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The nature of elementary particles

MAR 01, 1976
Because particle number is not conserved in high‐energy interactions it may be meaningless to ask about the constituent parts of elementary particles; perhaps the central problem is dynamics.

DOI: 10.1063/1.3023367

Werner Heisenberg

The question, “What is an elementary particle?” must find its answer primarily in experiment, although it must also be confronted with philosphical considerations. I will therefore begin by giving a short survey of the important experimental results of the last fifty years. This survey will show that a critical unbiased study of these results already gives an answer to the question; theory, as we shall see, cannot add much to this answer.

More about the Authors

Werner Heisenberg. Max Planck Institute for Physics and Astrophysics.

This Content Appeared In
pt-cover_1976_03.jpeg

Volume 29, Number 3

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