Quantum Mechanics and Gravity

Quantum Mechanics and Gravity
Author: Mendel Sachs
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2013-06-29
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3662096404

This book describes a paradigm change in modern physics from the philosophy and mathematical expression of the quantum theory to those of general relativity. The approach applies to all domains - from elementary particles to cosmology. The change is from the positivistic views in which atomism, nondeterminism and measurement are fundamental, to a holistic view in realism, wherein matter - electrons, galaxies, - are correlated modes of a single continuum, the universe. A field that unifies electromagnetism, gravity and inertia is demonstrated explicitly, with new predictions, in terms of quaternion and spinor field equations in a curved spacetime. Quantum mechanics emerges as a linear, flatspace approximation for the equations of inertia in general relativity.

Quantum Gravity

Quantum Gravity
Author: Claus Kiefer
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 406
Release: 2012-04-05
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 0199585202

Quantum theory and Einstein's theory of relativity are at the centre of modern theoretical physics, yet, the consistent unification of both theories is still elusive. This book offers an up-to-date introduction into the attempts to construct a unified theory of "quantum gravity".

Progress and Visions in Quantum Theory in View of Gravity

Progress and Visions in Quantum Theory in View of Gravity
Author: Felix Finster
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 302
Release: 2020-04-09
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3030389413

This book focuses on a critical discussion of the status and prospects of current approaches in quantum mechanics and quantum field theory, in particular concerning gravity. It contains a carefully selected cross-section of lectures and discussions at the seventh conference “Progress and Visions in Quantum Theory in View of Gravity” which took place in fall 2018 at the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences in Leipzig. In contrast to usual proceeding volumes, instead of reporting on the most recent technical results, contributors were asked to discuss visions and new ideas in foundational physics, in particular concerning foundations of quantum field theory. A special focus has been put on the question of which physical principles of quantum (field) theory can be considered fundamental in view of gravity. The book is mainly addressed to mathematicians and physicists who are interested in fundamental questions of mathematical physics. It allows the reader to obtain a broad and up-to-date overview of a fascinating active research area.

Quantum Field Theory and Gravity

Quantum Field Theory and Gravity
Author: Felix Finster
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 389
Release: 2012-02-08
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 3034800436

One of the most challenging problems of contemporary theoretical physics is the mathematically rigorous construction of a theory which describes gravitation and the other fundamental physical interactions within a common framework. The physical ideas which grew from attempts to develop such a theory require highly advanced mathematical methods and radically new physical concepts. This book presents different approaches to a rigorous unified description of quantum fields and gravity. It contains a carefully selected cross-section of lively discussions which took place in autumn 2010 at the fifth conference "Quantum field theory and gravity - Conceptual and mathematical advances in the search for a unified framework" in Regensburg, Germany. In the tradition of the other proceedings covering this series of conferences, a special feature of this book is the exposition of a wide variety of approaches, with the intention to facilitate a comparison. The book is mainly addressed to mathematicians and physicists who are interested in fundamental questions of mathematical physics. It allows the reader to obtain a broad and up-to-date overview of a fascinating active research area.

Quantum Gravity

Quantum Gravity
Author: Carlo Rovelli
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 516
Release: 2007-11-29
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1139456156

Quantum gravity is perhaps the most important open problem in fundamental physics. It is the problem of merging quantum mechanics and general relativity, the two great conceptual revolutions in the physics of the twentieth century. The loop and spinfoam approach, presented in this 2004 book, is one of the leading research programs in the field. The first part of the book discusses the reformulation of the basis of classical and quantum Hamiltonian physics required by general relativity. The second part covers the basic technical research directions. Appendices include a detailed history of the subject of quantum gravity, hard-to-find mathematical material, and a discussion of some philosophical issues raised by the subject. This fascinating text is ideal for graduate students entering the field, as well as researchers already working in quantum gravity. It will also appeal to philosophers and other scholars interested in the nature of space and time.

