Ken Ford’s mission is to help us understand the “great ideas” of quantum physics—ideas such as wave-particle duality, the uncertainty principle, superposition, and conservation. These fundamental concepts provide the structure for 101 Quantum Questions, an authoritative yet engaging book for the general reader in which every question and answer brings out one or more basic features of the mysterious world of the quantum—the physics of the very small. Nuclear researcher and master teacher, Ford covers everything from quarks, quantum jumps, and what causes stars to shine, to practical applications ranging from lasers and superconductors to light-emitting diodes. Ford’s lively answers are enriched by Paul Hewitt's drawings, numerous photos of physicists, and anecdotes, many from Ford’s own experience. Organized for cover-to-cover reading, 101 Quantum Questions also is great for browsing. Some books focus on a single subject such as the standard model of particles, or string theory, or fusion energy. This book touches all those topics and more, showing us that disparate natural phenomena, as well as a host of manmade inventions, can be understood in terms of a few key ideas. Yet Ford does not give us simplistic explanations. He assumes a serious reader wanting to gain real understanding of the essentials of quantum physics. Ken Ford's other books include The Quantum World: Quantum Physics for Everyone (Harvard 2004), which Esquire magazine recommended as the best way to gain an understanding of quantum physics. Ford's new book, a sequel to the earlier one, makes the quantum world even more accessible.
The mystical writings of the world’s great physicists—now in one eye-opening volume that bridges the gap between science and religion Quantum Questions collects the mystical writings of each of the major physicists involved in the discovery of quantum physics and relativity, including Albert Einstein, Werner Heisenberg, and Max Planck. The selections are written in nontechnical language and will be of interest to scientists and nonscientists alike.
Due to its extraordinary predictive power and the great generality of its mathematical structure, quantum theory is able, at least in principle, to describe all the microscopic and macroscopic properties of the physical world, from the subatomic to the cosmological level. Nevertheless, ever since the Copen hagen and Gottingen schools in 1927 gave it the definitive formu lation, now commonly known as the orthodox interpretation, the theory has suffered from very serious logical and epistemologi cal problems. These shortcomings were immediately pointed out by some of the principal founders themselves of quantum theory, to wit, Planck, Einstein, Ehrenfest, Schrodinger, and de Broglie, and by the philosopher Karl Popper, who assumed a position of radical criticism with regard to the standard formulation of the theory. The aim of the participants in the workshop on Open Questions in Quantum Physics, which was held in Bari (Italy), in the Department of Physics of the University, during May 1983 and whose Proceedings are collected in the present volume, accord ingly was to discuss the formal, the physical and the epistemo logical difficulties of quantum theory in the light of recent crucial developments and to propose some possible resolutions of three basic conceptual dilemmas, which are posed respectively ~: (a) the physical developments of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen argument and Bell's theorem, i. e.
As Kenneth W. Ford shows us in The Quantum World, the laws governing the very small and the very swift defy common sense and stretch our minds to the limit. Drawing on a deep familiarity with the discoveries of the twentieth century, Ford gives an appealing account of quantum physics that will help the serious reader make sense of a science that, for all its successes, remains mysterious. In order to make the book even more suitable for classroom use, the author, assisted by Diane Goldstein, has included a new section of Quantum Questions at the back of the book. A separate answer manual to these 300+ questions is available; visit The Quantum World website for ordering information. There is also a cloth edition of this book, which does not include the Quantum Questions included in this paperback edition.
Measured by the accuracy of its predictions and the scope of its technological applications, quantum mechanics is one of the most successful theories in science—as well as one of the most misunderstood. The deeper meaning of quantum mechanics remains controversial almost a century after its invention. Providing a way past quantum theory’s paradoxes and puzzles, QBism offers a strikingly new interpretation that opens up for the nonspecialist reader the profound implications of quantum mechanics for how we understand and interact with the world. Short for Quantum Bayesianism, QBism adapts many of the conventional features of quantum mechanics in light of a revised understanding of probability. Bayesian probability, unlike the standard “frequentist probability,” is defined as a numerical measure of the degree of an observer’s belief that a future event will occur or that a particular proposition is true. Bayesianism’s advantages over frequentist probability are that it is applicable to singular events, its probability estimates can be updated based on acquisition of new information, and it can effortlessly include frequentist results. But perhaps most important, much of the weirdness associated with quantum theory—the idea that an atom can be in two places at once, or that signals can travel faster than the speed of light, or that Schrödinger’s cat can be simultaneously dead and alive—dissolves under the lens of QBism. Using straightforward language without equations, Hans Christian von Baeyer clarifies the meaning of quantum mechanics in a commonsense way that suggests a new approach to physics in general.
“Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it.” Since Niels Bohr said this many years ago, quantum mechanics has only been getting more shocking. We now realize that it’s not really telling us that “weird” things happen out of sight, on the tiniest level, in the atomic world: rather, everything is quantum. But if quantum mechanics is correct, what seems obvious and right in our everyday world is built on foundations that don’t seem obvious or right at all—or even possible. An exhilarating tour of the contemporary quantum landscape, Beyond Weird is a book about what quantum physics really means—and what it doesn’t. Science writer Philip Ball offers an up-to-date, accessible account of the quest to come to grips with the most fundamental theory of physical reality, and to explain how its counterintuitive principles underpin the world we experience. Over the past decade it has become clear that quantum physics is less a theory about particles and waves, uncertainty and fuzziness, than a theory about information and knowledge—about what can be known, and how we can know it. Discoveries and experiments over the past few decades have called into question the meanings and limits of space and time, cause and effect, and, ultimately, of knowledge itself. The quantum world Ball shows us isn’t a different world. It is our world, and if anything deserves to be called “weird,” it’s us.
