MARC record from Internet Archive

LEADER: 02802cam a22002894a 45 0
001 334235
005 20051025132450.0
008 041006r20052004nyua b 001 0 eng
010 $a 2004061543
035 $a56753301
040 $aDLC$cDLC$dCCS$dBUR$dBAKER
020 $a0679454438
042 $apcc
050 00 $aQC20$b.P366 2005
049 $aXIMM
100 1 $aPenrose, Roger.
245 14 $aThe road to reality :$ba complete guide to the laws of the universe /$cRoger Penrose.
250 $a1st American ed.
260 $aNew York :$bA.A. Knopf,$c2005.
300 $axxviii, 1099 p. :$bill. ;$c25 cm.
500 $aOriginally published: London : Jonathan Cape, 2004.
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. 1050-1085) and index.
505 2 $aThe roots of science -- An ancient theorem and a modern question -- Kinds of number in the physical world -- Magical complex numbers -- Geometry of logarithms, powers, and roots -- Real-number calculus -- Complex-number calculus -- Riemann surfaces and complex mappings -- Fourier decomposition and hyperfunctions -- Surfaces -- Hypercomplex numbers -- Manifolds of n dimensions -- Symmetry groups -- Calculus on manifolds -- Fibre bundles and gauge connections -- The ladder of infinity -- Spacetime -- Minkowskian geometry -- The classical fields of Maxwell and Einstein -- Lagrangians and Hamiltonians -- The quantum particle -- Quantum algebra, geometry, and spin -- The entangled quantum world -- Dirac's electron and antiparticles -- The standard model of particle physics -- Quantum field theory -- The Big Bang and its thermodynamic legacy -- Speculative theories of the early universe -- The measurement paradox -- Gravity's role in quantum state reduction -- Supersymmetry, supra-dimensionality, and strings -- Einstein's narrower path: loop variables -- More radical perspectives: twistor theory -- Where lies the road to reality?
520 $aThis guide to the universe aims to provide a comprehensive account of our present understanding of the physical universe, and the essentials of its underlying mathematical theory. It attempts to convey an overall understanding--a feeling for the deep beauty and philosophical connotations of the subject, as well as of its intricate logical interconnections. While a work of this nature is challenging, no particular mathematical knowledge is assumed, the early chapters providing the essential background for the physical theories described in the remainder of the book. There is also enough descriptive material to carry the less mathematically inclined reader through, as well as some 450-500 figures. The book counters the common complaint that cutting-edge science is fundamentally inaccessible.
650 0 $aMathematical physics.
650 0 $aPhysical laws.
994 $aC0$bXIM