Sibel Baskal, Young S Kim, Marilyn E Noz

Physics of the Lorentz Group (Second Edition) (eBook, ePUB)

Beyond high-energy physics and optics

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

In physics and mathematics, the Lorentz group is the group of Lorentz transformations applicable to four-dimensional Minkowski spacetime and expresses the fundamental symmetry of space and time of all known (non-gravitational) fundamental laws. In particular, it is central to the laws of classical and quantum field theory, special relativity, Maxwell's equations for electromagnetism, the Dirac equation, and the Standard Model of particle physics amongst others. These have historical importance in mainstream physics, as well as connections to more cutting-edge areas of modern-day research.

This book explains the Lorentz group in a language familiar to physicists, using the language of two-by-two matrices. While the three-dimensional rotation group is one of the standard mathematical tools in physics, the Lorentz group applicable to the four-dimensional Minkowski space is still very strange to most physicists. However, it plays an essential role in a wide swathe of physics and is becoming the essential language for modern and rapidly developing fields such as quantum optics, information science as well as themes within condensed matter physics.

The first edition was primarily devoted to understanding high-energy physics developed during the latter half of the 20th Century, and the application of the same set of mathematical tools to optical sciences.

In this new edition, the authors added five new chapters in order to expand their coverage on discussions on optical and information sciences. They also deal with some fundamental questions in quantum mechanics, such as the question of whether the localized probability distribution in quantum mechanics is consistent with relativity, and the question of whether quantum mechanics and special relativity can be derived from the same basket of equations, as in the case of Maxwell's equations where both electricity and magnetism can be derived from the same set of equations.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Institute of Physics Publishing
• Seitenzahl: 200
• Erscheinungstermin: 26. Mai 2021
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9780750336079
• Artikelnr.: 61966169

Autorenporträt

Young S Kim came to the United States from South Korea in 1954 after high school graduation, to become a freshman at the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now called Carnegie Mellon University) in Pittsburgh. In 1958, he went to Princeton University for graduate study in physics and received his PhD degree in 1961. In 1962, he became an assistant professor at the University of Maryland at College Park near Washington, DC. After going through the academic ranks of associate and full professors, Dr Kim became a professor emeritus in 2007. This is still his position at the University of Maryland. Dr Kim's thesis advisor at Princeton was Sam Treiman, but he had to go to Eugene Wigner whenever he had to face fundamental problems in physics. During this process, he became interested in Wigner's 1939 paper on internal space-time symmetries particles in Einstein's Lorentz-covariant world. Since 1973, his publications have been based primarily on constructing mathematical formulas for understanding Wigner's paper. In 1988, Dr Kim noted that the same set of mathematical devices are applicable to squeezed states in quantum optics. Since then, he has been publishing papers also on optical and information sciences. These days, Dr Kim publishes articles on the question of whether quantum mechanics and special relativity can be derived from the same basket of equations.

Sibel Baskal is a professor of Physics at the Middle East Technical University. She is particularly interested in the manifestations of the Poincaré and little groups, and of group contractions in physical sciences. Her research interests extend to current problems in classical field theories, mostly on alternative approaches to Einstein's gravity. She has published more than 30 peer-reviewed papers and is the co-author of two books with Y S Kim and M E Noz.

Marilyn E Noz is Professor Emerita in the Department of Radiology at NYU School of Medicine. Over the last more than 40 years, she has collaborated with Professor Kim on relativistic quantum mechanics using two-by-two matrices, harmonics oscillators, and the Lorentz group. She has contributed to over 50 peer-reviewed journal articles in elementary particle physics and optics. She has written three books with Professor Kim and two books with Professors Kim and Baskal. She continues to do research in elementary particle physics and quantum optics.