* An applied focus for electrical engineers and materials scientists. * Theoretical results supported with real-world systems and applications. * Includes worked examples and self-study questions. * Solutions manual available.
Permeated by the author's delightful humor, this little book explains, with nearly no mathematics, the main conceptual issues associated with quantum mechanics: The issue of determinism. Does quantum mechanics signify the end of a deterministic word-view? The role of the human subject or of the "observer" in science. Since Copernicus, science has increasingly tended to dethrone Man from his formerly held special position in the Universe. But quantum mechanics, with its emphasis on the notion of observation, may once more have given a central role to the human subject. The issue of locality. Does quantum mechanics imply that instantaneous actions at a distance exist in Nature? In these pages the author offers a variety of views and answers - bad as well as good - to these questions. The reader will be both entertained and enlightened by Jean Bricmont's clear and incisive arguments.
Authored by an acclaimed teacher of quantum physics and philosophy, this textbook pays special attention to the aspects that many courses sweep under the carpet. Traditional courses in quantum mechanics teach students how to use the quantum formalism to make calculations. But even the best students - indeed, especially the best students - emerge rather confused about what, exactly, the theory says is going on, physically, in microscopic systems. This supplementary textbook is designed to help such students understand that they are not alone in their confusions (luminaries such as Albert Einstein, Erwin Schroedinger, and John Stewart Bell having shared them), to sharpen their understanding of the most important difficulties associated with interpreting quantum theory in a realistic manner, and to introduce them to the most promising attempts to formulate the theory in a way that is physically clear and coherent. The text is accessible to students with at least one semester of prior exposure to quantum (or "modern") physics and includes over a hundred engaging end-of-chapter "Projects" that make the book suitable for either a traditional classroom or for self-study.
“Rabi’s voice comes through vividly and forcefully. This is a work of great inspiration.” — Aage Bohr, Professor of Physics, Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark “This excellent work is the first full biography of Professor Rabi, the scientist who epitomizes the passing of the torch of physics from Europe to the United States almost a half-century ago. As I read this biography it was almost as if Rabi himself were retelling these events so that all can share his memories of those exciting and important years and benefit from his experience and wisdom.” — Rosalyn S. Yalow, Nobel Laureate in Medicine “A delightful book about a delightful man. Rabi always found a simpler way to do any given experiment, and this made him a great physicist. He has now become a sage who has given the most useful advice to all his colleagues.” — Hans A. Bethe, Nobel Laureate in Physics and Professor Emeritus of Physics, Cornell University “A steadily fascinating account of an exemplary life. Rigden gives the lay reader a clear idea of what the physicist is seeing, what leads him to such strange thoughts. His account of ‘The Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer’ gives more useful information in a few pages than I could find in the near thousand-page transcript of the hearings.” —Howard Nemerov, Pulitzer Prize-winning Poet and Professor of English, Washington University “An admirable biography, the best possible replacement for the memoirs that Rabi never found time to write.” McGeorge Bundy, Professor of History, New York University “The twentieth century [was] a time of high adventure in physics. It is no wonder that Rabi, with his ebullience and complex genius and wisdom found his profession ‘wonderful.’ As Rigden demonstrates in this complete and very good book, physics was wonderful for Rabi and Rabi was wonderful for physics.” — R. R. Wilson, Science “The growth, in this century, of the American physics community — in size, stature, and influence — is certainly a historical development with deep roots and profound implications. John Rigden’s Rabi: Scientist and Citizen is a fascinating treatment of that subject as reflected in the career and person of Isidor I. Rabi... The [book] sets forth in coherent and sometimes passionate prose an impressive account of I. I. Rabi’s self-image and vision, a vision shared by an important group of physicist colleagues... an engaging personal portrait.” — Allan A. Needell, Isis: A Journal of the History of Science “A real tour de force and a pleasure to read.” — John G. King, Physics Today “Rabi’s life was remarkable, full of incident, vision and action, including war, hot and cold. The biography is a masterpiece, rich in anecdote and never losing the narrative drive.” — New Scientist “Nobel prize-winning physicist I. I. Rabi was described by journalist Daniel Greenberg in 1967 as the éminence grise of America’s scientific establishment. During the Second World War he was in charge of radar research as an associate director of the MIT Radiation Laboratory and was a senior consultant for Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. After the war he helped to establish the Brookhaven National Laboratory; he sat on the General Advisory Committee (GAC) of the Atomic Energy Commission, eventually succeeding Oppenheimer as chairman; under Eisenhower he was an architect of the president’s Science Advisory Committee. As an elder statesman in the American Cold War scientific community, he was concerned to solidify both the political and the cultural power of science. John S. Rigden’s biography of Rabi, now reissued with a new preface by the author, emphasizes Rabi’s view of science as properly not just a source of technological and military strength, but as ‘the center of culture’.” — Charles Thorpe, British Journal for the History of Science “Rigden, physicist and editor of the American Journal of Physics, has created an intimate portrait of this Titan of 20th century science... The book takes the reader into a world where powerful physical forces and powerful political forces come together to shape our century.” — Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society “[A] satisfying, sympathetic portrait of a modest, brilliant scientist who regards his calling as ‘sacred,’ a religious exploration of ‘one God,’ the God being nature. Readers will treasure equally the story of Rabi’s molecular-beam experiments which earned him the Nobel Prize in 1944 and a gallery of revealing glimpses of his scientist friends, chief among them J. Robert Oppenheimer.” — Publishers Weekly “I. I. Rabi is one of this country’s most distinguished physicists... his life has encompassed all of this century and the revolution in physics that it produced... an interesting story, ably told by John S. Rigden, a physicist at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.” — Lee Dembart, Los Angeles Times
