Particle Data Group
Encyclopedia
The Particle Data Group is an international collaboration of particle physicists
that compiles and reanalyzes published results related to the properties of particles and fundamental interaction
s. It also publishes reviews of theoretical results that are phenomenologically relevant, including those in related fields such as cosmology
. The PDG 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 the World Wide Web
.
The PDG 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. It also further maintains the standard numbering scheme for particles in event generator
s, in association with the event generator authors.
and big-bang cosmology. Usually singled out for citation analysis
, it is currently the most cited article in high energy physics, being cited more than 2,000 times annually in the scientific literature .
The Review is currently divided into 3 sections:
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) by Murray Gell-Mann
and Arthur H. Rosenfeld, and the unpublished update tables for its data with the title Data for Elementary Particle Physics (University of California Radiation Laboratory Technical Report UCRL-8030) that were circulated before the actual publication of the original article. In 1963, Matts Roos independently published a compilation Data on Elementary Particles and Resonant States. On his suggestion, the two publications 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, and 1996 into the present form Review of Particle Physics. Starting with 1972, the Review no longer appear exclusively in Reviews of Modern Physics
, but also in Physics Letters B, European Physical Journal C, Journal of Physics G, and Physical Review D (depending on the year).
Particle physics
Particle physics is a branch of physics that studies the existence and interactions of particles that are the constituents of what is usually referred to as matter or radiation. In current understanding, particles are excitations of quantum fields and interact following their dynamics...
that compiles and reanalyzes published results related to the properties of particles and fundamental interaction
Fundamental interaction
In particle physics, fundamental interactions are the ways that elementary particles interact with one another...
s. It also publishes reviews of theoretical results that are phenomenologically relevant, including those in related fields such as cosmology
Cosmology
Cosmology is the discipline that deals with the nature of the Universe as a whole. Cosmologists seek to understand the origin, evolution, structure, and ultimate fate of the Universe at large, as well as the natural laws that keep it in order...
. The PDG 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 the World Wide Web
World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
.
The PDG 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. It also further maintains the standard numbering scheme for particles in event generator
Event generator
Event generators are software libraries that generate simulated high-energy particle physics events.They randomly generate events as those produced in particle accelerators, collider experiments or during the initial phases of the Universe creation....
s, in association with the event generator authors.
Review of Particle Physics
The Review of Particle Physics (formerly Review of Particle Properties, Data on Particles and Resonant States, and Data on Elementary Particles and Resonant States) is a voluminous, 1,200+ page reference work which summarizes particle properties and reviews the current status of elementary particle physics, general relativityGeneral relativity
General relativity or the general theory of relativity is the geometric theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1916. It is the current description of gravitation in modern physics...
and big-bang cosmology. Usually singled out for citation analysis
Citation analysis
Citation analysis is the examination of the frequency, patterns, and graphs of citations in articles and books. It uses citations in scholarly works to establish links to other works or other researchers. Citation analysis is one of the most widely used methods of bibliometrics...
, it is currently the most cited article in high energy physics, being cited more than 2,000 times annually in the scientific literature .
The Review is currently divided into 3 sections:
- Particle Physics Summary Tables—Brief tables of particles: gaugeGauge bosonIn particle physics, gauge bosons are bosonic particles that act as carriers of the fundamental forces of nature. More specifically, elementary particles whose interactions are described by gauge theory exert forces on each other by the exchange of gauge bosons, usually as virtual particles.-...
and higgs bosonHiggs bosonThe Higgs boson is a hypothetical massive elementary particle that is predicted to exist by the Standard Model of particle physics. Its existence is postulated as a means of resolving inconsistencies in the Standard Model...
s, leptonLeptonA lepton is an elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. The best known of all leptons is the electron which governs nearly all of chemistry as it is found in atoms and is directly tied to all chemical properties. Two main classes of leptons exist: charged leptons , and neutral...
s, quarkQuarkA quark is an elementary particle and a fundamental constituent of matter. Quarks combine to form composite particles called hadrons, the most stable of which are protons and neutrons, the components of atomic nuclei. Due to a phenomenon known as color confinement, quarks are never directly...
s, mesonMesonIn particle physics, mesons are subatomic particles composed of one quark and one antiquark, bound together by the strong interaction. Because mesons are composed of sub-particles, they have a physical size, with a radius roughly one femtometer: 10−15 m, which is about the size of a proton...
s, baryonBaryonA baryon is a composite particle made up of three quarks . Baryons and mesons belong to the hadron family, which are the quark-based particles...
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 of Clebsch-Gordan coefficients, periodic table of elements, table of electronElectronThe electron is a subatomic particle with a negative elementary electric charge. It has no known components or substructure; in other words, it is generally thought to be an elementary particle. An electron has a mass that is approximately 1/1836 that of the proton...
ic configuration of the elements, brief table of material properties, review of current status in the fields of Standard ModelStandard ModelThe Standard Model of particle physics is a theory concerning the electromagnetic, weak, and strong nuclear interactions, which mediate the dynamics of the known subatomic particles. Developed throughout the mid to late 20th century, the current formulation was finalized in the mid 1970s upon...
, CosmologyCosmologyCosmology is the discipline that deals with the nature of the Universe as a whole. Cosmologists seek to understand the origin, evolution, structure, and ultimate fate of the Universe at large, as well as the natural laws that keep it in order...
, and experimentExperimentAn experiment is a methodical procedure carried out with the goal of verifying, falsifying, or establishing the validity of a hypothesis. Experiments vary greatly in their goal and scale, but always rely on repeatable procedure and logical analysis of the results...
al method of particle physics, and with tables of fundamental physical and astronomical constants (many from CODATA and the Astronomical AlmanacAstronomical AlmanacThe Astronomical Almanac is an almanac published by the United States Naval Observatory and Her Majesty's Nautical Almanac Office, containing solar system ephemeris and catalogs of selected stellar and extragalactic objects....
