The Structure and Interpretation of the Standard Model

The Structure and Interpretation of the Standard Model
Author: Gordon McCabe
Publisher: Elsevier
Total Pages: 265
Release: 2011-08-30
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0080498302

This book provides a philosophically informed and mathematically rigorous introduction to the 'standard model' of particle physics. The standard model is the currently accepted and experimentally verified model of all the particles and interactions in our universe. All the elementary particles in our universe, and all the non-gravitational interactions -the strong nuclear force, the weak nuclear force, and the electromagnetic force - are collected together and, in the case of the weak and electromagnetic forces, unified in the standard model. Rather than presenting the calculational recipes favored in most treatments of the standard model, this text focuses upon the elegant mathematical structures and the foundational concepts of the standard model.· Combines an exposition of the philosophical foundations and rigorous mathematical structure of particle physics· Demonstrates the standard model with elegant mathematics, rather than a medley of computational recipes· Promotes a group-theoretical and fibre-bundle approach to the standard model, rather than the Lagrangian approach favoured by calculationalists· Explains the different approaches to particle physics and the standard model which can be found within the literature

Structure and Interpretation of Classical Mechanics, second edition

Structure and Interpretation of Classical Mechanics, second edition
Author: Gerald Jay Sussman
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 580
Release: 2015-02-06
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0262028964

The new edition of a classic text that concentrates on developing general methods for studying the behavior of classical systems, with extensive use of computation. We now know that there is much more to classical mechanics than previously suspected. Derivations of the equations of motion, the focus of traditional presentations of mechanics, are just the beginning. This innovative textbook, now in its second edition, concentrates on developing general methods for studying the behavior of classical systems, whether or not they have a symbolic solution. It focuses on the phenomenon of motion and makes extensive use of computer simulation in its explorations of the topic. It weaves recent discoveries in nonlinear dynamics throughout the text, rather than presenting them as an afterthought. Explorations of phenomena such as the transition to chaos, nonlinear resonances, and resonance overlap to help the student develop appropriate analytic tools for understanding. The book uses computation to constrain notation, to capture and formalize methods, and for simulation and symbolic analysis. The requirement that the computer be able to interpret any expression provides the student with strict and immediate feedback about whether an expression is correctly formulated. This second edition has been updated throughout, with revisions that reflect insights gained by the authors from using the text every year at MIT. In addition, because of substantial software improvements, this edition provides algebraic proofs of more generality than those in the previous edition; this improvement permeates the new edition.

How to Design Programs, second edition

How to Design Programs, second edition
Author: Matthias Felleisen
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 793
Release: 2018-05-25
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 0262344122

A completely revised edition, offering new design recipes for interactive programs and support for images as plain values, testing, event-driven programming, and even distributed programming. This introduction to programming places computer science at the core of a liberal arts education. Unlike other introductory books, it focuses on the program design process, presenting program design guidelines that show the reader how to analyze a problem statement, how to formulate concise goals, how to make up examples, how to develop an outline of the solution, how to finish the program, and how to test it. Because learning to design programs is about the study of principles and the acquisition of transferable skills, the text does not use an off-the-shelf industrial language but presents a tailor-made teaching language. For the same reason, it offers DrRacket, a programming environment for novices that supports playful, feedback-oriented learning. The environment grows with readers as they master the material in the book until it supports a full-fledged language for the whole spectrum of programming tasks. This second edition has been completely revised. While the book continues to teach a systematic approach to program design, the second edition introduces different design recipes for interactive programs with graphical interfaces and batch programs. It also enriches its design recipes for functions with numerous new hints. Finally, the teaching languages and their IDE now come with support for images as plain values, testing, event-driven programming, and even distributed programming.

The Cellular Automaton Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics

The Cellular Automaton Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics
Author: Gerard 't Hooft
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 296
Release: 2016-09-02
Genre: Science
ISBN: 331941285X

This book presents the deterministic view of quantum mechanics developed by Nobel Laureate Gerard 't Hooft. Dissatisfied with the uncomfortable gaps in the way conventional quantum mechanics meshes with the classical world, 't Hooft has revived the old hidden variable ideas, but now in a much more systematic way than usual. In this, quantum mechanics is viewed as a tool rather than a theory. The author gives examples of models that are classical in essence, but can be analysed by the use of quantum techniques, and argues that even the Standard Model, together with gravitational interactions, might be viewed as a quantum mechanical approach to analysing a system that could be classical at its core. He shows how this approach, even though it is based on hidden variables, can be plausibly reconciled with Bell's theorem, and how the usual objections voiced against the idea of ‘superdeterminism' can be overcome, at least in principle. This framework elegantly explains - and automatically cures - the problems of the wave function collapse and the measurement problem. Even the existence of an “arrow of time" can perhaps be explained in a more elegant way than usual. As well as reviewing the author’s earlier work in the field, the book also contains many new observations and calculations. It provides stimulating reading for all physicists working on the foundations of quantum theory.

