15 provides an extremely complete, yet concise treatment of standard big bang cosmology including a discussion on nucleosynthesis, baryosynthesis, and the missing mass problem. The recent results from LEP have greatly reduced the number of potential dark matter candidates, and the discussion of the various possible particles which could be dark matter would have benefited from this knowledge. Chapter 16 gives an overview of Inflationary Cosmology and provides an enjoyable discussion of cosmologies in higher dimensions. A brief discussion of "baby universe" models in this chapter would have rounded the discussion off nicely. The influence of monopoles, strings, and domain walls--all of which can occur in GUT models of the standard big bang scenario--is presented in Chap. 17. The authors show with some simple examples how present observational data constrains these possibilities yet still allows them to be potentially important in the formation of large-scale structures in the universe. The final chapter of the book surveys a number of connections between astrophysics and particle physics, including the Standard Solar Model, the solar neutrino problem, and supernovae. Although the detailed physics behind these phenomena is complex, the authors do an excellent job at presenting the basics by making semiquantitative calculations throughout the presentation that can be easily understood by any non-expert reader. The recent results of the Gallex and Kamiokande solar neutrino experiments, not included here, would have provided an even more stimulating discussion of the solar neutrino problem. In summary, I would say that these authors have done an excellent job on the preparation of this text, their coverage of subjects, and the level of their presentation. The only weakness in the text is that some of the more recent experimental results and theoretical ideas that have appeared during the past year are missing. With this small caveat, I would highly recommend this book for both instructional use in a graduate course or for non-experts who want to gain an appreciation for the recent rapid progress in both particle physics and cosmology. Thomas G. Rizzo

Department of Physics University of Wisconsin Madison, Wisconsin 53706 Printed in Belgium