Introduction to Elementary Particles: Prerequisites Needed?

[Someone1987]

I was wondering if anyone here has used David Griffith's "Introduction to Elementary Particles." I am thinking of buying it but I am curious as to what prerequisites I need to get through the book. Do I need a course in quantum mechanics (which I will be taking in the fall) or is the necessary material from quantum mechanics covered in the book so I can get through it on my own. I appreciate any advice.

 

[JasonJo]

I always thought that this book was like an intro to QM type text. I would check out amazon, possibly look up the Table of Contents, etc. Just from the title it seems like it is a beginner/intermediate QM text.

 

[humanino]

Hello Someone1987, and welcome to PF

here is the beginning of the preface to David Griffith's "Introduction to Elementary Particles." I know this is copyrighted material, and it may be deleted by mentors if they decide to do so. I believe you should be able to read it to make up your mind, as you would if you could open it in a bookstore.

This introduction to the theory of elementary particles is intended primarily for advanced undergraduates who are majoring in physics. Most of my colleagues consider this subject inappropriate for such an audience—mathematically too sophisticated, phenomelogically too cluttered, insecure in its foundations, and uncertain in its future. Ten years ago I would have agreed. But in the last decade the dust has settled to an astonishing degree, and it is fair to say that elementary particle physics has come of age. Although we obviously have much more to learn, there now exists a coherent and unified theoretical structure that is simply too exciting and important to save for graduate school or to serve up in diluted qualitative form as a subunit of modern physics. I believe the time has come to integrate elementary particle physics into the standard undergraduate curriculum. Unfortunately, the research literature in this field is clearly inaccessible to undergraduates, and although there are now several excellent graduate texts, these call for a strong preparation in advanced quantum mechanics, if not quantum field theory. At the other extreme, there are many fine popular books and a number of outstanding Scientific American articles. But very little has been written specifically for the undergraduate. This book is an effort to fill that need. It grew out of a one-semester elementary particles course I have taught from time to time at Reed College. The students typically had under their belts a semester of electromagnetism (at the level of Lorrain and Corson), a semester of quantum mechanics (at the level of Park), and a fairly strong background in special relativity.

I strongly recommend this book. The best would be if you can already read it from say a library and make up your mind whether it is suited for you to buy it.

 

[Vanadium 50]

I own Griffiths, and while it is an excellent book, it assumes that one has some QM background - I would say a certain level of comfort, so that Griffiths can glide past a few intermediate steps in QM so he can focus on what the book is about: particles.

I don't know what book JasonJo is thinking of, but don't think it's this one.

 

[George Jones]

I don't know what book JasonJo is thinking of, but don't think it's this one.

I think JasonJo is thinking of Introduction to Quantum Mechanics, also authored by David Griffiths.

 

[las3rjock]

here is the beginning of the preface to David Griffith's "Introduction to Elementary Particles." I know this is copyrighted material, and it may be deleted by mentors if they decide to do so. I believe you should be able to read it to make up your mind, as you would if you could open it in a bookstore.

I'm pretty sure that the excerpt you quoted is short enough to satisfy pretty much any definition of "fair use." See, for example, http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html:

The 1961 Report of the Register of Copyrights on the General Revision of the U.S. Copyright Law cites examples of activities that courts have regarded as fair use: “quotation of excerpts in a review or criticism for purposes of illustration or comment; quotation of short passages in a scholarly or technical work, for illustration or clarification of the author's observations; use in a parody of some of the content of the work parodied; summary of an address or article, with brief quotations, in a news report; reproduction by a library of a portion of a work to replace part of a damaged copy; reproduction by a teacher or student of a small part of a work to illustrate a lesson; reproduction of a work in legislative or judicial proceedings or reports; incidental and fortuitous reproduction, in a newsreel or broadcast, of a work located in the scene of an event being reported.”

 

[JasonJo]

I think JasonJo is thinking of Introduction to Quantum Mechanics, also authored by David Griffiths.

Yeap bingo, sorry about that.