An edition of ABC of Physics: A Very Brief Guide
(2012)
ABC of Physics: A Very Brief Guide
by L. B. Okunʹ
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October 18, 2023 | History
xxii, 146 p. ; 19 cm
Publish Date
2012
Pages
169
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ABC of Physics: A Very Brief Guide
2012, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd
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981439727X 9789814397278
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Table of Contents
Contents
Preface v
0.1 For whom this book is written∗ . . . . . . v
0.2 On the contents of some of the chapters . vii
0.3 Two beacons∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
0.4 Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
1. The Fundamentals 1
1.1 On intuition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Space and time∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3 Matter and substance∗ . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.4 Motion∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. Units∗ 4
2.1 Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.2 Circle and angles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.3 Units of time and length . . . . . . . . . . 4
3. A Minimum of Mathematics 6
3.1 Four operations of school mathematics
and the imaginary unit∗ . . . . . . . . . . 6
xiii
xiv ABC of Physics: A very brief guide
3.2 Powers of ten∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
3.3 Prefixes of the powers of ten . . . . . . . . 7
3.4 Differentiation and integration . . . . . . 7
3.5 Matrices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
4. Translational Motion∗ 9
4.1 Free particle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
4.2 Maximum velocity c . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
4.3 Energy and momentum of a particle . . . 10
4.4 Kinetic and potential energy in
Newtonian mechanics . . . . . . . . . . . 10
4.5 Momentum in Newtonian mechanics . . . 11
4.6 Space and time in relativistic mechanics . 13
4.7 Energy and momentum in relativistic
mechanics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
4.8 Particle’s mass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4.9 Rest energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
4.10 Massless photon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
4.11 Masses of electron and proton . . . . . . . 16
5. Rotation and Quantization 17
5.1 The spin and orbital rotation∗ . . . . . . 17
5.2 About vectors and tensors . . . . . . . . . 18
5.3 The orbital angular momentum in theory
of relativity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
5.4 Identity of particles∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
5.5 Quantization of S and L∗ . . . . . . . . . 19
5.6 More about spin∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Contents xv
5.7 Fermions and bosons∗ . . . . . . . . . . . 20
5.8 Elementary quantum state∗ . . . . . . . . 21
5.9 Bound states∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
6. Particles as Corpuscles and Waves 22
6.1 Wave vector∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
6.2 The wave function∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
6.3 Probability amplitude∗ . . . . . . . . . . . 23
6.4 The role of chance in the decay∗ . . . . . 24
6.5 The role of chance in the two-slit
experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
6.6 Uncertainty relations∗ . . . . . . . . . . . 25
6.7 “Correct” and “incorrect” questions∗ . . . 26
6.8 Schr¨odinger equation . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
6.9 The Klein–Fock–Gordon equation . . . . . 27
6.10 Dirac equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
6.11 Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
7. More About Units∗ 30
7.1 Units: experiment and theory . . . . . . . 30
7.2 About SI system of units . . . . . . . . . 30
7.3 Electron-volt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
7.4 Units in which c, ~ = 1 . . . . . . . . . . . 31
7.5 On choosing the system of units . . . . . 31
8. The Hydrogen Atom∗ 33
8.1 On potential energy . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
8.2 Electron–proton interaction . . . . . . . . 34
8.3 Principal quantum number . . . . . . . . 34
xvi ABC of Physics: A very brief guide
8.4 Mass of quantum state . . . . . . . . . . . 35
8.5 Orbital quantum number . . . . . . . . . 35
8.6 The projections of L and S . . . . . . . . 36
8.7 The emission and absorption of light . . . 36
9. Periodic Table of Chemical Elements 37
9.1 From protons to nucleons∗ . . . . . . . . . 37
9.2 Pauli exclusion principle. Fermions and
bosons∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
9.3 Horizontal periods of the periodic table of
elements∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
9.4 First period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
9.5 The second and third periods . . . . . . . 40
9.6 The fourth and fifth periods . . . . . . . . 40
9.7 The sixth and seventh periods . . . . . . . 40
9.8 8 groups and 18 vertical columns of the
table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
10. Substance 43
10.1 Molecules∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
10.2 Gases∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
10.3 Loschmidt number∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
10.4 Temperature∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
10.5 More on universal constants . . . . . . . . 44
10.6 Condensed matter∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
10.7 Crystallization∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
10.8 Phase transitions∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
10.9 Superfluidity and superconductivity . . . 47
Contents xvii
10.10 Quasiparticles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
11. Quantum Electrodynamics — QED 49
11.1 QED from Dirac to Feynman∗ . . . . . . 49
11.2 Lamb shift . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
11.3 Positron and other antiparticles∗ . . . . . 50
11.4 Feynman diagrams∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
11.5 Backward in time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
11.6 Antiparticles∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
11.7 Positronium∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
11.8 Normal magnetic moment of the electron 55
11.9 Anomalous magnetic moment of the
electron: g-2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
11.10 Running coupling constant . . . . . . . . 56
11.11 Renormalizability of QED . . . . . . . . . 57
12. Transition to Classical Theory 58
12.1 Particles or fields?∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
12.2 Quasiclassical behavior and the classical
limit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
12.3 The field strength and induction . . . . . 59
12.4 Electric permittivity and magnetic
permeability of vacuum∗ . . . . . . . . . . 60
13. Gravitation 62
13.1 Top and bottom∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
13.2 The Earth∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
13.3 The inner structure of the Earth . . . . . 63
13.4 Temperature of the Earth . . . . . . . . . 63
xviii ABC of Physics: A very brief guide
13.5 Tilt of Earth’s axis∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
