Table Of ContentandreI sakharoV
Quarks and the structure of Matter
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andreI sakharoV
Quarks and the structure of Matter
Harry J Lipkin
Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel
World Scientific
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Published by
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ANDREI SAKHAROV
Quarks and the Structure of Matter
Copyright © 2013 by World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form or by any means,
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ISBN 978-981-4407-41-0 (pbk)
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Printed in Singapore.
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Contents
Preface vii
Chapter1. QuarksandSmuggledPostcards
fromAndreiSakharov 1
Chapter2. AndreiSakharovandtheWeizmannInstitute 19
Chapter3. TheWeizmannInstituteandtheScientific
Historyof Sakharov’sWork 29
Chapter4. HowScientistsStudyNature—Pure
andAppliedResearch 47
Chapter5. TheBuildingBlocksof Matter—What
isaQuark? 85
Chapter6. TheForcesof Nature 121
Chapter7. TheWeakForceandtheDiscovery
of theWParticle 137
Index 147
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Preface
AndreiSakharov—adistinguishedRussianphysicist
Sakharov was the “father of the Russian hydrogen bomb’ and also
madegreatcontributionstoourunderstandinganduseof physics.
He pioneered the search for a way to tame the awesome fusion
energythatexplodedthehydrogenbomb.Hedevelopedmethodsthat
couldenablefusionenergytobeusedforpeacefulpurposes.Healso
investigatedthepropertiesofmatter.Weknewthenthattherearetwo
kindsofmattercalledmatterandantimatter.Bothkindswerecreated
in laboratory experiments but the universe we knew contained only
matterandnoantimatter.Thisincludedallthestarsandgalaxiesseen
byastronomers.Theiropticalinstrumentscoulddistinguishbetween
light coming from matter and light from antimatter. They saw only
lightfrommatter.Themysteryoftheabsenceofantimatteroccupied
physicistsformanyyears.Sakharovwasthefirsttosolvethismystery.
Both matter and antimatter were created equally in the “big bang”
theory of the origin of the universe. Sakharov showed how all the
antimatter could decay leaving only matter. This matter–antimatter
problemisstillnotsolvedbutallsearchesstartwiththeseminalwork
ofAndreiSakharov.
Saharov also investigated the structure of matter which was
knowntomadeofatomscontainingprotons,electronsandnuclei.In
1964thePhysicistsGell-MannandZweigproposedthattheneutrons
andprotonswerereallymadeofsmallerconstituentscalled“quarks”.
Thephysicscommunityrejectedthequarkpictureasnonsense.But
SakharovandhiscolleagueZeldovichinvestigatedthisquarkmodel
and found very interesting results. At the same time this quark
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modelwasindependentlyinvestigatedbymygroupattheWeizmann
InstituteinRehovot,Israel.Butwedidnotknowof theirworkuntil
muchlater.
Sakharov was treated by his government as a great hero until
he began to criticize the Russian Government. He wrote critical
articleswhichwerecirculatedabroad.Thegovernmentthenarrested
Sakharovandsentencedhimtoisolationinthecityof Gorkywhich
was closed to foreigners. Despite all these restrictions he continued
to do scientific work. He was not allowed to publish his work or
sendittophysicistsabroad.In1980hiswifeandfriendsmanagedto
smugglesomeofhisworkabroadandtriedtogetitpublishedinthe
UnitedStates.TheAmericanshesitatedbecausetheywereafraidthat
theRussianswouldclaimthatSakharov’sworkwasbeingpublished
only for political reasons. They wanted to be sure that it was a good
scientificpaperthatwouldbeacceptedonpurelyscientificgrounds.
My colleague Tom Ferbel was asked to review Sakharov’s paper.
Since it was on the quark model of matter and I was a recognized
expertatthetime,Tomaskedmetoreviewthepaper.Iwasamazedto
findthatitwasidenticaltoworkIwasdoinginRehovot.Thisledto
publicitywithinternationalimplications.TheRussianshadclaimed
that Sakharov was a great man, but he was now old and senile and
isolated for his own good. My analysis of his work showed that the
Russian excuse was simply wrong. Sakharov was not senile. On the
contrary he was engaged in great physics research. The Washington
Postlearnedof myanalysisandpublishedanarticleaboutSakharov
and my work with a title“A voice out of the darkness”. This led to a
flood of articles in the media and led me to give a series of popular
scientific lectures and magazine and newspaper articles for a wide
variety of general audiences, including Rotary Clubs, high school
students, laymen interested in science, and professors in the social
sciences and humanities. These lectures were first motivated by the
attemptstohelpAndreiSakharov.
Myfurthercontactswiththescientificworkof Sakharovturned
into a remarkable adventure in which I received more manuscripts
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and postcards from him in his exile in Gorky, smuggled out of
the Soviet Union. The story of this adventure and of Sakharov’s
work and achievements fit beautifully into the description of what
scientific research is all about and how it is done. The quarks which
were then rejected as nonsense are now recognized as the basic tiny
building blocks which are bound together to make the matter we
know.LecturesoriginallygivenforpublicityofSakharov’splightgrew
into lectures and articles which fascinated many general audiences,
professors and professionals in other fields, and newspaper and
magazine editors and readers. They all responded enthusiastically
tothiscombinationofthehumanintereststoryandachievementsof
Sakharovwithanunderstandabledescriptionofmodernphysicsand
thepresentstateofourknowledgeofthenatureofmatterandenergy.
Iexplainedhowthequarkbuildingblocksofmatterwerediscovered
andunderstood.Ialsopresentedapictureofhowhowscientistswork
anddevelopnewknowledge,anddiscussedthepurposeof itall.
Professor Moshe Barasch of the Hebrew University and Mosad
BialiksuggestedthatIputthematerialtogetherinabook.Thisbook
grewoutof theselectures.
Fromearth,air,fireandwatertoquarks
Throughoutthecenturies,scientistshavepuzzledoverthequestions,
what is matter made of, and what are the forces of nature. The
ancients believed that everything was composed of four elements,
earth, air, fire and water. Now we know that water is a compound
made of hydrogen and oxygen and that fire is a chemical reaction
thatproducesenergywhichcanbebothusefultomankindandcause
terrible destruction. Earth and air are mixtures of many different
chemicalelementsandcompounds.
During the twentieth century scientists have made very great
progressinunderstandingthenatureofmatterandenergy.Theyhave
foundnewsourcesofenergy,whichlikefirearealsocapableofterrible
destruction and of being harnessed to do useful work for mankind.
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