The Quantum Dice

The Quantum Dice
Author: L.I Ponomarev
Publisher: CRC Press
Total Pages: 264
Release: 1993-01-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9780750302517

"Real black magic calculus" is how Albert Einstein described quantum mechanics in a letter in 1925. Quantum mechanics is now rather more widely understood by physicists, but still many "outsiders" are unaware of what quantum mechanics is, how it has changed the course of development of physics and how it affects their everyday lives. This book gives a fascinating account of the evolution of the ideas and concepts of quantum theory and modern physics, written by an "insider" but aimed specifically at the general science reader. Many anecdotes from famous past physicists give an insight into their work and personalities. The many illustrations are an important and attractive feature of the book. Leonid Ponomarev is a leading theoretical physicist. His deep understanding of the subject is allied with his wide knowledge of history, literature and philosophy to produce this history of the development of modern physics and its impact on our lives.

The Quantum Dice

The Quantum Dice
Author: Luis de la Peña
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 519
Release: 2013-03-09
Genre: Science
ISBN: 940158723X

In spite of the impressive predictive power and strong mathematical structure of quantum mechanics, the theory has always suffered from important conceptual problems. Some of these have never been solved. Motivated by this state of affairs, a number of physicists have worked together for over thirty years to develop stochastic electrodynamics, a physical theory aimed at finding a conceptually satisfactory, realistic explanation of quantum phenomena. This is the first book to present a comprehensive review of stochastic electrodynamics, from its origins to present-day developments. After a general introduction for the non-specialist, a critical discussion is presented of the main results of the theory as well as of the major problems encountered. A chapter on stochastic optics and some interesting consequences for local realism and the Bell inequalities is included. In the final chapters the authors propose and develop a new version of the theory that brings it in closer correspondence with quantum mechanics and sheds some light on the wave aspects of matter and the linkage with quantum electrodynamics. Audience: The volume will be of interest to scholars and postgraduate students of theoretical and mathematical physics, foundations and philosophy of physics, and teachers of theoretical physics and quantum mechanics, electromagnetic theory, and statistical physics (stochastic processes).

The Quantum Adventure

The Quantum Adventure
Author: Alex Montwill
Publisher: World Scientific
Total Pages: 259
Release: 2012
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1848166478

This title deals with the birth and growth of quantum mechanics. It explains the 'classical dilemma' which faced physics at the start of the 20th century and goes on to show how quantum mechanics emerged and flourished.

Einstein's Dice and Schrödinger's Cat

Einstein's Dice and Schrödinger's Cat
Author: Paul Halpern
Publisher: Basic Books
Total Pages: 282
Release: 2015-04-14
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0465040659

"A fascinating and thought-provoking story, one that sheds light on the origins of . . . the current challenging situation in physics." -- Wall Street Journal When the fuzzy indeterminacy of quantum mechanics overthrew the orderly world of Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein and Erwin Schröger were at the forefront of the revolution. Neither man was ever satisfied with the standard interpretation of quantum mechanics, however, and both rebelled against what they considered the most preposterous aspect of quantum mechanics: its randomness. Einstein famously quipped that God does not play dice with the universe, and Schröger constructed his famous fable of a cat that was neither alive nor dead not to explain quantum mechanics but to highlight the apparent absurdity of a theory gone wrong. But these two giants did more than just criticize: they fought back, seeking a Theory of Everything that would make the universe seem sensible again. In Einstein's Dice and Schröger's Cat, physicist Paul Halpern tells the little-known story of how Einstein and Schröger searched, first as collaborators and then as competitors, for a theory that transcended quantum weirdness. This story of their quest-which ultimately failed-provides readers with new insights into the history of physics and the lives and work of two scientists whose obsessions drove its progress. Today, much of modern physics remains focused on the search for a Theory of Everything. As Halpern explains, the recent discovery of the Higgs Boson makes the Standard Model-the closest thing we have to a unified theory- nearly complete. And while Einstein and Schröger failed in their attempt to explain everything in the cosmos through pure geometry, the development of string theory has, in its own quantum way, brought this idea back into vogue. As in so many things, even when they were wrong, Einstein and Schröger couldn't help but get a great deal right.

Einstein and the Quantum

Einstein and the Quantum
Author: A. Douglas Stone
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 344
Release: 2015-10-06
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0691168563

The untold story of Albert Einstein's role as the father of quantum theory Einstein and the Quantum reveals for the first time the full significance of Albert Einstein's contributions to quantum theory. Einstein famously rejected quantum mechanics, observing that God does not play dice. But, in fact, he thought more about the nature of atoms, molecules, and the emission and absorption of light—the core of what we now know as quantum theory—than he did about relativity. A compelling blend of physics, biography, and the history of science, Einstein and the Quantum shares the untold story of how Einstein—not Max Planck or Niels Bohr—was the driving force behind early quantum theory. It paints a vivid portrait of the iconic physicist as he grappled with the apparently contradictory nature of the atomic world, in which its invisible constituents defy the categories of classical physics, behaving simultaneously as both particle and wave. And it demonstrates how Einstein's later work on the emission and absorption of light, and on atomic gases, led directly to Erwin Schrödinger's breakthrough to the modern form of quantum mechanics. The book sheds light on why Einstein ultimately renounced his own brilliant work on quantum theory, due to his deep belief in science as something objective and eternal.

Do Dice Play God?

