The Infinity Puzzle

The Infinity Puzzle Quantum Field Theory and the Hunt for an Orderly Universe

Hardback (29 Nov 2011)

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Publisher's Synopsis

Speculation is rife that by 2012 the elusive Higgs boson will be found at the Large Hadron Collider. If found, the Higgs boson would help explain why everything has mass. But there's more at stake—what we're really testing is our capacity to make the universe reasonable.

Our best understanding of physics is predicated on something known as quantum field theory. Unfortunately, in its raw form, it doesn't make sense—its outputs are physically impossible infinite percentages when they should be something simpler, like the number 1. The kind of physics that the Higgs boson represents seeks to “renormalize” field theory, forcing equations to provide answers that match what we see in the real world.

The Infinity Puzzle is the story of a wild idea on the road to acceptance. Only Close can tell it.

Book information

ISBN: 9780465021444
Publisher: Basic Books
Imprint: Basic Books
Pub date:
DEWEY: 530.143
DEWEY edition: 23
Number of pages: 448
Weight: 703g
Height: 235mm
Width: 155mm
Spine width: 37mm