Localizability and Space in Quantum Physics / by Henri Bacry.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Bacry, H. (Henri), Author.

Series:

Lecture Notes in Physics, 0075-8450 ; 308

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Quantum theory.

Quantum computers.

Spintronics.

Quantum Physics.

Quantum Information Technology, Spintronics.

Local Subjects:

Quantum Physics.

Quantum Information Technology, Spintronics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (VII, 84 p.)

Edition:

1st ed. 1988.

Place of Publication:

Berlin, Heidelberg : Springer Berlin Heidelberg : Imprint: Springer, 1988.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This book discusses in detail the concept of light quanta (photons) and presents a historical survey of the ideas involved. It analyses critically the principles of complementarity and correspondence as well as the quantization procedure. The work of Wigner, Newton and Wightman on localized states is discussed. The author presents many new ideas and gives a new way of defining the position operator. He invites physicists to look in new directions and aims to convince the reader that light quanta are not compatible with our present concept of space in quantum physics. The book should be of interest to students as well as to researchers in modern physics and should revive the discussion of the foundations of modern physics.

Contents:

Contents: Introduction

Historical Sketch on the Nature of Light

The Correspondence Principle, the Wave Corpuscle Duality, the Complementarity Principle and the Slit Experiment

The Spin Quantization Problem

Localizability. The Photon Scandal. Quantization Helpless!- A Position Operator for the Photon. Giving up the Complementary Principle

Departing from the Newton-Wigner-Wightman Axioms

Is Minkowski Space-time Suitable for Particle Physics?- Appendix A. The Symplectic Structure of Coadjoint Orbits

Appendix B. The Quantization of the Sphere S2

Appendix C. The Angular Momentum of an Electric Charge in the Monopole Field (an Application of the Noether Theorem)

Appendix D. Non Localizability of the Classical Massless Particle with Helicity

Appendix E. The Maxwell Equations and the Poincaré Group

Appendix F. The Zitterbewegung. The Pryce-Foldy-Wouthuysen Transformation

Quotations

Index of Names.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

ISBN:

3-540-45908-1