The standard model of particle physics, developed in the 1960s and 1970s, has stood for 30 years as “the” theory of particle physics, passing numerous stringent tests. In fact, while many people believe that the standard model is not a complete description of particle physics, it is expected to be, at worst, incomplete rather than wrong; that is, the standard model is at worst a subset of the true theory of particle physics.

For this reason, a good working knowledge of the standard model and its phenomenology is essential for the modern particle physicist. The goal of this book is to provide all the tools for a working, quantitative knowledge of the standard model, with the minimum of formal developments. It presents everything needed to understand the particle spectrum of the standard model, and how to compute decay rates and cross sections at leading order in the weak coupling expansion (tree level). We assume a solid quantum-mechanics background, up to and including canonical quantization and the Dirac equation, but we do not assume familiarity with formal quantum field theory (renormalization, path integrals, generating functionals).

As we see it, this book fills two gaps in the existing literature. The first of these concerns the balance between theoretical sophistication and phenomenological utility. Most treatments of the standard model appear at the end of quantum field theory books.