Preface
For many years, the Landolt-Börnstein—Group I Elementary Particles, Nuclei and
Atoms, Vol. 21A (Physics and Methods. Theory and Experiments, 2008), Vol. 21B1
(Elementary Particles. Detectors for Particles and Radiation. Part 1: Principles
and Methods, 2011), Vol. 21B2 (Elementary Particles. Detectors for Particles and
Radiation. Part 2: Systems and Applications), and Vol. 21C (Elementary Particles.
Accelerators and Colliders, 2013), has served as a major reference work in the field
of high-energy physics.
When, not long after the publication of the last volume, open access (OA)
became a reality for HEP journals in 2014, discussions between Springer and CERN
intensified to find a solution for the “Labö” which would make the content available
in the same spirit to readers worldwide. This was helped by the fact that many
researchers in the field expressed similar views and their readiness to contribute.
Eventually, in 2016, on the initiative of Springer, CERN and the original Labö
volume editors agreed in tackling the issue by proposing to the contributing authors
a new OA edition of their work. From these discussions a compromise emerged
along the following lines: transfer as much as possible of the original material into
open access; add some new material reflecting new developments and important
discoveries, such as the Higgs boson; and adapt to the conditions due to the change
from copyright to a CC BY 4.0 license.
Some authors were no longer available for making such changes, having either
retired or, in some cases, deceased. In most such cases, it was possible to find
colleagues willing to take care of the necessary revisions. A few manuscripts could
not be updated and are therefore not included in this edition.
We consider that this new edition essentially fulfills the main goal that motivated
us in the first place—there are some gaps compared to the original edition, as
explained, as there are some entirely new contributions. Many contributions have
been only minimally revised in order to make the original status of the field available
as historical testimony. Others are in the form of the original contribution being
supplemented with a detailed appendix relating recent developments in the field.
However, a substantial fraction of contributions has been thoroughly revisited by
their authors resulting in true new editions of their original material.
v
For many years, the Landolt-Börnstein—Group I Elementary Particles, Nuclei and
Atoms, Vol. 21A (Physics and Methods. Theory and Experiments, 2008), Vol. 21B1
(Elementary Particles. Detectors for Particles and Radiation. Part 1: Principles
and Methods, 2011), Vol. 21B2 (Elementary Particles. Detectors for Particles and
Radiation. Part 2: Systems and Applications), and Vol. 21C (Elementary Particles.
Accelerators and Colliders, 2013), has served as a major reference work in the field
of high-energy physics.
When, not long after the publication of the last volume, open access (OA)
became a reality for HEP journals in 2014, discussions between Springer and CERN
intensified to find a solution for the “Labö” which would make the content available
in the same spirit to readers worldwide. This was helped by the fact that many
researchers in the field expressed similar views and their readiness to contribute.
Eventually, in 2016, on the initiative of Springer, CERN and the original Labö
volume editors agreed in tackling the issue by proposing to the contributing authors
a new OA edition of their work. From these discussions a compromise emerged
along the following lines: transfer as much as possible of the original material into
open access; add some new material reflecting new developments and important
discoveries, such as the Higgs boson; and adapt to the conditions due to the change
from copyright to a CC BY 4.0 license.
Some authors were no longer available for making such changes, having either
retired or, in some cases, deceased. In most such cases, it was possible to find
colleagues willing to take care of the necessary revisions. A few manuscripts could
not be updated and are therefore not included in this edition.
We consider that this new edition essentially fulfills the main goal that motivated
us in the first place—there are some gaps compared to the original edition, as
explained, as there are some entirely new contributions. Many contributions have
been only minimally revised in order to make the original status of the field available
as historical testimony. Others are in the form of the original contribution being
supplemented with a detailed appendix relating recent developments in the field.
However, a substantial fraction of contributions has been thoroughly revisited by
their authors resulting in true new editions of their original material.
v