| Description |
1 online resource (425 p.) |
| Contents |
Cover -- Half-title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Journal Abbreviations -- Acknowledgments -- 1 The Vacuum in Practice -- 1.1 Suprise, Paradox, and Practice -- 1.2 Scope and Framing -- 1.2.1 Theoretical Physics -- 1.2.2 Objects of Theory -- 1.2.3 Narrative Overview -- 1.2.4 Paths Not Taken -- 1.3 Prologue: The Aether, Gone and Back Again -- 2 Paul Dirac's Seas and Bubbles -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 Relativistic and Many-Electron Theory -- 2.2.1 Compton Effects -- 2.2.2 (Relativity) Quantum Mechanics -- 2.2.3 The Quantum Theory of the Electron -- 2.3 "Hole" Theory |
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2.3.1 Radiation Theory and Waller -- 2.3.2 Permutations of Hartree's Approximation -- 2.3.3 Protons and X-ray Levels -- 2.3.4 A New Kind of Particle -- 2.4 Theory of the Positron -- 3 Nascent Pairs and Virtual Possibilities -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.2 Radiation Theory -- 3.3 Furry and Oppenheimer -- 3.3.1 Pedagogy between the Lines -- 3.3.2 Furry and Oppenheimer's Nascent State -- 3.3.3 Crumbs of Comfort -- 3.4 Heisenberg and Euler's Virtual Possibilities -- 3.4.1 Heisenberg and Dirac -- 3.4.2 "Virtual" Possibilities and Perturbations in Leipzig |
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3.5 Weisskopf and the Consolidation of "Hole" Theory -- 3.5.1 Leapfrogging Experiment -- 3.5.2 A Textbook of Subtraction Physics -- 3.5.3 The Vacuum as Resource -- 3.6 Conclusion -- 4 Weisskopf, Schwinger, Feynman: Vacuum Loops and Fluctations -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.2 Weisskopf 's Fluctations -- 4.2.1 Spontaneous Emission and Line Widths -- 4.2.2 Uncertainty and Fluctuations -- 4.2.3 Weisskopf 's Perturbative Vacuum -- 4.3 Schwinger's QFT -- 4.3.1 Complementary Fluctuations -- 4.3.2 Calculating with Schwinger's QED (1948-1949) -- 4.3.3 Conservatism -- 4.4 Feynman's Vacuum Loops |
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4.4.1 The "Theory of Holes" -- 4.4.2 Cutting Rings into Trees -- 4.5 Conclusion -- 5 John Archibald Wheeler: Everything from Nothing -- 5.1 Introduction -- 5.2 Philosophy of Approach to Elementary Particle Problem -- 5.3 Zero-rest-mass Fields -- 5.4 Quantum Foam -- 5.5 Natural Philosophy -- 5.6 Increasing Abstraction: Superspace -- 5.7 Pregeometry -- 5.8 Conclusion -- 6 Roger Penrose's Impossible Diagrams -- 6.1 Introduction -- 6.2 Spacetime Diagrams -- 6.3 Impossible Objects -- 6.4 The Bounds of Infinite Space -- 6.4.1 Boundary Conditions across Borders -- 6.4.2 An Atlas of Spacetime |
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6.4.3 Quantum/Relativistic/Cosmological/Astronomical Spacetimes -- 6.4.4 Narratives of Creation and Collapse -- 6.5 Conclusion -- 7 Sidney Coleman's False Vacuum -- 7.1 Introduction: Story and Symmetry -- 7.2 Partial Symmetries -- 7.3 Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking -- 7.4 Secret Symmetry -- 7.5 Vacuum Stories -- 7.5.1 Classical Technique -- 7.5.2 True Fathers of the False Vacuum -- 7.5.3 Fate of the False Vacuum -- 7.6 Conclusion -- 8 Epilogue -- 9The Void -- 9.1 Overview -- 9.2 The Momentary Vacuum -- 9.3 The Real Vacuum -- Appendix APerturbations -- A.1 A Definition -- A.2 An Example |
| Summary |
Across decades and disciplines, More than Nothing offers a scoping history of the vacuum as a lens into the development of modern physics |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Notes |
Appendix BFluctuations |
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Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on April 16, 2024) |
| Subject |
Vacuum -- History
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| Genre/Form |
Electronic books
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| Form |
Electronic book
|
| ISBN |
9780190062811 |
|
0190062819 |
|
9780190062835 |
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0190062835 |
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