Preface 1. Introduction 1.1. Strategies of Demonstration 1.2. Errors and Endings 1.3. Presuppositions and the Scope of Experimental Autonomy 1.4. Overview 2. From Aggregates to Atoms 2.1. History versus Statistics 2.2. The Apparatus of Averages 2.3. Molecular Magnets 2.4. The Electron 2.5. Einstein's Experiment 2.6. Einstein's Presuppositions 2.7. The Forgotten Influence of Terrestrial Magnetism 2.8. Expectations Defied 2.9. Ducks, Rabbits, and Errors 2.10. The Scylla and Charybdis of Ending an Experiment 3. Particles and Theories 3.1. Particles One by One 3.2. Millikan's Cosmic Rays 3.3. Beliefs behind the "Birth Cry of Atoms" 3.4. Contesting Instruments and Theories 3.5. Testing Quantum Mechanics 3.6. Quantum Theory Fails 3.7. A New Kind of Radiation 3.8. Regrouping the Phenomena 3.9. Two Cases for a New Particle 3.10. Corroboration by Theory, Corroboration by Experiment 3.11. Persuasive Evidence and the End of Experiments 4. Ending a High-Energy Physics Experiment 4.1. The Scale of High-Energy Physics 4.2. The Collective Wisdom: No Neutral Currents 4.3. Symmetries and Infinities 4.4. Priorities 4.5. Good Reasons for Disbelief 4.6. The Role of Theorists 4.7. Background and Signal 4.8. Do Neutral Currents "Really Exist"? 4.9. A Picture Book Event 4.10. The Expanding Circle of Belief 4.11. Models, Background, and Commitment 4.12. Experiment 1A: Parts and Participants 4.13. Short Circuits and High Theory 4.14. First Data 4.15. "Shadow of a Suspicion" 4.16. Dismantling an Ending 4.17. "I Don't See How to Make These Effects Go Away" 5. Theoretical and Experimental Cultures 5.1. Levels of Theoretical Commitment 5.2. Long-Term Constraints 5.3. Middle-Term Constraints 5.4. Short-Term Constraints 5.5. Carving Away the Background 5.6. Directness, Stability, and the Stubbornness of Phenomena 6. Scale, Complexity, and the End of Experiments 6.1. The Assembly of Arguments 6.2. Collaborations and Communities 6.3. Subgroups, Arguments, and History 6.4. The End Appendix: Authors of Papers on Neutral Currents Abbreviations for Archival Sources Bibliography Index.

This book attempts to trace the key experimental developments that led to the discovery of weak neutral currents in 1973 and the W, Z bosons in 1983, all of the results of which culminated in the identification of the unified-electroweak force.

Annotation Proceedings of a conference held at Santa Monica, California, in February 1993. Papers are grouped in eight sections on: early discoveries in weak interactions, early developments in weak interaction theory, discovery of weak neutral currents, perspectives in the electroweak theory, flavor changing weak neutral currents, weak neutral currents and supernovae, weak neutral currents and biological handedness, and colliders and discoveries with them. No index. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.