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

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'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.

Author: Frank Close
Publisher: Basic Books
Published: 06/25/2013
Pages: 464
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.20lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.10w x 1.40d
ISBN13: 9780465063826
ISBN10: 0465063829
BISAC Categories:
- Science | Physics | Quantum Theory
- Science | History
- Science | Waves & Wave Mechanics

About the Author
Frank Close is a professor of physics at the University of Oxford. A longtime science writer, Close is the author of many books, including The Infinity Puzzle, Neutrino, Nothing, The Void, and The Cosmic Onion. He lives in Abingdon, England.