Quantum Space

Quantum Space
Author: Jim Baggott
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 448
Release: 2018-11-08
Genre: Science
ISBN: 019253680X

Today we are blessed with two extraordinarily successful theories of physics. The first is Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, which describes the large-scale behaviour of matter in a curved spacetime. This theory is the basis for the standard model of big bang cosmology. The discovery of gravitational waves at the LIGO observatory in the US (and then Virgo, in Italy) is only the most recent of this theory's many triumphs. The second is quantum mechanics. This theory describes the properties and behaviour of matter and radiation at their smallest scales. It is the basis for the standard model of particle physics, which builds up all the visible constituents of the universe out of collections of quarks, electrons and force-carrying particles such as photons. The discovery of the Higgs boson at CERN in Geneva is only the most recent of this theory's many triumphs. But, while they are both highly successful, these two structures leave a lot of important questions unanswered. They are also based on two different interpretations of space and time, and are therefore fundamentally incompatible. We have two descriptions but, as far as we know, we've only ever had one universe. What we need is a quantum theory of gravity. Approaches to formulating such a theory have primarily followed two paths. One leads to String Theory, which has for long been fashionable, and about which much has been written. But String Theory has become mired in problems. In this book, Jim Baggott describes

The Structural Foundations of Quantum Gravity

The Structural Foundations of Quantum Gravity
Author: Dean Rickles
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 283
Release: 2006-11-16
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 0199269696

What is spacetime? General relativity and quantum field theory answer this question in different ways. This collection of essays looks at the problem of uniting these two fundamental theories of our world, focusing on the nature of space and time within this quantum framework.

The Biggest Ideas in the Universe

The Biggest Ideas in the Universe
Author: Sean Carroll
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2022-09-20
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0593186583

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “Most appealing... technical accuracy and lightness of tone... Impeccable.”—Wall Street Journal “A porthole into another world.”—Scientific American “Brings science dissemination to a new level.”—Science The most trusted explainer of the most mind-boggling concepts pulls back the veil of mystery that has too long cloaked the most valuable building blocks of modern science. Sean Carroll, with his genius for making complex notions entertaining, presents in his uniquely lucid voice the fundamental ideas informing the modern physics of reality. Physics offers deep insights into the workings of the universe but those insights come in the form of equations that often look like gobbledygook. Sean Carroll shows that they are really like meaningful poems that can help us fly over sierras to discover a miraculous multidimensional landscape alive with radiant giants, warped space-time, and bewilderingly powerful forces. High school calculus is itself a centuries-old marvel as worthy of our gaze as the Mona Lisa. And it may come as a surprise the extent to which all our most cutting-edge ideas about black holes are built on the math calculus enables. No one else could so smoothly guide readers toward grasping the very equation Einstein used to describe his theory of general relativity. In the tradition of the legendary Richard Feynman lectures presented sixty years ago, this book is an inspiring, dazzling introduction to a way of seeing that will resonate across cultural and generational boundaries for many years to come.

Something Deeply Hidden

Something Deeply Hidden
Author: Sean Carroll
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2020-09-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1524743038

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER As you read these words, copies of you are being created. Sean Carroll, theoretical physicist and one of this world’s most celebrated writers on science, rewrites the history of twentieth-century physics. Already hailed as a masterpiece, Something Deeply Hidden shows for the first time that facing up to the essential puzzle of quantum mechanics utterly transforms how we think about space and time. His reconciling of quantum mechanics with Einstein’s theory of relativity changes, well, everything. Most physicists haven’t even recognized the uncomfortable truth: Physics has been in crisis since 1927. Quantum mechanics has always had obvious gaps—which have come to be simply ignored. Science popularizers keep telling us how weird it is, how impossible it is to understand. Academics discourage students from working on the "dead end" of quantum foundations. Putting his professional reputation on the line with this audacious yet entirely reasonable book, Carroll says that the crisis can now come to an end. We just have to accept that there is more than one of us in the universe. There are many, many Sean Carrolls. Many of every one of us. Copies of you are generated thousands of times per second. The Many-Worlds theory of quantum behavior says that every time there is a quantum event, a world splits off with everything in it the same, except in that other world the quantum event didn't happen. Step-by-step in Carroll's uniquely lucid way, he tackles the major objections to this otherworldly revelation until his case is inescapably established. Rarely does a book so fully reorganize how we think about our place in the universe. We are on the threshold of a new understanding—of where we are in the cosmos, and what we are made of.