Alice in Quantumland: An Allegory of Quantum Physics

Science & Math

Gilmore, Robert

Physics

Harcourt

There is a tremendous fascination with chaos and fractals, about which picture books can be found on coffee tables everywhere. Chaos and fractals represent hands-on mathematics that is alive and changing. One can turn on a personal computer and create stunning mathematical images that no one has ever seen before. Chaos and fractals are part of dynamics, a larger subject that deals with change, with systems that evolve with time. Whether the system in question settles down to equilibrium, keeps repeating in cycles, or does something more complicated, it is dynamics that scientists and mathematicians use to analyze a system's behavior. Chaos is the term used to describe the apparently complex behavior of what we consider to be simple, well-behaved systems. Chaotic behavior, when looked at casually, looks erratic and almost random. The type of behavior that in the last 20 years has come to be called chaotic arises in very simple systems. In fact, these systems are essentially deterministic; that is, precise knowledge of the conditions of a system allow future behavior of the system to be predicted. The problem of chaos is to reconcile these apparently conflicting notions: randomness and predictability. Why have scientists, engineers, and mathematicians become intrigued by chaos? The answer to that question has two parts: (1) the study of chaos has provided new conceptual tools enabling scientists to categorize and understand complex behavior and (2) chaotic behavior seems to be universal - from electrical circuits to nerve cells. Chaos is about predictability in even the most unstable systems, and symmetry is a pattern of predictability - a conceptual tool to help understand complex behavior. The Symmetry of Chaos treats this interplay between chaos and symmetry. This graduate textbook in physics, applied mathematics, engineering, fluid dynamics, and chemistry is full of exciting new material, illustrated by hundreds of figures. Nonlinear dynamics and chaos are relatively young fields, and in addition to serving textbook markets, there is a strong interest among researchers in new results in the field. The authors are the foremost experts in this field, and this book should give a definitive account of this branch of dynamical systems theory.

The Symmetry of Chaos

Letellier, Christophe

Mathematics

Oxford University Press

In this cleverly conceived book, physicist Robert Gilmore makes accessible some complex concepts in quantum mechanics by sending Alice to Quantumland-a whole new Wonderland, smaller than an atom, where each attraction demonstrates a different aspect of quantum theory. Alice unusual encounters, enhanced by illustrations by Gilmore himself, make the Uncertainty Principle, wave functions, the Pauli Principle, and other elusive concepts easier to grasp.

Computers & Technology

Copernicus

When the destination sign on Scrooges train reads "HEAT DEATH" instead of "HEATHROW," when his dead partner Marleys face appears as a talking head in a department store TV, and when the street lights outside his flat begin acting strangely, it is a sign of a bad night to come. Like his famous ancestor, the modern Scrooge is about to be visited by ghosts. But its not his hard heart that needs opening; its his closed mind. Physicist Robert Gilmore, author of the popular Alice in Quantumland, presents here a delightful takeoff, where the three visitations represent Science Past, Present and Future. For everyone who wants a playful, painless yet surprisingly sophisticated introduction to the ideas of modern physics, this is a brilliant tour de force and a charming read.

Scrooge's Cryptic Carol: Visions of Energy, Time, and Quantum Nature

Thousands of readers who were delighted by the adventures and science content of Alice in Quantumland are in for another treat. This time physicist Robert Gilmore takes us on a journey with Dorothy, following the yellow building block road through the land of the Wizard of Quarks. Using characters and situations based on the Wizard of Oz story, we learn along the way about the fascinating world of particle physics. Classes of particles, from quarks to leptons are shown in an atomic garden, where atoms and molecules are produced. See how Dorothy, The Tin Geek, and the Cowardly Lion experience the bizarre world of subatomic particles.

The Wizard of Quarks: A Fantasy of Particle Physics

First Snow White encounters one of the Little People, then one of the Even Smaller People, and finally one of the Truly Infinitesimal People. And no matter how diligently she searches, the only dwarves she can find are collapsed stars! Clearly, she's not at home in her well-known Brothers Grimm fairy tale, but instead in a strange new landscape that features quantum behavior, the wavelike properties of particles, and the Uncertainty Principle. She (and we) must have entered, in short, one of the worlds created by Robert Gilmore, physicist and fabulist.

Once Upon a Universe: Not-so-Grimm tales of cosmology

Astronomy & Space Science

Copernicus Books

Catastrophe theory attempts to study how the qualitative nature of the solutions of equations depends on the parameters that appear in the equations. This advanced-level treatment describes the mathematics of catastrophe theory and its applications to problems in mathematics, physics, chemistry, and engineering. 28 tables. 397 black-and-white illustrations. 1981 edition.

Catastrophe Theory for Scientists and Engineers

John Wiley&Sons, Inc.

With rigor and clarity, this upper-level undergraduate text employs numerous exercises, solved problems, and figures to introduce upper-level undergraduates to Lie group theory and physical applications. It further illustrates Lie group theory's role in expressing concepts and results from several fields of physics. 1974 edition. Includes 75 figures and 17 tables.

Lie Groups Lie Algebras and Some of Their Applications

wiley

Lie group theory plays an increasingly important role in modern physical theories. Many of its calculations remain fundamentally unchanged from one field of physics to another, altering only in terms of symbols and the language. Using the theory of Lie groups as a unifying vehicle, concepts and results from several fields of physics can be expressed in an extremely economical way. With rigor and clarity, this text introduces upper-level undergraduate students to Lie group theory and its physical applications. An opening discussion of introductory concepts leads to explorations of the classical groups, continuous groups and Lie groups, and Lie groups and Lie algebras. Some simple but illuminating examples are followed by examinations of classical algebras, Lie algebras and root spaces, root spaces and Dynkin diagrams, real forms, and contractions and expansions. Reinforced by numerous exercises, solved problems, and figures, the text concludes with a bibliography and indexes.

Lie Groups, Lie Algebras, and Some of Their Applications (Dover Books on Mathematics)

Dover Publications

Grounded in the work of Henri Poincare, R. Thom and others, catastrophe theory attempts to study how the qualitative nature of the solutions of equations depends on the parameters that appear in the equations. This advanced-level treatment describes the mathematics of catastrophe theory and its applications to problems in mathematics, physics, chemistry and the engineering disciplines. 1981 edition. References. Includes 28 tables and 397 black-and-white illustrations.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Gilmore, Robert. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Gilmore, Robert

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Gilmore, Robert. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Alice in Quantumland: An Allegory of Quantum Physics

The Symmetry of Chaos

Alice in Quantumland: An Allegory of Quantum Physics

Scrooge's Cryptic Carol: Visions of Energy, Time, and Quantum Nature

The Wizard of Quarks: A Fantasy of Particle Physics

Once Upon a Universe: Not-so-Grimm tales of cosmology

Catastrophe Theory for Scientists and Engineers

Lie Groups Lie Algebras and Some of Their Applications

Lie Groups, Lie Algebras, and Some of Their Applications (Dover Books on Mathematics)

Catastrophe Theory for Scientists and Engineers