Related papers: Elementary Particles: What are they? Substances, e…
We discuss a scenario of ``the path to physics at the Planck scale'' where todays theory of the interactions of elementary particles, the so called Standard Model (SM), emerges as a low energy effective theory describing the long distance…
After a revision of the main features of the structure of the Dirac electron a plausible definition of elementary particle is stated. It is shown that this definition leads in the classical case to a picture which produces a very clear…
The reader surely knows what particles physics is about: finding building blocks of nature that appear elementary at a given time and study their interactions - so why in the world this essay? The problem is how to arrive at a fundamental…
The mathematical rules used to handle systems of identical quantum particles bring into question whether the elementary constituents of matter, such as electrons, have the fundamental characteristics of persistence and reidentifiability…
In this paper we review the experimental and observational searches for stable, massive, elementary particles other than the electron and proton. The particles may be neutral, may have unit charge or may have fractional charge. They may…
There is debate as to whether quantum field theory is, at bottom, a quantum theory of fields or particles. One can take a field approach to the theory, using wave functionals over field configurations, or a particle approach, using wave…
We comment on the present status, the concepts and their limitations, and the successes and open problems of the various approaches to a relativistic quantum theory of elementary particles, with a hindsight to questions concerning quantum…
The possibility of a quantum system to exhibit properties that are akin to both the classically held notions of being a particle and a wave, is one of the most intriguing aspects of the quantum description of nature. These aspects have been…
These lectures aim at providing a pedagogical overview of neutrino physics. We will mostly deal with standard neutrinos, the ones that are part of the Standard Model of particle physics, and with their standard dynamics, which is enough to…
We make an attempt to describe the spectrum of masses of elementary particles, as it comes out empirically in six distinct scales. We argue for some rather well defined mass scales, like the electron mass: it seems to us that there is a…
These lectures present some basic facts in field theory necessary to understand the quantum theory of the Standard Model of weak and electromagnetic interactions.
Elementary particle physics is gradually implemented into science curricula at high school level. However, common presentations on educational, semi-technical or popular level contain or support severe misconceptions. We discuss in…
Symmetries are playing a very prominent role in natural sciences. In mathematics as the language of physics, symmetries are treated within the framework of group theory, which provides the tools to classify natural laws and physical objects…
An axiomatics for indistinguishability of elementary particles in terms of hidden variables is presented in a manner which depart from the standard approaches usually given to hidden variables. Quantum distribution functions are also…
In this article the current understanding of fundamental particles and their interactions is presented for the interested non-specialist, by adopting a semi-historical path. A discussion on the unresolved problems is also presented.
Essential elements of quantum theory are derived from an epistemic point of view, i.e., the viewpoint that thetheory has to do with what can be said about nature. This gives a relationship to statistical reasoning and to other areas of…
Classical results and recent developments on the theoretical description of elementary particles with "continuous" spin are reviewed. At free level, these fields are described by unitary irreducible representations of the isometry group…
The purpose of this paper is to come up with a framework that "converts" existing concepts from configuration space to ordinary one. This is done by modeling our universe as a big "computer" that simulates configuration space. If that…
Quantum particles and classical particles are described in a common setting of classical statistical physics. The property of a particle being "classical" or "quantum" ceases to be a basic conceptual difference. The dynamics differs,…
In Bohmian mechanics elementary particles exist objectively, as point particles moving according to a law determined by a wavefunction. In this context, questions as to whether the particles of a certain species are real--questions such as,…