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Progress in elementary particle and cosmic ray physics
Book Reviews PROGRESS IN ELEMENTARY PARTICLE ANn COSMIC RAY PHYSICS, Vol. VIII, edited by J. G. Wilson and S. A. Wouthuysen. 393 pages, diagrams, 6 X 9 in. New York, J o h n Wiley & Sons (North-Holland), 1965. Price, $14.00. In the past each volume in this series has carried some articles on cosmic rays; however, this one appears to be a notable exception. While the editors made no a t t e m p t to balance particle physics with cosmic ray physics, they did try to strike a reasonable medium, and as a result the volume contains two theoretical and two experimental papers. The first paper on analyticity in potential scattering by A. M a r t i n is a concise b u t lucid account of dispersion theoretic techniques applied to potential scattering. I t is refreshing to see t h a t many useful properties of scattering amplitudes which are often "wishful conjectures" in high energy physics can actually be proved rigorously and simply in nonrelativistic potential scattering. One is here reminded of an Italian proverb: Se non
vero ~ bene trovato. The second article is an exposition on higher symmetries in particle physics b y one of the originators of the currently accepted symmetry scheme, the eightfold way. I n the article Y. N e ' e m a n tries to mention almost everything significant t h a t has been done in this area up to the summer of 1964. The reviewer feels t h a t the article could have been a much better one had N e ' e m a n a t t e m p t e d to explain what SU(3) is really about and how to work with it, instead of merely reviewing what has been done by whom in this v a s t and popular subject. There is, however, little doubt t h a t the article serves as a useful guide to the literature on higher symmetries for serious workers. The third article on negative K mesons by M. M. Nikoli5 is a useful compendium of experimental facts on K - experiments. I t is remarkable t h a t almost all of our knowledge of strange particles accumulated in the past ten years is actually derived from K-p, K-d, K-He and K--emulsion experiments performed at various beam energies. The physics
of negative K mesons is therefore synonymous with strange particle physics, as amply demonstrated b y Nikoli6. The last article by A. G. Tenner and G. F. Wolters is concerned with resonances in strong interaction physics. They have done all excellent job in summarizing experimental information on the existence, the mass, the width, and the q u a n t u m numbers (spinparity, isospin, etc.) of each of the various resonant states (or short-lived particles). I t is regrettable t h a t the article is already somewhat out of date; since it was submitted for publication, there have been numerous import a n t developments in this field--new phaseshift analyses in pion-nucleon scattering, new ~±p, ~±d, K~:p and K+d total cross section measurements t h a t have uncovered more resonances, a new nonet of spin-two mesons, etc. Could one perhaps persuade North-Holland Publishing Co. to speed up a little in printing various review articles? (In this connection it may be mentioned t h a t Annual Review of Nuclear Science publishes review articles about four months after they are submitted;
Progress in Elementary Particle and Cosmic Ray Physics usually takes three times t h a t long.) J. J. SAKURA1
Enrico Fermi Institute for Nuclear Studies Umversity of Chicago Chicago, Illinois QUANTUM ~'IELD THEORETICAL METHODS IN STATISTICAL PHYSICS, by A. A. Abrikosov, et al. 365 pages, diagrams, 6 X 9 in. (Russian trans, by E. E. Brown). Oxford, England, Pergamon Press, Ltd., 1965. Price, $12.00. Few books exist which can be read again and again, and with each reading something new learned. The monograph by Abrikosov, Gor'kov and Dzialoshinskii is one of those. It spans so many subjects, and the physical insight of the authors is so deep, t h a t one always uncovers some new feature not noticed earlier. The present edition contains a substantial amount of new material compared to the earlier American translation.
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vero ~ bene trovato. The second article is an exposition on higher symmetries in particle physics b y one of the originators of the currently accepted symmetry scheme, the eightfold way. I n the article Y. N e ' e m a n tries to mention almost everything significant t h a t has been done in this area up to the summer of 1964. The reviewer feels t h a t the article could have been a much better one had N e ' e m a n a t t e m p t e d to explain what SU(3) is really about and how to work with it, instead of merely reviewing what has been done by whom in this v a s t and popular subject. There is, however, little doubt t h a t the article serves as a useful guide to the literature on higher symmetries for serious workers. The third article on negative K mesons by M. M. Nikoli5 is a useful compendium of experimental facts on K - experiments. I t is remarkable t h a t almost all of our knowledge of strange particles accumulated in the past ten years is actually derived from K-p, K-d, K-He and K--emulsion experiments performed at various beam energies. The physics
of negative K mesons is therefore synonymous with strange particle physics, as amply demonstrated b y Nikoli6. The last article by A. G. Tenner and G. F. Wolters is concerned with resonances in strong interaction physics. They have done all excellent job in summarizing experimental information on the existence, the mass, the width, and the q u a n t u m numbers (spinparity, isospin, etc.) of each of the various resonant states (or short-lived particles). I t is regrettable t h a t the article is already somewhat out of date; since it was submitted for publication, there have been numerous import a n t developments in this field--new phaseshift analyses in pion-nucleon scattering, new ~±p, ~±d, K~:p and K+d total cross section measurements t h a t have uncovered more resonances, a new nonet of spin-two mesons, etc. Could one perhaps persuade North-Holland Publishing Co. to speed up a little in printing various review articles? (In this connection it may be mentioned t h a t Annual Review of Nuclear Science publishes review articles about four months after they are submitted;
Progress in Elementary Particle and Cosmic Ray Physics usually takes three times t h a t long.) J. J. SAKURA1
Enrico Fermi Institute for Nuclear Studies Umversity of Chicago Chicago, Illinois QUANTUM ~'IELD THEORETICAL METHODS IN STATISTICAL PHYSICS, by A. A. Abrikosov, et al. 365 pages, diagrams, 6 X 9 in. (Russian trans, by E. E. Brown). Oxford, England, Pergamon Press, Ltd., 1965. Price, $12.00. Few books exist which can be read again and again, and with each reading something new learned. The monograph by Abrikosov, Gor'kov and Dzialoshinskii is one of those. It spans so many subjects, and the physical insight of the authors is so deep, t h a t one always uncovers some new feature not noticed earlier. The present edition contains a substantial amount of new material compared to the earlier American translation.
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