Quantum Theory from Small to Large Scales

Quantum Theory from Small to Large Scales PDF Author: Jürg Frohlich
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191623768
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
This book collects lecture courses and seminars given at the Les Houches Summer School 2010 on "Quantum Theory: From Small to Large Scales". Fundamental quantum phenomena appear on all scales, from microscopic to macroscopic. Some of the pertinent questions include the onset of decoherence, the dynamics of collective modes, the influence of external randomness and the emergence of dissipative behaviour. Our understanding of such phenomena has been advanced by the study of model systems and by the derivation and analysis of effective dynamics for large systems and over long times. In this field, research in mathematical physics has regularly contributed results that were recognized as essential in the physics community. During the last few years, the key questions have been sharpened and progress on answering them has been particularly strong. This book reviews the state-of-the-art developments in this field and provides the necessary background for future studies. All chapters are written from a pedagogical perspective, making the book accessible to master and PhD students and researchers willing to enter this field.

Quantum Theory from Small to Large Scales

Quantum Theory from Small to Large Scales PDF Author: Jürg Frohlich
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191623768
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages :

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book collects lecture courses and seminars given at the Les Houches Summer School 2010 on "Quantum Theory: From Small to Large Scales". Fundamental quantum phenomena appear on all scales, from microscopic to macroscopic. Some of the pertinent questions include the onset of decoherence, the dynamics of collective modes, the influence of external randomness and the emergence of dissipative behaviour. Our understanding of such phenomena has been advanced by the study of model systems and by the derivation and analysis of effective dynamics for large systems and over long times. In this field, research in mathematical physics has regularly contributed results that were recognized as essential in the physics community. During the last few years, the key questions have been sharpened and progress on answering them has been particularly strong. This book reviews the state-of-the-art developments in this field and provides the necessary background for future studies. All chapters are written from a pedagogical perspective, making the book accessible to master and PhD students and researchers willing to enter this field.

Absolutely Small

Absolutely Small PDF Author: Michael D. Fayer
Publisher: HarperChristian + ORM
ISBN: 0814414915
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 397

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Book Description
Absolutely Small presents (and demystifies) the world of quantum science like no book before. Physics is a complex, daunting topic, but it is also deeply satisfying?even thrilling. When liberated from its mathematical underpinnings, physics suddenly becomes accessible to anyone with the curiosity and imagination to explore its beauty. Science without math? It’s not that unusual. For example, we can understand the concept of gravity without solving a single equation. So for all those who may have pondered what makes blueberries blue and strawberries red; for those who have wondered if sound really travels in waves; and why light behaves so differently from any other phenomenon in the universe, it’s all a matter of quantum physics. This book explores in considerable depth scientific concepts using examples from everyday life, such as: particles of light, probability, states of matter, what makes greenhouse gases bad Challenging without being intimidating, accessible but not condescending, Absolutely Small develops your intuition for the very nature of things at their most basic and intriguing levels.

Quantum Space

Quantum Space PDF Author: Jim Baggott
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0198809115
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 448

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Book Description
Today we are blessed with two extraordinarily successful theories of physics. The first is Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, which describes the large-scale behaviour of matter in a curved spacetime. This theory is the basis for the standard model of big bang cosmology. The discovery of gravitational waves at the LIGO observatory in the US (and then Virgo, in Italy) is only the most recent of this theory's many triumphs. The second is quantum mechanics. This theory describes the properties and behaviour of matter and radiation at their smallest scales. It is the basis for the standard model of particle physics, which builds up all the visible constituents of the universe out of collections of quarks, electrons and force-carrying particles such as photons. The discovery of the Higgs boson at CERN in Geneva is only the most recent of this theory's many triumphs. But, while they are both highly successful, these two structures leave a lot of important questions unanswered. They are also based on two different interpretations of space and time, and are therefore fundamentally incompatible. We have two descriptions but, as far as we know, we've only ever had one universe. What we need is a quantum theory of gravity. Approaches to formulating such a theory have primarily followed two paths. One leads to String Theory, which has for long been fashionable, and about which much has been written. But String Theory has become mired in problems. In this book, Jim Baggott describes "the road less travelled": an approach which takes relativity as its starting point, and leads to a structure called Loop Quantum Gravity. Baggott tells the story through the careers and pioneering work of two of the theory's most prominent contributors, Lee Smolin and Carlo Rovelli. Combining clear discussions of both quantum theory and general relativity, this book offers one of the first efforts to explain the new quantum theory of space and time.

Quantum Physics For Beginners

Quantum Physics For Beginners PDF Author: Jason Stephenson
Publisher: Speedy Publishing LLC
ISBN: 1681274396
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 30

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Book Description
We may have lived knowing that the world around us operates in a way as if we observe them to be. This knowledge of how the universe operates, based primarily of our observations, has enabled us to predict actions and motions and allowed us to build machines and equipments that have made our lives easier and more enjoyable. The field that allowed us to do that is classical physics. The world, however, is advancing and our knowledge of how things are expands over time. We have discovered in the last few decades that these sets of rules that we have devised can perfectly describe the large-scale world but cannot accurately define the behaviors of particles in the microscopic world. This necessitated another field to explain the different behavior in the microscopic world: quantum physics.

