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GEB2001 Exploration of the Quantum World: Home

Course Description

Quantum theory has revolutionized our world through the inventions and applications of lasers, LED, microprocessors based on transistors, MRI, electron microscopy and so on. This course is designed to broaden students' perspectives on the frontier science and technology in physics. It introduces students to the fundamental concepts, principles, discoveries and methods of quantum theory without emphasizing on complicated mathematics. Students will learn concepts of quantization, wave-particle duality, entanglement, teleportation, and the applications of quantum theory in the real world.

Recommended Books

Quantum Theory: A Very Short Introduction

This volume on Quantum Theory starts with old quantum theory, the first hints of the wave/particle duality of light discovered by Max Planck, Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr and other great physicists in the early twentieth century. It then moves to the discoveries in 1920s, including Hiesenberg’s uncertainty principle, the probabilistic nature of quantum theory and super position. Polkinghorne reveals the controversies and confusions these discoveries wrought and the ongoing conundrums still unresolved today. Polkinghorne intends to reach the general readers with this book, and thus he presents central ideas entirely without mathematics. Nevertheless, if you are interested in the technical details, you can find them I the appendices.

Quantum: Einstein, Bohr and the Great Debate about the Nature of Reality

This book focuses on the long-running debate between Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein, which took place from the mid-1920s through to the mid-1950s, over the adequacy of the quantum theory as a framework for fundamental physics. In 1900, Max Planck discovered that electromagnetic radiation and the energy of light are transmitted not in a continuous flow but in small packets called "quanta" (singular, quantum). Bohr applied the idea of quantum to electrons, leading to the development of quantum mechanics. Einstein rejected Bohr's theory overturning reality in dangerous but also thrilling ways. The clash culminated at the 1927 Solway conference and lasted for their whole life.

量子理论:爱因斯坦与玻尔关于世界本质的伟大论战

QC173.98 K86 2012

本书回顾了爱因斯坦与玻尔关于量子理论的论战。1927年海森堡提出了不确定性原则,指出不可能同时知道一个粒子的位置和它的速度。玻尔接受了这一主张,并深入发展。爱因斯坦则深信,物理学规律是关于存在的规律,不可能只是一些可能性。因而自1927年关于“电子和光子”的第五次索尔韦会议开始,爱因斯坦与玻尔便展开了终其一生的论战。在本书中,你不仅可以看到物理学的理论之争,也可以看到伟大的物理学家们的人性之光。

简明量子力学

本书首先简短讲述量子力学的发展历史,介绍量子先驱们和他们的传奇事迹。在介绍量子力学之前,本书介绍了经典力学。作者随后介绍了量子理论的重要概念——生活在希尔伯特空间的量子态、量子全同性、线性叠加、海森堡不确定性关系、量子纠缠、贝尔不等式、量子能级、薛定谔猫和多世界理论等。最后,本书简要介绍了量子计算和量子通信。阅读本书需要读者熟悉高中数学知识,既适用于非物理专业的学生,包括文科的学生,也对物理专业的学生有帮助。

The Dancing Wu Li Masters: An Overview of the New Physics

This book on quantum physics and relativity is good for people who have no mathematical or scientific background. Zukav learned the term Wu Li from his Taiwanese friend, meaning patterns of organic energy, and he employed metaphors from Eastern spiritual movements, such as the Huayan school of Buddhism, which endows this book with a strong Eastern philosophical flavor. This book begins with a description of the circumstances in which Zukav was inspired to write this book as well as the debates of physics in the twentieth century. It continues with the various explanations of optical phenomena and quantum physics and heated discussions of relativity and particle physics.

Exploring Quantum Physics Through Hands-On Projects

This book intends to build an intuitive understanding of the principles behind quantum mechanics through hands-on projects and replication of the original experiments that have shaped our view of the quantum world. Basic understanding of algebra, trigonometry and calculus is required. There are eight chapters in this book, presenting experiments such as the classical understanding of light’s nature in the nineteenth century, those that produced data against the theoretical explanations of classical physics, atomic physics and radioactivity, quantization, light and material objects, Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, Dr. Schrödinger and his cat, the existence of entanglement. This book also provides insight into historical and conceptual background of each subject.

The Amazing Story of Quantum Mechanics: A Math-free Exploration of the Science that Made Our World

This book is intended for non-experts interested in learning how quantum mechanics underlies many of the devices that characterize our modern lifestyle- it explains why the development of quantum physics enabled our amazing present day. While touring the history of science fiction, Kakalios describes the groundbreaking discoveries of real physicists, such as Max Planck, Miels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, and Erwin Schrödinger, and elucidates the three deceptively simple rules of quantum mechanics. In this book, Kakalios explains the key concepts underlying quantum mechanics and shows how these ideas account for the properties of metals, insulators, and semiconductors, the study of which forms the field of solid-state physics.

上帝掷骰子吗:量子物理史话

本书描述了量子物理学的发展史,从赫兹对电磁波的发现、光的波动说和粒子说争议的历史,一直讲到了近现代量子力学,提到了量子退相干、大统一理论、弦论、M理论等。中间不可避免的涉及到爱因斯坦与玻尔理论的碰撞、汉森堡的矩阵力学和薛定谔波动方程,薛定谔的猫对哥本哈根解释的挑战,贝尔不等式,量子纠缠现象等等量子物理学史上的重要里程碑事件与发现。本书是由非科学家谈论科学的科普类读物,适合于非专业的读者进行阅读。

Speakable and Unspeakable in Quantum Mechanics

This book includes all of John Bell's published and unpublished papers on the conceptual and philosophical problems of quantum mechanics, including two papers that appeared after the first edition was published. John Bell is particularly famous for his discovery of the crucial difference between the predictions of conventional quantum mechanics and the implications of local causality, a concept insisted on by Einstein. John Bell's work played a major role in the development of our current understanding of the profound nature of quantum concepts and of the fundamental limitations they impose on the applicability of the classical ideas of space, time and locality.

Quantum Enigma: Physics Encounters Consciousness

This book describes the completely undisputed experimental facts and the accepted explanation of them by the quantum theory. Topics discussed include today’s contending interpretations, and how each encounters consciousness. The book explains all this in non-technical terms with help from some fanciful stories and anecdotes about the theory’s developers. It presents the quantum mystery honestly, emphasizing what is and what is not speculation. In the discussion of consciousness’ encounter with quantum mechanics, free will and anthropic principles become crucial issues. This second edition includes recent advances in both understanding and applications.

Berkeley Physics Course

This is Volume 4 of the Berkeley Physics Course Series, focusing on quantum physics. This book provides examples of characteristic quantum phenomena, enables readers to understand the typical orders of magnitude of some physical parameters in microphysics, and introduces the ideas of quantum mechanics. This book is divided into nine chapters. Following a general introductory chapter, it sequentially discusses the magnitudes of physical quantities in quantum physics, energy levels, the wave-particle duality of photons, the wave properties of all physical particles, the uncertainty principle, Schrödinger's theory, and the interactions between elementary particles.

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