Schrodinger's Kittens and the Search for Reality Solving the Quantum Mysteries

by Gribbin, John

• ISBN13: 9780316328197
• ISBN10: 0316328197
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1996-05-01
• Publisher: Back Bay Books

Summary

Astrophysicist John Gribbin first introduced the general public to the world of quantum physics in 1984 with his book In Search of Schr+¦dinger's Cat. A dizzying, counterintuitive domain, the quantum world is so strange that Richard Feynman, the greatest physicist of his time, admitted, "nobody understands quantum physics." Science has not stood still in the years since In Search of Schr+¦dinger's Cat was written, and in this new book, Gribbin brings us up to speed on the latest developments. New interpretive models have been put forth about the nature of particles and light; experimental evidence has turned over many of the basic precepts of the Copenhagen interpretation, which says that until it is observed, the subatomic world exists only as a probability wave, lacking any objective reality independent of observation. The new models offer not only a paradigm independent of an observer, but also begin to unite quantum phenomena with relativity and Newtonian mechanics. This is not to say that the quantum realm has become more comprehensible. With particles existing simultaneously as particles and waves, feedback loops, and waves that move forward and backward in time, the quantum world is still a strange, strange place; it's just a little less solipsistic.As in his previous books, Gribbin deftly translates the abstruse mathematics of these new theories into a highly readable narrative that informs as it entertains. Schr+¦dinger's Kittens and the Search for Reality is a book that can be enjoyed by expert and layman alike.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	vi
Preface	vii
PROLOGUE: THE PROBLEM	1	(224)
The light fantastic
Electronic interference
The standard view
The cat in the box
Another aspect of reality
The daughters of Schrodinger's cat.
Ancient Light	31	(37)
The first modern scientist
From Woolsthorpe to Cambridge-and back
In Newton's shadow
Newton's view of the world
Young ideas
Fresnel, Poisson, and the spot
The bookbinder's apprentice
Faraday's fields
The colours of magic
Maxwell's amazing equations.
Modern Times	68	(40)
The death of the ether
Towards a special theory of relativity
Einstein's insight
Faster than light/backwards in time
Enter the photon
The man who taught Einstein to count photons
The strange theory of light and matter
The triumph of QED
Light of future days.
Strange But True	108	(37)
Seeing impossible light
Shedding more light on light
Seeing double
Something for nothin
`Beam me aboard, Scotty'
Quantum cryptography
Inside the photon
Watching the quantum pot
The great electronic round-up
When is a photon?
Desperate Remedies	145	(39)
The Copenhagen collapse
I think, therefore
Von Neumann's silly mistake
The undivided whole
A proliferation of universes
Variations on a quantum theme
Counsels of despair
A relativistic aside
An experiment with time.
Thinking About Thinking About Things	184	(41)
Constructing quarks
Putting Einstein in perspective
Getting a grip on reality
The bulk-buying approach to quantum reality.
EPILOGUE: THE SOLUTION-A MYTH FOR OUR TIMES	225	(23)
Making the most of mass
The simple face of complexity
Shaking hands with the Universe
Taking time to make time.
Bibliography	248	(7)
Index	255