Quantum Mechanics: Concepts and Applications

Quantum Mechanics: Concepts and Applications PDF Author: Adaline Cerny
Publisher: Murphy & Moore Publishing
ISBN: 9781639874705
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 247

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Book Description
Quantum mechanics is a theory in physics that explains the physical properties of nature at the atomic and subatomic levels. It is fundamental to the study of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, quantum field theory, quantum technology, and quantum information science. Classical physics defines many aspects of nature at an ordinary scale, while quantum mechanics describes the aspects of nature at small scales. Most theories in classical physics can be derived from quantum mechanics as an estimation valid at large scale. Quantum mechanics is used to describe observations which could not be resolved with classical physics. This book attempts to understand the multiple branches that fall under this discipline and how such concepts have practical applications. Different approaches, evaluations, methodologies and advanced studies on quantum mechanics have been included herein. The extensive content of this book provides the readers with a thorough understanding of the subject.

Quantum Theory

Quantum Theory PDF Author: David Bohm
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 0486134881
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 672

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Book Description
This advanced undergraduate-level text presents the quantum theory in terms of qualitative and imaginative concepts, followed by specific applications worked out in mathematical detail.

The Large,The Small And The Human Mind

The Large,The Small And The Human Mind PDF Author: Roger Penrose
Publisher:
ISBN: 9788175960619
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 185

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Book Description
Roger Penrose s original and provocative ideas about the large-scale physics of the Universe, the small-scale world of quantum physics and the physics of the mind have been the subject of controversy and discussion. These ideas were proposed in his best-selling books The Emperor s New Mind and Shadows of the Mind. In this book, he summarises and updates his current thinking in these complex areas to present a masterful summary of those areas of physics in which he feels there are major unresolved problems. Through this, he introduces radically new concepts which he believes will be fruitful in understanding the workings of the brain and the nature of the human mind. These ideas are challenged by three distinguished experts from different backgrounds: Abner Shimony and Nancy Cartwright as philosophers of science and Stephen Hawking as a theoretical physicist and cosmologist. Roger Penrose concludes with a response to their thought-provoking criticisms.

Fashion, Faith, and Fantasy in the New Physics of the Universe

Fashion, Faith, and Fantasy in the New Physics of the Universe PDF Author: Roger Penrose
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691264317
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 536

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Book Description
Nobel Prize–winning physicist Roger Penrose questions some of the most fashionable ideas in physics today, including string theory What can fashionable ideas, blind faith, or pure fantasy possibly have to do with the scientific quest to understand the universe? Surely, theoretical physicists are immune to mere trends, dogmatic beliefs, or flights of fancy? In fact, acclaimed physicist and bestselling author Roger Penrose argues that researchers working at the extreme frontiers of physics are just as susceptible to these forces as anyone else. In this provocative book, he argues that fashion, faith, and fantasy, while sometimes productive and even essential in physics, may be leading today's researchers astray in three of the field's most important areas—string theory, quantum mechanics, and cosmology. Arguing that string theory has veered away from physical reality by positing six extra hidden dimensions, Penrose cautions that the fashionable nature of a theory can cloud our judgment of its plausibility. In the case of quantum mechanics, its stunning success in explaining the atomic universe has led to an uncritical faith that it must also apply to reasonably massive objects, and Penrose responds by suggesting possible changes in quantum theory. Turning to cosmology, he argues that most of the current fantastical ideas about the origins of the universe cannot be true, but that an even wilder reality may lie behind them. Finally, Penrose describes how fashion, faith, and fantasy have ironically also shaped his own work, from twistor theory, a possible alternative to string theory that is beginning to acquire a fashionable status, to "conformal cyclic cosmology," an idea so fantastic that it could be called "conformal crazy cosmology." The result is an important critique of some of the most significant developments in physics today from one of its most eminent figures.

Nonlocal Quantum Field Theory and Stochastic Quantum Mechanics

Nonlocal Quantum Field Theory and Stochastic Quantum Mechanics PDF Author: K.H. Namsrai
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9400945183
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 440

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Book Description
over this stochastic space-time leads to the non local fields considered by G. V. Efimov. In other words, stochasticity of space-time (after being averaged on a large scale) as a self-memory makes the theory nonlocal. This allows one to consider in a unified way the effect of stochasticity (or nonlocality) in all physical processes. Moreover, the universal character of this hypothesis of space-time at small distances enables us to re-interpret the dynamics of stochastic particles and to study some important problems of the theory of stochastic processes [such as the relativistic description of diffusion, Feynman type processes, and the problem of the origin of self-turbulence in the motion of free particles within nonlinear (stochastic) mechanics]. In this direction our approach (Part II) may be useful in recent developments of the stochastic interpretation of quantum mechanics and fields due to E. Nelson, D. Kershaw, I. Fenyes, F. Guerra, de la Pena-Auerbach, J. -P. Vigier, M. Davidson, and others. In particular, as shown by N. Cufaro Petroni and J. -P. Vigier, within the discussed approach, a causal action-at-distance interpretation of a series of experiments by A. Aspect and his co-workers indicating a possible non locality property of quantum mechanics, may also be obtained. Aspect's results have recently inspired a great interest in different nonlocal theories and models devoted to an understanding of the implications of this nonlocality. This book consists of two parts.

Mathematical Quantum Theory I

Mathematical Quantum Theory I PDF Author: Joel S. Feldman
Publisher: American Mathematical Soc.
ISBN: 9780821870488
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
This book is the first volume of the proceedings of the Canadian Mathematical Society Annual Seminar on Mathematical Quantum Theory, held in Vancouver in August 1993. The seminar was run as a research-level summer school concentrating on two related areas of contemporary mathematical physics. The subject of the first session, quantum field theory and many-body theory, is covered in the present volume; papers from the second session, on Schrodinger operators, are in volume 2. Each session featured a series of minicourses, consisting of approximately four one-hour lectures, designed to introduce students to current research in a particular area. In addition, about thirty speakers gave one-hour expository lectures. With contributions by some of the top experts in the field, this book provides an overview of the state of the art in mathematical quantum field and many-body theory.