weak interaction and nuclear β-decay: h.f. schopper, (north-holland publ. co., amsterdam, 1966....

BOOK REVIEWS 707

L. B. OKUN, 14"oak interaction o f elementary particles (Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1965. x-292 p. !,~3)

In view of the ple thora o f monographs , lecture notes and conference reports on the themes o f current interest in the physics o f e lementary particles, there was really no need to put on the 1965 marke t a course o f lectures o f 1960, insufficiently patched up by the addit ion o f a jumble chapter on subsequent progress.

L.R.

H. F. SCHOPPER, Weak interactions and nuclear fl-decay (Nor th -Hol land Publ. Co., A m s t e r d a m , 1966. x-417 p. 55fl.)

This substant ia l m o n o g r a p h has more the character o f a survey - very tho rough and authori ta t ive - than o f a textbook, i nasmuch as details and proofs are most ly omit ted; but the essential steps o f the a rgumen t s are nearly always indicated with great clarity; also the often complicated exper imental a r rangements are represented by neat schematic drawings. The needs o f the physicists actively en- gaged in research in the field are everywhere catered for by a generous and judicious supply o f rele- van t tables and graphs; this is in part icular the case for the impor tan t reformulat ion o f the general theory o f fl-decay by the Heidelberg group, which makes possible a r igorous interpretat ion o f the informat ion derived f rom the experiments . However, the book is much more than just a compi la t ion o f the material ; the t rea tment o f the m a n y intricate and still imperfectly unders tood problems is so systemat ic and critical that all those who wish to orient themselves in this vast doma in - for the sake o f preparat ion to research or just o f informat ion - will find it a reliable and suggestive guide.

L.R.

R. J. EDEN, P. V. LANDSHOFF, D. I. OLIVE and J. C. POLKINGItDRNE, The analytic S-matrix (Cambridge Universi ty Press, 1966. viii-287p. 75s.)

This m o n o g r a p h is concerned with the analytic behaviour o f the S-matrix, considered as an ap- proach to the analysis o f the relat ionships between fundamenta l const i tuents o f mat ter not implying any detailed knowledge o f the underlying dynamics o f the processes. Opt imis ts expect such an anal- ysis to lead, so far as it goes, to " 'correct" results, i.e. to results that would also follow from the more complete description o f the p h e n o m e n a which is our ul t imate goal. Such hopes should be tempered by the observat ion that the s tudy of the S-matr ix can only be pursued to any useful extent on the basis o f certain general postulates, o f which it may be doubted that their actual range o f validity has the extent required. Be this as it may, the S-matr ix technique is a powerful tool which it is worthwhile to try out to its u tmos t refinements. The efforts in this direction, to which the au thors have made impor tan t contr ibut ions , are here presented systematically with all the author i ty o f f irst-hand knowl- edge. The subject is sternly mathemat ica l ; such feeble a t tempts at a pic turesque terminology as " 'pinch" and "wool ly cusp" hardly br ing any relief f rom its abstract ion. Qui si convien lasciare ogni sospetto. Four s turdy guides are not too many for the ascension o f these lofty peaks; but they can ' t tell whether there is a view f rom the top.

L.R.

E. J. KONOPINSKY, The theory o f beta radioactit'ity (Clarendon Press, Oxford Universi ty Press, 1966. 403 p. 75s.)

The book gives a s t andard in t roduct ion to the theory o f nuclear beta decay including muon-cap tu re and pion decay. It conta ins all the relevant technical details o f Dirac wave functions, mult ipole ex- pans ions and angula r m o m e n t u m coupling. Still, when it goes beyond these technical problems the book conta ins several unclear and imprecise explanat ions , so that one would hesitate to r ecommend it for s tudents as an in t roduct ion to the theory o f beta radioactivity.

Jorgen D a m g h r d