Concepts Of Modern Physics: The Haifa Lectures The Haifa Lectures

This book highlights foundational issues in theoretical physics in an informal, open style of lecture. It expresses the flow of ideas in physics -- from the period of Galileo and Newton to the contemporary ideas of the quantum and relativity theories, astrophysics and cosmology -- as explanations for the laws of matter. Rather than presenting the ideas of physics as a fait accompli, the book leaves it up to the reader to decide which of these 20th-century ideas in science will carry over to the 21st century for our further comprehension of the laws of nature in all domains, from that of elementary particles to cosmology. It is the contention of the author that our future progress in physics comprehension will only take place when the foundational controversies between the quantum and relativity theories are recognized and discussion is given to their resolution. The book, therefore, presents an attitude not normally taken in other present-day books on subjects in contemporary theoretical physics and cosmology. PREFACE; ACKNOWLEDGMENTS; CONTENTS; I. PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE; Introduction; Philosophy of Science; Truth; Significant Questions in Science; II. CLASSICAL PRECURSORS FOR THE CONCEPTS OF MODERN PHYSICS; Galileo Galilei; The Thought Experiment; Galileo's Principle of Inertia; Laws of Motion in Two- and Three-Dimensional Space; Galileo's Principle of Relativity; Threads of Truth - Astronomy; Rene Descartes; Baruch Spinoza; Isaac Newton; Newton's Three Laws of Motion; Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation; Newton's Concepts; Newton's Optics; III. NINETEENTH CENTURY PHYSICS: ATOMISM AND CONTINUITY Einstein's Photon Box Thought ExperimentThe Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Thought Experiment; Hidden Variables; VII. CONCEPTS OF THE THEORY OF RELATIVITY; The Principle of Relativity; Einstein's Discovery of the Theory of Relativity; The Spacetime Metric in Special Relativity; The Light Cone; Lorentz Transformations; Relative Simultaneity; Time Contraction and the Twin Paradox; The Fitzgerald-Lorentz Contraction; The Transformations of Velocities in Relativity Theory; VIII. FROM SPECIAL TO GENERAL RELATIVITY; The Paradoxes of Time Travel; The Energy-Mass Relation E = mc2 in Special Relativity I. Philosophy Of Science -- Ii. Classical Precursors For The Concepts Of Modern Physics -- Iii. Nineteenth Century Physics: Atomism And Continuity -- Iv. Early Anomalies And Elementary Particles -- V. From The Old Quantum Theory To Quantum Mechanics -- Vi. Quantum Mechanics: Heisenberg's Matrix Mechanics And The Copenhagen School -- Vii. Concepts Of The Theory Of Relativity -- Viii. From Special To General Relativity -- Ix. The Universe -- X. Conflicts In The Foundations Of The Quantum And Relativity Theories. Mendel Sachs. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 116-122) And Index. The Meaning of E = mc2The Theory of General Relativity; The Metric of a Curved Spacetime; The Principle of Equivalence; The Tests of General Relativity; A Unified Field Theory; IX. THE UNIVERSE; Astrophysics; Black Holes; Pulsars; Dark Matter; Cosmology: The Physics of the Universe; The Early Friedman Model; The Hubble Law; The Beginning of the Universe; Olbers' Paradox; A Spiral Universe; The Separation of Matter and Antimatter in the Universe; X. CONFLICTS IN THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE QUANTUM AND RELATIVITY THEORIES; The Principle of Complementarity versus the Principle of Relativity V. FROM THE OLD QUANTUM THEORY TO QUANTUM MECHANICSBohr's Atom and Energy Levels; Electron Diffraction and Wave-Particle Dualism; Schrödinger's Wave Mechanics; Schrödinger's Interpretation of Wave Mechanics; The Young Double Slit Experiment; Einstein's Objection to Born's Interpretation of Linear Superposition; Schrödinger's Cat Paradox; VI. QUANTUM MECHANICS: HEISENBERG'S MATRIX MECHANICS AND THE COPENHAGEN SCHOOL; Heisenberg's Philosophy; Matrix Mechanics; The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle; The Subjectivity of Matter in the Copenhagen View; The Principle of Complementarity The Ideal Gas LawHeat and the Conservation of Energy; The Laws of Thermodynamics and Atomism; Ludwig Boltzmann's and Ernst Mach's Philosophy of Science; Agreements between Boltzmann and Mach and 'Mach's Principle'; The Continuous Field Concept; IV. EARLY ANOMALIES AND ELEMENTARY PARTICLES; The Perihelion Precession of Mercury's Orbit; The Michelson-Morley Experiment; Blackbody Radiation and the Photon; The Electron; The Quantization of Electrical Charge; The Photoelectric Effect; The Compton Effect; Radioactivity; Rutherford and Atomic Structure; Bohr's Atomic Model