13.6 Newton’s Law∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
13.7 Solar system∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
13.8 The Sun∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
13.9 Stars in our Galaxy∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
13.10 Parsec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
13.11 Supernovae . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
14. Other Galaxies 69
14.1 From our Galaxy to other galaxies∗ . . . . 69
14.2 Recession of galaxies∗ . . . . . . . . . . . 69
14.3 Kinematic shift∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
14.4 Gravitational shift∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
14.5 Quasars and gamma-ray bursts . . . . . . 71
15. Big Bang 72
15.1 The expanding Universe∗ . . . . . . . . . 72
15.2 The cooling down Universe∗ . . . . . . . . 72
15.3 The cosmic microwave radiation
(CMB)∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
15.4 Dark matter∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
15.5 Dark energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
16. Quantum Gravidynamics — QGD 75
16.1 GRT: three canonical effects∗ . . . . . . . 75
16.2 Graviton and QGD∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
16.3 Nonrenormalizability of QGD . . . . . . . 77
16.4 Gravitational radius and black holes . . . 78
16.5 The principle of equivalence? . . . . . . . 78
Contents xix
16.6 Planck scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
17. Intranuclear Forces 81
17.1 Alpha, beta and gamma rays∗ . . . . . . . 81
17.2 Strong interaction∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
17.3 Isotopic spin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
17.4 Weak interaction∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
17.5 Neutrino and four-fermion interaction∗ . . 82
17.6 Nuclear fission∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
17.7 Nuclear fusion∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
17.8 From nuclei to particles∗ . . . . . . . . . . 84
18. Particles in Cosmic Rays 85
18.1 Positron∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
18.2 Muon∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
18.3 Three pions∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
18.4 Strange particles∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
18.5 Strangeness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
19. Particles in Accelerators 88
19.1 Baryon resonances and antinucleons∗ . . . 88
19.2 Sakata model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
19.3 Three sakatons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
19.4 Octet and singlet of pseudoscalar mesons 90
19.5 Nine vector mesons . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
19.6 Octet of baryons∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
19.7 Decuplet of baryons . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
19.8 Conference at CERN 1962 . . . . . . . . . 91
19.9 Three quarks∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
xx ABC of Physics: A very brief guide
20. Three Discrete Symmetries 92
20.1 C, P, T operations∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
20.2 Nonconservation of mirror symmetry P∗ . 93
20.3 Nonconservation of charge symmetry C∗ . 94
20.4 The hypothesis of conservation of CP
symmetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
20.5 Conserved vector current . . . . . . . . . 94
20.6 V-A current . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
20.7 Helicity and chirality∗ . . . . . . . . . . . 95
20.8 Nonconservation of the CP∗ . . . . . . . . 96
20.9 Mirror particles as the first version of dark
matter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
21. Half a Century Later∗ 98
21.1 Six quarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
21.2 Six leptons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
21.3 Three generations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
21.4 Electroweak bosons . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
21.5 Gluons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
21.6 All fundamental bosons . . . . . . . . . . 100
22. On Quantum Chromodynamics 101
22.1 Color and SU(3) symmetry∗ . . . . . . . . 101
22.2 Color quarks∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
22.3 Colored gluons∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
22.4 Confinement∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
22.5 Masses of nucleons . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
22.6 Chiral limit∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Contents xxi
22.7 Pion masses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
22.8 Masses of other quarks . . . . . . . . . . . 104
22.9 QCD today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
23. On the Electroweak Theory 105
23.1 Intermediate bosons∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
23.2 Toy model SU(2) × U(1) . . . . . . . . . . 105
23.3 Photon and Z boson in the model
SU(2) × U(1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
23.4 The first step towards a realistic model . . 107
23.5 The second and final step . . . . . . . . . 108
23.6 Doublet of scalar fields . . . . . . . . . . . 109
23.7 Spontaneous breaking of SU(2) × U(1)
symmetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
23.8 Condensate and the masses of
fundamental particles . . . . . . . . . . . 110
23.9 The search for higgs∗ . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
23.10 Large Hadron Collider∗ . . . . . . . . . . 111
23.11 Summer 2011: results of the quest for
higgs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
24. Supersymmetry 113
24.1 Spinor generator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
24.2 Spinor-flavor generators . . . . . . . . . . 114
24.3 Summer 2011: Results of the search for
light superparticles . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
24.4 Prospects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
25. Grand Unification 116
xxii ABC of Physics: A very brief guide
25.1 Running of three coupling constants . . . 116
25.2 SU(5) symmetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
25.3 Proton and neutron decays . . . . . . . . 117
25.4 Other symmetries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
26. In the Vicinity of the Planck Mass 119
26.1 Superstrings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
26.2 Ten spatial dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . 120
26.3 M-theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
26.4 Anti-de Sitter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
27. Concluding Remarks∗ 122
27.1 “The sun rises, the sun sets.” . . . . . . . 122
27.2 On teaching of physics . . . . . . . . . . . 123
27.3 On the tragic fate of the SSC . . . . . . . 123
27.4 LHC and prospects . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
27.5 On the gist of science and on truth in
science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Postscript I 128
Postscript II 130
Bibliography 131
Some Acronyms 136
Index 137
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| October 18, 2023 | Edited by Scott365Bot | import existing book |
| July 18, 2019 | Edited by MARC Bot | import existing book |
| January 10, 2014 | Edited by jingwoo wallace | Edited without comment. |
| January 10, 2014 | Created by jingwoo wallace | Added new book. |