). - 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) by Murray Gell-Mann
Murray Gell-Mann
Murray Gell-Mann is an American physicist and linguist who received the 1969 Nobel Prize in physics for his work on the theory of elementary particles...
and Arthur H. Rosenfeld, and the unpublished update tables for its data with the title Data for Elementary Particle Physics (University of California Radiation Laboratory Technical Report UCRL-8030) that were circulated before the actual publication of the original article. In 1963, Matts Roos independently published a compilation Data on Elementary Particles and Resonant States. On his suggestion, the two publications 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, and 1996 into the present form Review of Particle Physics. Starting with 1972, the Review no longer appear exclusively in Reviews of Modern Physics
Reviews of Modern Physics
The Reviews of Modern Physics is a journal of the American Physical Society. The journal started in paper form. All volumes are also online by subscription.Issue 1, Volume 1 consisted of the review by...
, but also in Physics Letters B, European Physical Journal C, Journal of Physics G, and Physical Review D (depending on the year).
Past editions of Review of Particle Physics
| Year | Title | Reference |
| 1957–1963 | Hyperons and Heavy Mesons (Systematics and Decay) | M. Gell-Mann & A. H. Rosenfeld, Ann. Rev. Nucl. Sci. 7, 407 (1957). |
| Data for Elementary Particle Physics | University of California Radiation Laboratory Technical Report UCRL-8030 (unpublished). | |
| Data on Elementary Particles and Resonant States, November 1963; Tables of Elementary Particles and Resonant States | M. Roos, Nucl. Phys. 52, 1 (1964); M. Roos, Rev. Mod. Phys. 35, 314 (1963). |
|
| 1964 | Data on Elementary Particles and Resonant States | A. H. Rosenfeld et al., Rev. Mod. Phys. 36, 977 (1964). |
| 1965 | Data on Particles and Resonant States | A. H. Rosenfeld et al., Rev. Mod. Phys. 37, 633 (1965). |
| 1967 | Data on Particles and Resonant States | A. H. Rosenfeld et al., Rev. Mod. Phys. 39, 1 (1967). |
| 1968 | Data on Particles and Resonant States | A. H. Rosenfeld et al., Rev. Mod. Phys. 40, 77 (1968). |
| 1969 | Data on Particles and Resonant States | N. Barash-Schmidt et al., Rev. Mod. Phys. 41, 109 (1969). |
| 1970 | Review of Particle Properties | A. Barbaro-Galtieri et al., Rev. Mod. Phys. 42, 87 (1970). |
| 1971 | Review of Particle Properties | A. Rittenberg et al., Rev. Mod. Phys. 43, S1 (1970). |
| 1972 | Review of Particle Properties | A. Barbaro-Galtieri et al., Phys. Lett. B 39, 1 (1972). |
| 1973 | Review of Particle Properties | T. A. Lasinski et al., Rev. Mod. Phys. 45, S1 (1973). |
| 1974 | Review of Particle Properties | A. Barbaro-Galtieri et al., Phys. Lett. B 50, 1 (1974). |
| 1975 | Review of Particle Properties: Supplement to 1974 edition | A. Barbaro-Galtieri et al., Rev. Mod. Phys. 47, 535 (1975). |
| 1976 | Review of Particle Properties | T. G. Trippe et al., Rev. Mod. Phys. 48, S1 (1976). |
| 1977 | New Particle Searches and Discoveries: A Supplement to the 1976 Edition of "Review of Particle Properties" | C. Bricman et al. Phys. Lett. B 68, 1 (1978). |
| 1978 | Review of Particle Properties | C. Bricman et al. Phys. Lett. B 75, 1 (1978). |
| 1980 | Review of Particle Properties | R. L. Kelly et al., Rev. Mod. Phys. 52, S1 (1980). |
| 1982 | Review of Particle Properties | M. Roos et al., Phys. Lett. B 111, 1 (1982). |
| 1984 | Review of Particle Properties | C. G. Wohl et al., Rev. Mod. Phys. 56, S1 (1986). |
| 1986 | Review of Particle Properties | M. Aguilar-Benítez et al., Phys. Lett. B 170, 1 (1986). |
| 1988 | Review of Particle Properties | G. P. Yost et al., Phys. Lett. B 204, 1 (1988). |
| 1990 | Review of Particle Properties | J. J. Hernández et al., Phys. Lett. B 239, 1 (1990). |
| 1992 | Review of Particle Properties | K. Hikasa et al., Phys. Rev. D 45, S1 (1992). |
| 1994 | Review of Particle Properties | L. Montanet et al., Phys. Rev. D 50, 1173 (1994). |
| 1996 | Review of Particle Physics | R. M. Barnett et al., Phys. Rev. D 54, 1 (1996). |
| 1998 | Review of Particle Physics | C. Caso et al., Eur. Phys. J. C 3, 1 (1998). |
| 2000 | Review of Particle Physics | D. E. Groom et al., Eur. Phys. J. C 15, 1 (2000). |
| 2002 | Review of Particle Physics | K. Hagiwara et al., Phys. Rev. D 66, 010001 (2002). |
| 2004 | Review of Particle Physics | S. Eidelman et al., Phys. Lett. B 591, 1 (2004). |
| 2006 | Review of Particle Physics | W.-M. Yao et al., J. Phys. G 33, 1 (2006). |
| 2008 | Review of Particle Physics | C. Amsler et al., Phys. Lett. B 667, 1 (2008). |
| 2010 | The Review of Particle Physics | K. Nakamura et al. (Particle Data Group), J. Phys. G 37, 075021 (2010) |
