- Particle Data Group
The Particle Data Group is an international collaboration of particle
physicist s that compiles and reanalyzes published results related to the properties of particles andfundamental interaction s. It also publishes reviews of theoretical results that are phenomologically relevant, including those in related fields such ascosmology . The Particle Data Group currently publishes the "Review of Particle Physics" and its pocket version, the "Particle Physics Booklet", which are printed biennially as books, and updated annually via theWorld Wide Web .The Particle Data Group also publishes the "Pocket Diary for Physicists", a calendar with the dates of key international conferences and contact information of major
high energy physics institutions. The Particle Data Group further maintains the standard numbering scheme for particles inevent generator s, in association with the event generator authors.Review of Particle Physics
The Review of Particle Physics [ [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2008.07.018 Particle Data Group: C. Amsler "et al.", Phys. Lett. B 667, 1 (2008).] ] (formerly Review of Particle Properties, Data on Particles and Resonant States, and Data on Elementary Particles and Resonant States) is a voluminous, 1200 page reference work which summarizes particle properties and reviews the current status of
elementary particle physics ,general relativity andbig-bang cosmology. Usually singled out forcitation analysis , it is currently the most cited article inhigh energy physics , being cited more than 2000 times annually in the scientific literature (as of2007 ) [ [http://www.slac.stanford.edu/library/topcites/ Top Cited HEP Articles] fromSPIRES ] .The Review is currently divided into 3 sections:
* Particle Physics Summary Tables—Brief tables of particles: gauge andhiggs boson s,lepton s,quark s,meson s,baryon s, constraints for the search for hypothetical particles and violation of physical laws.
* Reviews, Tables and Plots—Review of fundamental concepts from mathematics and statistics, table ofClebsch-Gordan coefficient s,periodic table of elements , table ofelectron ic configuration of the elements, brief table of material properties, review of current status in the fields ofStandard Model ,Cosmology , andexperiment al method of particle physics, and with tables of fundamental physical and astronomical constants (many fromCODATA and theAstronomical Almanac ).
* Particle Listings—Comprehensive version of the "Particle Physics Summary Tables", with all significant measurements fully referenced.A condensed version of the "Review", with the "Summary Tables", a significantly shortened "Reviews, Tables and Plots", and without the "Particle Listings", is available as a 300 page, pocket-sized Particle Physics Booklet.
The history of "Review of Particle Physics" can be traced back to the
1957 article "Hyperons and Heavy Mesons (Systematics and Decay)" byMurray Gell-Mann andArthur H Rosenfeld [ [http://arjournals.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.ns.07.120157.002203 M. Gell-Mann & A. H. Rosenfeld, Ann. Rev. Nucl. Sci. 7, 407 (1957).] ] , and the unpublished update tables for its data with the title "Data for Elementary Particle Physics" (University of California Radiation Laboratory Report UCRL-8030) [ [http://link.aps.org/abstract/RMP/v36/p977 A. H. Rosenfeld "et al.", Rev. Mod. Phys. 36, 977 (1964);] [http://arjournals.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev.ns.25.120175.003011 A. H. Rosenfeld, Ann. Rev. Nucl. Sci. 25, 555 (1975).] ] that were circulated before the actual publication of the original article. In1963 , [http://www.physics.helsinki.fi/~mroos/ Matts Ross] independently published a compilation "Data on Elementary Particles and Resonant States" [ [http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0029-5582(64)90671-6 M. Roos, Nucl. Phys. 52, 1 (1964);] [http://link.aps.org/abstract/RMP/v35/p314 M. Roos, Rev. Mod. Phys. 35, 314 (1963).] ] . On his suggestion, the two publication were merged a year later into the 1964 "Data on Elementary Particles and Resonant States".The publication underwent three renaming thereafter:
1965 into "Data on Particles and Resonant States",1970 into "Review of Particle Properties", and1996 into the present form "Review of Particle Physics". Starting with1972 , the "Review" no longer appear exclusively onReviews of Modern Physics of theAmerican Physical Society , but alternately also byReed Elsevier 's Physics Letters B and other journals.Past editions of Review of Particle Physics
References
ee also
*
CODATA
*Landolt-Börnstein External links
* [http://pdg.lbl.gov Particle Data Group & WWW edition of "Review of Particle Physics"]
* [http://sebintokyo.free.fr/images/particlereview1.jpgPhoto of the 2004 "Review of Particle Physics"]
* [http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/cms/?pid=1000382 First edition of the wallet card from the Particle Data Group, 1958]
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