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Symmetry principles and conservation laws in atomic and subatomic physics — 1

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Abstract

The whole theoretical framework of physics rests only on a few but profound principles. Wigner enlightened us by elucidating that “It is now natural for us to try to derive the laws of nature and to test their validity by means of the laws of invariance, rather than to derive the laws of invariance from what we believe to be the laws of nature.” Issues pertaining to symmetry, invariance principles and fundamental laws challenge the most gifted minds today. These topics require a deep and extensive understanding of both ‘quantum mechanics’ and the ‘theory of relativity’. We attempt in this pedagogical article to present a heuristic understanding of these fascinating relationships based only on rather elementary considerations in classical and quantum mechanics. An introduction to some fundamental considerations regarding continuous symmetries, dynamical symmetries (Part 1), and discrete symmetries (Part 2) (parity, charge conjugation and time-reversal), and their applications in atomic, nuclear and particle physics, will be presented.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras Chennai, 600036, India

    P. C. Deshmukh & J. Libby

Authors
  1. P. C. Deshmukh
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  2. J. Libby
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Correspondence to P. C. Deshmukh or J. Libby.

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(left) P C Deshmukh is a Professor of Physics at IIT Madras. He leads an active research group in the field of atomic and molecular physics and is involved in extensive worldwide research collaborations in both theoretical and experimental investigations in this field. He enjoys teaching both undergraduate and advanced graduate level courses.

(right) Jim Libby is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics at IIT, Madras. He is an experimental particle physicist specialising in CP violating phenomena.

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Deshmukh, P.C., Libby, J. Symmetry principles and conservation laws in atomic and subatomic physics — 1. Reson 15, 832–842 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12045-010-0092-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12045-010-0092-7

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