Do Dice Play God?
Author: Ian Stewart
Publisher: Profile Books
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2019-06-06
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 178283401X

Uncertainty is everywhere. It lurks in every consideration of the future - the weather, the economy, the sex of an unborn child - even quantities we think that we know such as populations or the transit of the planets contain the possibility of error. It's no wonder that, throughout that history, we have attempted to produce rigidly defined areas of uncertainty - we prefer the surprise party to the surprise asteroid. We began our quest to make certain an uncertain world by reading omens in livers, tea leaves, and the stars. However, over the centuries, driven by curiosity, competition, and a desire be better gamblers, pioneering mathematicians and scientists began to reduce wild uncertainties to tame distributions of probability and statistical inferences. But, even as unknown unknowns became known unknowns, our pessimism made us believe that some problems were unsolvable and our intuition misled us. Worse, as we realized how omnipresent and varied uncertainty is, we encountered chaos, quantum mechanics, and the limitations of our predictive power. Bestselling author Professor Ian Stewart explores the history and mathematics of uncertainty. Touching on gambling, probability, statistics, financial and weather forecasts, censuses, medical studies, chaos, quantum physics, and climate, he makes one thing clear: a reasonable probability is the only certainty.

Dice World

Dice World
Author: Brian Clegg
Publisher: Icon Books
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2013
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 9781848315167

Frequently mind-boggling, from Einstein's brilliant proof of the existence of atoms to why the milk in your coffee stays mixed, 'Dice World' explore how - amongst all this mathematical chaos - probability and statistics have become the only way to get a grip on nature's workings.

God Does Play Dice with the Universe

God Does Play Dice with the Universe
Author: Shan Gao
Publisher: Theschoolbook.com
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2008
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9781845492663

Science has made a mighty advance since it originated in ancient Greece more than 2500 years ago. Yet we still live in Plato's cave today; we think everything around us moves continuously, but continuous motion is merely a shadow of real motion. This book will lead you to walk out the cave along a logical and comprehensible road. After passing Zeno's arrow, Newton's inertia, Einstein's light, and Schrödinger's cat, you will reach the real world, where every thing in the universe, whether it is an atom or a ball or even a star, ceaselessly jumps in a random and discontinuous way. In a famous metaphor, God does play dice with the universe. The new discovery may finally solve Zeno's paradoxes and the quantum puzzle, and it will deeply change our view of the world. Its very existence is at any rate, an excellent illustration of the extent to which physical data force us to depart from commonsense ideas when we try to depict reality "as it really is." ---- Bernard d'Espagnat, University of Paris, Orsay The idea of using discontinuous motion as a realist interpretation of quantum mechanics is original. ---- Reviewer of Foundations of Physics I fully agree with your idea of discontinuous movement. ---- Antoine Suarez, Center for Quantum Philosophy, Zurich If it goes through, this would be an original and significant contribution to the debate over the nature of motion. ---- Reviewer of American Philosophical Quarterly A sense of relief at last! Gao has done it, with no metaphysics and magic. He seems to have no life-style to justify and no axe to grind against any belief system. Then pure physics and objectivity prevails. ---- Ph.D. Philip P. Benjamin

Quantum

Quantum
Author: Manjit Kumar
Publisher: Icon Books Ltd
Total Pages: 447
Release: 2008-10-02
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1848311036

'This is about gob-smacking science at the far end of reason ... Take it nice and easy and savour the experience of your mind being blown without recourse to hallucinogens' Nicholas Lezard, Guardian For most people, quantum theory is a byword for mysterious, impenetrable science. And yet for many years it was equally baffling for scientists themselves. In this magisterial book, Manjit Kumar gives a dramatic and superbly-written history of this fundamental scientific revolution, and the divisive debate at its core. Quantum theory looks at the very building blocks of our world, the particles and processes without which it could not exist. Yet for 60 years most physicists believed that quantum theory denied the very existence of reality itself. In this tour de force of science history, Manjit Kumar shows how the golden age of physics ignited the greatest intellectual debate of the twentieth century. Quantum theory is weird. In 1905, Albert Einstein suggested that light was a particle, not a wave, defying a century of experiments. Werner Heisenberg's uncertainty principle and Erwin Schrodinger's famous dead-and-alive cat are similarly strange. As Niels Bohr said, if you weren't shocked by quantum theory, you didn't really understand it. While "Quantum" sets the science in the context of the great upheavals of the modern age, Kumar's centrepiece is the conflict between Einstein and Bohr over the nature of reality and the soul of science. 'Bohr brainwashed a whole generation of physicists into believing that the problem had been solved', lamented the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Murray Gell-Mann. But in "Quantum", Kumar brings Einstein back to the centre of the quantum debate. "Quantum" is the essential read for anyone fascinated by this complex and thrilling story and by the band of brilliant men at its heart.

God Does Not Play Dice

God Does Not Play Dice
Author: David A. Shiang
Publisher: eBookIt.com
Total Pages: 117
Release: 2013-02
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0980237343

In this revolutionary and provocative work, David A. Shiang claims to offer final answers to many of humankind's most enduring mysteries. He argues that Einstein was right in rejecting the randomness of quantum theory, and he shows that Stephen Hawking (A Brief History of Time) and Brian Greene (The Fabric of the Cosmos) are mistaken in saying that evidence shows nature to be probabilistic. He takes on Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion) and Daniel Dennett (Breaking the Spell), contending that Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection is neither scientific nor correct. He also maintains that worry and regret can be overcome, following in the footsteps of T.S. Eliot and other pioneers of the mind. Odds are high that the logical and elegant solutions Shiang presents to our deepest riddles will cause you to rethink your most fundamental beliefs. "Very provocative, erudite, and solidly based on intelligent and logical thinking! Congratulations on making an excellent contribution to understanding the role of a higher intelligence in organizing the affairs of the universe!" - Pat McGovern, IDG Founder and Chairman, Co-founder of The McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT "His lucidity and logic are breathtakingly devastating. He is not afraid to defend the mind of God, either.... I cannot overstate the importance of Shiang's work and its deep influence." - Len Klikunas, Cultural Anthropologist