Paradox Lost: Images of the Quantum / Edition 1

by Philip R. Wallace

Overview

"Medical scientists use the word ‘iatrogenic' to refer to disabilities that are the consequence of medical treatment. We believe that some such word might be coined to refer to philosophical difficulties for which philosophers themselves are responsible" Sir Peter Medawar Arguing that quantum theory as it stands is perhaps the most comprehensive, well-verified, and successful theory in the history of science, the author clears away the impression that it is an incomplete, philosophically flawed, and self-contradictory theory. In simple terms accessible to anyone with a little prior knowledge of science, Wallace examines the numerous "paradoxes" and "difficulties" claimed for quantum mechanics, and shows that they are due to excesses of interpretation that have been imposed on the theory.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781461284680
Publisher:	Springer New York
Publication date:	09/17/2011
Edition description:	Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1996
Pages:	166
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.02(d)

Table of Contents

1. Introduction.- 2. Beyond the Ether.- 3. Introduction to Quantum Mechanics.- 4. Analysis of the Photoelectric Effect.- 5. De Broglie and Electron Waves.- 5.1. Amplitude, Phase, and Interference.- 6. The Wave Function and Feynman’s Two-Slit Experiment.- 7. The Pauli Exclusion Principle: the Identity of Particles.- 8. The Schrodinger Wave Equation and the Hydrogen Atom.- 9. Critique of the Pointlike Electron.- 10. Complementary Attributes and the Uncertainty Principle.- 11. An Illustration: Polarized Light.- 12. Heisenberg and Measurement.- 13. More on Measurement.- 14. Further Reflections on the Bohr-Peierls Interpretation.- 15. Toward the Dirac Viewpoint.- 15.1. The Dirac Version.- 16. Feynman’s Path Integral Method.- 17. Are Fields All?.- 18. A Visit with Photons: Identity and Flexibility.- 19. Can Wave Packets Be Particles?.- 20. The Quantum Stellar Interferometer of Hanbury Brown.- 21. About the Delayed-Choice Experiment.- 22. The Illusion of Superluminal Signaling.- 22.1. Davies’ “Split Box” and Wave Function Collapse.- 22.2. The Modified EPR Experiment with Photons.- 23. The Meaning of Bell’s Theorem.- 24. Symmetry and Point Particles.- 25. The Quantum Mechanics of Multiparticle Systems.- 26. Atoms, Molecules, and the Periodic Table.- 27. Chemists, Pictures, and Molecular Architecture.- 28. Carbon and the Structure of Organic Molecules.- 29. Quantum Behavior in Macroscopic Systems: Beyond Wave Functions.- 29.1. Elementary Excitations as Quanta.- 30. More on Phases: The Effect of Magnetic Fields.- 31. Macroscopic Quantum Phenomena.- 31.1. Laser Light.- 31.2. Superconductors.- 31.3. Superfluid Liquid Helium.- 32. Collective Oscillations in Solids.- 33. Beyond the Frontier: Nonclassical Properties.- 34. Some Reflections on “Reality”.- 35. Reality and Other Sciences.- 36. A Final Perspective.

Editorial Reviews

"I recommend this book to physicists, especially quantum mechanics lecturers and their students. You will enjoy it as I did." Australian & New Zealand Physicist

FROM THE REVIEWS:

ZEITSCHRIFT FUR PHYSIKALISCHE CHEMIE

"Within the bulk of books introducing non-professionals to quantum physics that of Wallace certainly belongs to the most reasonable ones.”

AUSTRALIAN & NEW ZEALAND PHYSICIST

"The author is always very perceptive, and often presents things from a slightly nonstandard viewpoint, or with considerable clarity…The various sections of the book are well and pertinently referenced…I recommend this book to physicists, especially quantum mechanics lecturers and their students. You will enjoy it as I did.”

From the Publisher