Do you quantumthink?

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A.O. Bolivar

At what level of physical existence does "quantum behavior" begin? How does it develop from classical mechanics? This book addresses these questions and thereby sheds light on fundamental conceptual problems of quantum mechanics. Quantum-Classical Correspondence elucidates the problem by developing a procedure for quantizing stochastic systems (e.g. Brownian systems) described by Fokker-Planck equations. The logical consistency of the scheme is then verified by taking the classical limit of the equations of motion and corresponding physical quantities. Perhaps equally important, conceptual problems concerning the relationship between classical and quantum physics are identified and discussed. Physical scientists will find this an accessible entrée to an intriguing and thorny issue at the core of modern physics.

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Ulrich Mosel

This short and concise textbook is intended as a primer on path integral formalism both in classical and quantum field theories, although emphasis is on the latter. It is ideally suited as an intensive one-semester course, delivering the basics needed by readers to follow developments in field theory. Path Integrals in Field Theory paves the way for both more rigorous studies in fundamental mathematical issues as well as for applications in hadron, particle and nuclear physics, thus addressing students in mathematical and theoretical physics alike. Assuming some background in relativistic quantum mechanics, it complements the author’s monograph Fields, Symmetries, and Quarks (Springer, 1999).

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Edgard Elbaz

This textbook represents a new approach in the teaching of quantum physics. The first seven chapters present nonrelativistic quantum mechanics and its interpretation as well as perturbations and scattering theory. They include Dirac's and Feynman's formalisms. The chapter on symmetry treats gauge transformations, too. The quantum theory of angular momentum includes the isospin of leptons and quarks. It uses as a new tool the graphical spin algebra. The second part of the book is devoted to quantum fields: Boson fields including Higgs fields, Dirac's theory of Fermion fields, quantum electrodynamic and quantum chromodynamics. A brief review is appended to raise the students' interests in quantum cosmology. The readers will also find many detailed worked examples and many problems to test their own understanding.

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D. Bohm and B.J. Hiley

In The Undivided Universe, Professor David Bohm, one of the foremost scientific thinkers of the day and one of the most distinguished physicists of his generation, presents a radically different approach to quantum theory. With Basil Hiley, his co-author and long-time colleague, an interpretation of quantum theory is developed which gives a clear, intuitive understanding of its meaning and in which there is a coherent notion of the reality of the universe without assuming a fundamental role for the human observer. With the aid of new concepts such as active information together with non-locality, a comprehensive account of all the basic features of quantum theory is provided, including the relativistic domain and quantum field theory. The new approach is contrasted with other commonly accepted interpretations and it is shown that paradoxical or unsatisfactory features of the other interpretations, such as the wave-particle duality and the collapse of the wave function, do not arise. Finally, on the basis of the new interpretation, the authors make suggestions that go beyond current quantum theory and they indicate areas in which quantum theory may be expected to break down in a way that will allow for a test.