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SEVENTY YEARS OF DOUBLE BETA DECAY
>From Nuclear Physics to Beyond-Standard-Model Particle Physics
edited by H V Klapdor-Kleingrothaus (Max-Planck-Institut
fur Kernphysik, Germany)
1556pp
978-981-283-235-1: US$350 / £231 US$262.50
/ £173.25
In the last 20 years the disciplines of particle physics,
astrophysics, nuclear physics and cosmology have grown together in an
unprecedented way. A brilliant example is nuclear double beta decay, an
extremely rare radioactive decay mode, which is one of the most
exciting and important fields of research in particle physics at
present and the flagship of non-accelerator particle physics.
While already discussed in the 1930s, only in the 1980s was
it understood that neutrinoless double beta decay can yield information
on the Majorana mass of the neutrino, which has an impact on the
structure of space-time. Today, double beta decay is indispensable for
solving the problem of the neutrino mass spectrum and the structure of
the neutrino mass matrix. The potential of double beta decay has also
been extended such that it is now one of the most promising tools for
probing beyond-the-standard-model particle physics, and gives access to
energy scales beyond the potential of future accelerators.
This book presents the breathtaking manner in which
achievements in particle physics have been made from a nuclear physics
process. Consisting of a 150-page highly factual overview of the field
of double beta decay and a 1200-page collection of the most important
original articles, the book outlines the development of double beta
decay research — theoretical and experimental — from its humble
beginnings until its most recent achievements, with its revolutionary
consequences for the theory of particle physics. It further presents an
outlook on the exciting future of the field.
Contents:
- From the Early Days until the Gauge Theory Era
- The Nuclear Physics Side — Nuclear Matrix
Elements
- Double Beta Decay, Neutrino Mass Models and
Cosmological Parameters — Status and Prospects
- Other Beyond Standard Model Physics: From SUSY
and Leptoquarks to Compositeness and Space-Time Structure
- The Experimental Race: From the Late Eighties
to the Discovery of 0¦Í¦Â¦Â Decay
- The Future of Double Beta Decay
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