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In the first fractions of a second after the Big Bang lingers a question at the heart of our very existence: why does the universe contain matter but almost no antimatter? The laws of physics tell us that equal amounts of matter and antimatter were produced in the early universe--but then something odd happened. Matter won out over antimatter; had it not, the universe today would be dark and barren. But how and when did this occur? In The Mystery of the Missing Antimatter, Helen Quinn and Yossi Nir guide readers into the very heart of this mystery--and along the way offer an exhilarating grand tour of cutting-edge physics.
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About the author
Helen R. Quinn is professor emerita of particle physics and astrophysics at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center at Stanford University. A member of the National Academy of Sciences, she is the coauthor of
The Charm of Strange Quarks: Mysteries and Revolutions of Particle Physics.
Yossi Nir is professor of physics at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.
Summary
In the first fractions of a second after the Big Bang lingers a question at the heart of our very existence: why does the universe contain matter but almost no antimatter? The laws of physics tell us that equal amounts of matter and antimatter were produced in the early universe--but then something odd happened. Matter won out over antimatter; had
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"Two distinguished physicists, Quinn and Nir trace in some detail both the history of modern particle physics and its relation to cosmology. Even though the text is free from equations, the authors clearly explain the details of the theories presented and their development. The logic and the meaning of the connections among the ideas make it interesting and challenging….This is a fine book that belongs in college libraries."---K. L. Schick, emeritus, Union College (NY), for, CHOICE
Report
"Quinn and Nir have a daunting task explaining . . . one of the most active areas of theoretical physics today. If you like reading cosmologist Steven Hawking's A Brief History of Time, or particle physicist Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe, you will find The Mystery of the Missing Antimatter an absorbing scientific whodunit."--Laurence A. Marschall, Natural History