The God Particle

The God Particle
Author: Leon M. Lederman
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Total Pages: 452
Release: 2006
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9780618711680

A fascinating tour of particle physics from Nobel Prize winner Leon Lederman. At the root of particle physics is an invincible sense of curiosity. Leon Lederman embraces this spirit of inquiry as he moves from the Greeks' earliest scientific observations to Einstein and beyond to chart this unique arm of scientific study. His survey concludes with the Higgs boson, nicknamed the God Particle, which scientists hypothesize will help unlock the last secrets of the subatomic universe, quarks and all--it's the dogged pursuit of this almost mystical entity that inspires Lederman's witty and accessible history.

The Standard Model in a Nutshell

The Standard Model in a Nutshell
Author: Dave Goldberg
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 315
Release: 2017-02-28
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0691167591

A concise and authoritative introduction to one of the central theories of modern physics For a theory as genuinely elegant as the Standard Model—the current framework describing elementary particles and their forces—it can sometimes appear to students to be little more than a complicated collection of particles and ranked list of interactions. The Standard Model in a Nutshell provides a comprehensive and uncommonly accessible introduction to one of the most important subjects in modern physics, revealing why, despite initial appearances, the entire framework really is as elegant as physicists say. Dave Goldberg uses a "just-in-time" approach to instruction that enables students to gradually develop a deep understanding of the Standard Model even if this is their first exposure to it. He covers everything from relativity, group theory, and relativistic quantum mechanics to the Higgs boson, unification schemes, and physics beyond the Standard Model. The book also looks at new avenues of research that could answer still-unresolved questions and features numerous worked examples, helpful illustrations, and more than 120 exercises. Provides an essential introduction to the Standard Model for graduate students and advanced undergraduates across the physical sciences Requires no more than an undergraduate-level exposure to quantum mechanics, classical mechanics, and electromagnetism Uses a "just-in-time" approach to topics such as group theory, relativity, classical fields, Feynman diagrams, and quantum field theory Couched in a conversational tone to make reading and learning easier Ideal for a one-semester course or independent study Includes a wealth of examples, illustrations, and exercises Solutions manual (available only to professors)

The Emergent Multiverse

The Emergent Multiverse
Author: David Wallace
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 547
Release: 2012-05-24
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0191057398

The Emergent Multiverse presents a striking new account of the 'many worlds' approach to quantum theory. The point of science, it is generally accepted, is to tell us how the world works and what it is like. But quantum theory seems to fail to do this: taken literally as a theory of the world, it seems to make crazy claims: particles are in two places at once; cats are alive and dead at the same time. So physicists and philosophers have often been led either to give up on the idea that quantum theory describes reality, or to modify or augment the theory. The Everett interpretation of quantum mechanics takes the apparent craziness seriously, and asks, 'what would it be like if particles really were in two places at once, if cats really were alive and dead at the same time'? The answer, it turns out, is that if the world were like that—if it were as quantum theory claims—it would be a world that, at the macroscopic level, was constantly branching into copies—hence the more sensationalist name for the Everett interpretation, the 'many worlds theory'. But really, the interpretation is not sensationalist at all: it simply takes quantum theory seriously, literally, as a description of the world. Once dismissed as absurd, it is now accepted by many physicists as the best way to make coherent sense of quantum theory. David Wallace offers a clear and up-to-date survey of work on the Everett interpretation in physics and in philosophy of science, and at the same time provides a self-contained and thoroughly modern account of it—an account which is accessible to readers who have previously studied quantum theory at undergraduate level, and which will shape the future direction of research by leading experts in the field.

Facing the Future

Facing the Future
Author: Nuel Belnap
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 518
Release: 2001-08-02
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0195350073

Here is an important new theory of human action, a theory that assumes actions are founded on choices made by agents who face an open future. It is a theory that makes indeterminism not only intelligible but illuminating. Tools from philosophy of language and philosophical logic help generate a full-scale account of agents "seeing to it that." The authors then proceed to clarify a variety of action-related topics such as determinism vs. indeterminism, imperatives, promises, strategies, joint agency, "could have done otherwise," deontic constructions, and assertions about a not yet settled future.

The Structure of the World

The Structure of the World
Author: Steven French
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 413
Release: 2014-01-30
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0191507725

In The Structure of the World, Steven French articulates and defends the bold claim that there are no objects. At the most fundamental level, modern physics presents us with a world of structures and making sense of that view is the central aim of the increasingly widespread position known as structural realism. Drawing on contemporary work in metaphysics and philosophy of science, as well as the 'forgotten' history of structural realism itself, French attempts to further ground and develop this position. He argues that structural realism offers the best way of balancing our need to accommodate the results of modern science with our desire to arrive at an appropriately informed understanding of the world that science presents to us. Covering not only the realism-antirealism debate, the nature of representation, and the relationship between metaphysics and science, The Structure of the World defends a form of eliminativism about objects that sets laws and symmetry principles at the heart of ontology. In place of a world of microscopic objects banging into one another and governed by the laws of physics, it offers a world of laws and symmetries, on which determinate physical properties are dependent. In presenting this account, French also tackles the distinction between mathematical and physical structures, the nature of laws, and causality in the context of modern physics, and he concludes by exploring the extent to which structural realism can be extended into chemistry and biology.

Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modeling

Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modeling
Author: Rex B. Kline
Publisher: Guilford Publications
Total Pages: 554
Release: 2015-10-08
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1462523005

This book has been replaced by Principles and Practice of Structural Equation Modeling, Fifth Edition, ISBN 978-1-4625-5191-0.