An Introduction to a Realistic Quantum Physics

by Preparata, Giuliano

• ISBN13: 9789812381767
• ISBN10: 9812381767
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-11-01
• Publisher: World Scientific Pub Co Inc

Summary

This book is a remarkable synthesis, a clear and simple introduction to Quantum Physics with a sort of Galilean dialogue on the supreme systems of contemporary Physics. The author, whose research interests and work extended from quarks to liquid systems and from crystals to stars, introduces the common conceptual and mathematical framework of all quantum theories, realistic enough to successfully confront Nature: Quantum Field Theory applied to the study of both dilute and condensed matter. In the dilute limit, quantum mechanics is shown to be a good approximation to Quantum Field Theory. However, in condensed matter physics the problem of the ground state, which acts as a kind of template for physical reality, is studied under the hypothesis that the standard perturbative vacuum is unstable with respect to a new coherent vacuum, whose spectrum emerges quite naturally through a simple variational procedure.

Author Biography

Giuliano Preparata was born in Padova in 1942 and graduated from Rome University in 1964. With his approximately two hundred publications in high-energy theoretical physics, in the early seventies, he was among a small group of physicists who, at variance with the prevailing views, developed the quark model of the elementary constituents of matter. Dr. Preparata died on 24th April, 2000 in Frascati (Rome)

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
The Fads and Fallacies of Quantum Mechanics	1	(10)
Kinematics: The Descriptive Framework of Physical Reality	11	(16)
States and observables in Classical Physics (CP)	13	(1)
States and observables in Quantum Physics (QP)	14	(5)
The impossibility of a trajectory is the impossibility of a realistic QM	19	(2)
Quantum fields are the only realistic physical objects	21	(6)
Dynamics: The Laws of Evolution of Physical Reality	27	(12)
The Hamilton-Lagrange theory of classical dynamics	27	(4)
The Hamiltonian operator: the generator of quantum dynamics	31	(2)
The Path Integral (PI): classical trajectories and Quantum Physics	33	(6)
Quantum Field Theory: The Only Realistic Theory of the Quantum World	39	(24)
A preliminary discussion of coherent states	40	(5)
The Vacuum, the template of physical reality	45	(5)
The ``classical'' limit of QFT: the emergence of coherence	50	(7)
The ``quantum-mechanical'' limit of QFT: the Schrodinger wave-function	57	(6)
Final Considerations	63	(2)
Appendix	65	(8)
Bibliography	73