Elements of Classical and Quantum Physics

✍ Scribed by Michele Cini (auth.)

• Publisher: Springer International Publishing
• Year: 2018
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 391
• Series: UNITEXT for Physics
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This book presents the basic elements of theoretical physics in a highly accessible, captivating way for university students in the third year of a degree in physics. It covers analytical mechanics, thermodynamics and statistical physics, special and general relativity and non-relativistic quantum theory, fully developing the necessary mathematical methods beyond standard calculus.

The central theme is scientific curiosity and the main focus is on the experimental meaning of all quantities and equations. Several recent verifications of General Relativity are presented, with emphasis on the physical effects – why they were predicted to exist and what signals they were seen to produce. Similarly, the basic reasons why superconductors have zero resistance and are perfect diamagnets are pinpointed. Quantum Eraser Experiments and Delayed Choice Experiments are described. Many statements of Quantum Theory are a challenge to common sense and some crucial predictions have often been considered hard to believe and have been tested experimentally. The book examines the EPR paradox, Bell states and teleportation.

To show the beauty and richness of the subject, various topics from different areas of Physics are covered. These include: discrete quantum models and lattices (periodic and not), Casimir effect, Anyons, Fano Resonances, the Hanbury Brown and Twiss effect, the Aharonov-Bohm effect, the Meitner-Auger effect, Squeezed Light, the Rabi model, neutrino oscillations, aspects of Quantum Transport, Quantum Pumping, and Berry phases, black holes and cosmological problems.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter ....Pages i-xv
Theoretical Physics and Mathematics (Michele Cini)....Pages 1-4
Front Matter ....Pages 5-5
Analytical Mechanics (Michele Cini)....Pages 7-41
Dirac’s Delta (Michele Cini)....Pages 43-50
Some Consequences of Maxwell’s Equations (Michele Cini)....Pages 51-59
Thermal Physics (Michele Cini)....Pages 61-95
Special Relativity (Michele Cini)....Pages 97-122
Curvilinear Coordinates and Curved Spaces (Michele Cini)....Pages 123-133
Gravity (Michele Cini)....Pages 135-163
Front Matter ....Pages 165-165
The Wave Function (Michele Cini)....Pages 167-184
The Eigenvalue Equation and the Evolution Operator (Michele Cini)....Pages 185-190
Particle in One Dimension (Michele Cini)....Pages 191-206
The Postulates of Quantum Mechanics: Postulate 1 (Michele Cini)....Pages 207-211
Postulate 2 (Michele Cini)....Pages 213-226
Postulate 3 (Michele Cini)....Pages 227-229
Postulate 4 (Michele Cini)....Pages 231-242
The Quantum Harmonic Oscillator (Michele Cini)....Pages 243-254
Stationary States of One Particle in 3 Dimensions (Michele Cini)....Pages 255-270
Spin and Magnetic Field (Michele Cini)....Pages 271-290
Systems of Particles (Michele Cini)....Pages 291-308
Perturbation Theory (Michele Cini)....Pages 309-321
Variational Principle for Schrödinger–Pauli Theory (Michele Cini)....Pages 323-329
Discrete Models (Michele Cini)....Pages 331-337
Pancharatnam Phase and Berry Phase (Michele Cini)....Pages 339-342
Fano Resonances (Michele Cini)....Pages 343-350
Quantum Statistical Mechanics (Michele Cini)....Pages 351-372
Quantum Transport and Quantum Pumping (Michele Cini)....Pages 373-376
Entanglement, Its Challenges and Its Applications (Michele Cini)....Pages 377-385
Back Matter ....Pages 387-390

✦ Subjects

Quantum Physics