Christian MaesFacts of Matter and Light
Ten Physics Experiments that Shaped Our Understanding of Nature
Christian Maes is a professor of mathematical physics and natural philosophy at the KU Leuven, and his research interests lie in the area of nonequilibrium phenomena, stochastic geometry and dynamical systems, and in deriving emergent features of multicomponent models. As a leading expert, Maes has made significant contributions to the study of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics, particularly in the areas of fluctuation theorems, large deviations, response theory and nonequilibrium thermodynamics. His work has helped to deepen our understanding of the behavior of systems that are far from thermal equilibrium, such as those found in living cells, in driven plasma and chemical reactions, and in active matter. He developed a strong interest in the analysis of experiments and their results as a teaching tool and as a catalyst for advancing our understanding. Christian Maes is on the editorial board of the Springer book seriesFundamental Theories of Physics, and serves as associate editor of the Journal of Statistical Physics, and section editor for Statistical Physics of the Annales Henri Poincaré.
Chapter 1. The Winners Are.- Chapter 2. Free Fall.- Chapter 3. Electromagnetic and Optical Unification.- Chapter 4. Looking at Fluctuations.- Chapter 5. Quantization.- Chapter 6. Wave-like Nature.- Chapter 7. Finding Structure: Scattering and Fission.- Chapter 8. Light in the Universe and the Invariance of Proper Time.- Chapter 9. Dynamical Activity of the Vacuum.- Chapter 10. Phase Transitions.- Chapter 11. Nonlocality: Spooky Action at a Distance.- Chapter 12. Future Experiments.
