Invitation to Contemporary Physics

CONTENTS......Page 18
PREFACE......Page 13
CHAPTER I LASERS AND PHYSICS......Page 17
1. INVITATION TO THE NEW OPTICS......Page 19
2.1 Light and Electromagnetic Radiation......Page 20
2.2 Spontaneous Radiation......Page 23
3. LASER LIGHT......Page 29
4. TYPES OF LASERS......Page 36
4.1 Solid-state Lasers......Page 37
4.2 Gas Lasers......Page 38
4.3 Semiconductor Lasers......Page 41
4.4 And all the Others......Page 44
5.2 Surveying and Fitting......Page 46
5.3 Interferometry......Page 47
5.4 Communications......Page 48
5.5 Holography......Page 51
6.1 Atomic and Molecular Spectroscopy......Page 56
6.2 Nonlinear Optics......Page 62
6.3 Is Quantum Physics Real?......Page 67
7. LOOKING BEYOND......Page 75
CHAPTER II SUPERCONDUCTIVITY......Page 79
1. ZERO ELECTRICAL RESISTANCE......Page 81
1.1 Metallic Resistance......Page 83
1.2 Superconductivity is Common......Page 85
2. INFINITE MAGNETIC RELUCTANCE......Page 88
4. WHOLENESS OF TRAPPED FLUX......Page 92
5. TEMPERATURE AND PHASE TRANSITION......Page 94
5.2 Free Energy and Entropy......Page 96
6. TYPE I SUPERCONDUCTORS......Page 99
7. TYPE II SUPERCONDUCTORS......Page 100
8. THE CRITICAL CURRENT......Page 103
9. UNDERSTANDING SUPERCONDUCTIVITY......Page 104
9.1 Fermions......Page 105
9.2 Bosons......Page 108
9.4 Phonon Mediated Attraction......Page 109
10. COOPER PAIRS AND THE BCS THEORY......Page 111
11. SOME MACROSCOPIC QUANTUM EFFECTS......Page 114
11.2 Josephson Tunneling and the Superconducting Interference......Page 115
12. SUPERCONDUCTOR COMES OUT OF THE COLD......Page 119
CHAPTER III SYMMETRY OF NATURE AND NATURE OF SYMMETRY......Page 125
1. WHAT IS SYMMETRY THAT WE SHOULD BE MINDFUL OF IT?......Page 127
2. SPACE-TIME SYMMETRIES: INVARIANCE AND THE GREAT CONSERVATION LAWS......Page 145
3. REFLECTION SYMMETRY......Page 152
4. GAUGE SYMMETRY......Page 167
5. SPONTANEOUS SYMMETRY BREAKING (SSB)......Page 171
CHAPTER IV CHAOS: CHANCE OUT OF NECESSITY......Page 179
1. INTRODUCTION: CHAOS LIMITS PREDICTION......Page 181
1.1 The Butterfly Effect......Page 183
1.2 Chaos Is Common......Page 185
1.3 Can Small Be Chaotic?......Page 190
2. LESSON OF THE LEAKING FAUCET......Page 193
3.1 The Logistic Map......Page 197
3.2 Iteration of Map......Page 199
3.3 The Period Doubling Bifurcation......Page 201
3.4 Universality......Page 202
3.5 Fully Developed Chaos......Page 203
4.1 Stable Fixed Point......Page 207
4.3 The Biperiodic Torus......Page 209
4.4 The Strange Attractor......Page 210
4.6 The Lorenz Attractor......Page 211
4.7 Routes to Chaos......Page 215
5. FRACTALS AND STRANGE ATTRACTORS......Page 217
5.1 The Koch Snowflake......Page 221
5.2 The Cantor Dust......Page 223
6. RECONSTRUCTION OF THE STRANGE ATTRACTOR FROM A MEASURED SIGNAL: THE INVERSE PROBLEM......Page 224
7. CONCLUDING REMARKS: HARVESTING CHAOS......Page 226
CHAPTER V BRIGHT STARS AND BLACK HOLES......Page 229
1. WATCHERS OF THE SKIES......Page 232
2. GATHERING CLOUDS......Page 235
2.1 Basic Thermal Properties of Matter and Radiation......Page 236
2.2 Spectral Analysis......Page 239
2.3 The Discovery of Interstellar Medium......Page 241
