| Description |
1 online resource (x, 73 pages) |
| Contents |
1. The fads and fallacies of quantum mechanics -- 2. Kinematics: the descriptive framework of physical reality. 2.1. States and observables in classical physics (CP). 2.2. States and observables in quantum physics (QP). 2.3. The impossibility of a trajectory is the impossibility of a realistic QM. 2.4. Quantum fields are the only realistic physical objects -- 3. Dynamics: the laws of evolution of physical reality. 3.1. The Hamilton-Lagrange theory of classical dynamics. 3.2. The Hamiltonian operator: the generator of quantum dynamics. 3.3. The path integral (PI): classical trajectories and quantum physics -- 4. Quantum field theory: the only realistic theory of the quantum world. 4.1. A preliminary discussion of coherent states. 4.2. The vacuum, the template of physical reality. 4.3. The "classical" limit of QFT: the emergence of coherence. 4.4. The "quantum-mechanical" limit of QFT: the Schrödinger wave-function -- 5. Final considerations |
| Summary |
This book is a remarkable synthesis, a clear and simple introduction to quantum physics with a sort of Galilean dialogue on the supreme systems of contemporary physics. The author, whose research interests and work extended from quarks to liquid systems and from crystals to stars, introduces the common conceptual and mathematical framework of all quantum theories, realistic enough to successfully confront nature: quantum field theory applied to the study of both dilute and condensed matter. In the dilute limit, quantum mechanics is shown to be a good approximation to quantum field theory. However, in condensed matter physics the problem of the ground state, which acts as a kind of template for physical reality, is studied under the hypothesis that the standard perturbative vacuum is unstable with respect to a new coherent vacuum, whose spectrum emerges quite naturally through a simple variational procedure |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (page 73) |
| Notes |
English |
|
Print version record |
| Subject |
Quantum theory.
|
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SCIENCE -- Physics -- Quantum Theory.
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Quantum theory
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| Form |
Electronic book
|
| LC no. |
2005297785 |
| ISBN |
9789812776495 |
|
9812776494 |
|
9789812381767 |
|
9812381767 |
|
