"Version: 20210207"--Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references.

part I. What we probably know. 1. The Standard Models--overview and perspective -- 1.1. The large number of solutions to string/M-theory is not an obstacle to finding a theory that describes nature -- 1.2. String theorists study theories, not phenomena -- 1.3. Nutcracker -- 1.4. Why the Standard Model is true--it will be extended but not replaced in its domain -- 1.5. Experimental confirmations of the Standard Model -- 1.6. Theoretical evidence for the Standard Model -- 1.7. In recent decades the boundaries of the goals of physics have changed

2. The Planck scale--compactification--extra dimensions -- 3. Higgs physics: the hierarchy problem -- 4. Supersymmetry -- 4.1. Supersymmetry as a space-time symmetry--superspace -- 4.2. Hidden or 'broken' supersymmetry

5. Compactification -- 5.1. It's astonishing that a mathematical physics argument has pushed us to think we live in a world with nine or ten space dimensions -- 5.2. String theorists study theories, not phenomena

6. The visible sector -- 6.1. The final theory list

7. Anthropic questions and string theory -- 8. The scales we need to explain -- 8.1. Higgs physics--electroweak symmetry breaking--the supersymmetry Higgs sector -- 8.2. Gravitino and heavy superpartners

9. Testing theories in physics, including string theories -- 10. Dark matter candidates

part II. Explaining and interpreting recent compactified M-theory results. 11. Moduli -- 12. Hidden sectors -- 13. Inflation -- 14. The matter asymmetry -- 15. Possible tests soon -- 16. Future colliders? -- 17. Three families, quark mass hierarchies and splittings -- 18. How much can we understand?

This book attempts to explain why string theory may provide the comprehensive underlying theory that describes and explains our world. It is an enthusiastic view of how compactified string/M-theories, plus data that may be reachable, seem to have the possibilities of leading to a comprehensive underlying theory of particle physics and cosmology, perhaps soon. We are living in a hugely exciting era for science, one during which it may be possible to achieve a real and true understanding of our physical world. Founded on three decades of research, this second edition covers the Planck scale, Higgs physics, supersymmetry and supersymmetry breaking, the Hierarchy problem, dark matter, inflation, hidden sectors, future colliders, testing theories in physics, possible limits to understanding, and more.

Theoretical and phenomenological physicists.

Also available in print.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader, EPUB reader, or Kindle reader.

Gordon Kane is the Victor Weisskopf Distinguished University Professor at the University of Michigan and Director Emeritus at the Michigan Center for Theoretical Physics (MCTP, now Leinweber Center), a leading center for the advancement of theoretical physics. He was director of the MCTP from 2005-2011 and Victor Weisskopf Collegiate Professor of Physics from 2002-2011. He received the Lilienfeld Prize from the American Physical Society in 2012, and the J J Sakurai Prize for Theoretical Particle Physics in 2017. Kane is an internationally recognized scientific leader in theoretical and phenomenological particle physics, and theories for physics beyond the Standard Model. In recent years he has been a leader in string phenomenology. Kane has been with the University of Michigan since 1965.

Title from PDF title page (viewed on August 5, 2021).