2.4 The Spiral Structure of the Galaxy......Page 245
2.5 Interstellar Dust......Page 247
2.6 Giant Molecular Clouds......Page 251
2.7 Interstellar Magnetic Field......Page 252
3. THE BIRTH OF STARS......Page 254
3.1 The Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram......Page 255
3.2 Evidence for Stellar Birth......Page 260
3.3 Formation of Protostars......Page 261
3.4 Evolution of Protostars......Page 266
4.1 Nuclear Sources of Stellar Energy......Page 271
4.2 On the Main Sequence......Page 275
4.3 Away from the Main Sequence......Page 283
5.1 White Dwarfs......Page 298
5.2 Neutron Stars......Page 303
5.3 Black Holes......Page 313
CHAPTER VI THE INNERMOST SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE......Page 323
1. ELEMENTARY CONSTITUENTS OF MATTER......Page 326
2. FUNDAMENTAL FORCES......Page 333
3. THEORY OF FORCES......Page 339
3.1 Range and Mass......Page 340
3.2 Inverse-Square Law vs Confinement......Page 343
3.3 Spin and the Nature of Forces......Page 344
3.4 Feynman Diagrams......Page 346
4. QUANTUM NUMBERS, CONSERVATION LAWS, AND SYMMETRY......Page 351
4.1 Exactly Conserved Quantum Numbers......Page 353
4.2 Vectorial Quantum Numbers......Page 354
4.3 Approximate and High Temperature Conservation Laws......Page 357
4.4 Symmetry and Conservation Laws......Page 358
4.5 Multiplicative Quantum Numbers and Discrete Symmetries......Page 364
5. GAUGE THEORIES......Page 367
5.1 Electromagnetic Theory......Page 368
5.2 Yang-Mills Theory......Page 371
5.3 Electroweak Theory......Page 373
5.4 Strong Interactions......Page 380
6. RENORMALIZATION......Page 393
6.1 Removal of Infinities......Page 395
6.2 Renormalizability......Page 401
6.3 Running Parameters......Page 402
7. OUTLOOK......Page 405
7.1 The Strong CP Problem and Axions......Page 409
7.2 Grand Unified Theories......Page 411
7.3 The Hierarchy Problem......Page 414
7.4 Kaluza-Klein Theories......Page 418
7.5 Superstring Theories......Page 419
CHAPTER VII COSMOLOGY......Page 423
1.1 Astronomical Distances......Page 425
1.2 Velocity Measurements......Page 428
2. THE BIG BANG......Page 430
3.1 Open, Critical, and Closed Universes......Page 433
3.2 Gravitational Physics......Page 435
4. COSMIC BACKGROUND RADIATION......Page 440
5.1 A Brief History of the Universe......Page 441
5.2 Quantitative Estimates......Page 446
6. PRIMORDIAL NUCLEOSYNTHESIS......Page 448
7.1 Cosmological Constant......Page 453
7.2 Topological Objects......Page 455
7.3 The Asymmetry between Nucleons and Antinucleons......Page 457
7.4 Superstring Theory......Page 458
8. INFLATIONARY UNIVERSE......Page 462
APPENDICES......Page 469
1. THE PHYSICAL UNIVERSE......Page 470
2. MATTER AND MOTION......Page 474
3. WAVES AND FIELDS......Page 482
2. HEISENBERG’S UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE......Page 490
3. WAVE FUNCTION AND PROBABILITY: STATE OF THE SYSTEM......Page 492
5. INDISTINGUISHABILITY OF IDENTICAL PARTICLES......Page 494
6. QUANTUM MECHANICS AND NAIVE REALISM......Page 495
1. THERMODYNAMICS......Page 496
2. STATISTICAL MECHANICS......Page 498
3. DIMENSIONAL ANALYSIS......Page 505
GLOSSARY......Page 509
INDEX......Page 523