Devoted to sharing their own delight and awe before the fundamental mysteries of the cosmos, Frank Wilczek (winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics) and science writer Betsy Devine also have a serious purpose: to reveal to the lay reader how a heightened perception can respond to timeless themes of the physical universe. For example, they show that even the most exotic theories always confirm that physical laws are precisely the same throughout the universe, and they explain how we have learned that the most massive molten stars and the tiniest frozen particles are in physical harmony. In...
Devoted to sharing their own delight and awe before the fundamental mysteries of the cosmos, Frank Wilczek (winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics)...
The occurrence of fractional statistics has been discovered in more and more quantum field theory models, including some of the most geometrical and canonical ones. In a remarkable case, the fractional quantum statistics of quasiparticles in the fractional quantized Hall effect (FQHE) contributes to the understanding of states found there. Very recent work has indicated that similar possibilities arise for two-dimensional films in certain states of liquid 3He. Perhaps most exciting, although quite speculative at this moment, are recent attempts to apply fractional statistics to spin systems,...
The occurrence of fractional statistics has been discovered in more and more quantum field theory models, including some of the most geometrical and c...
During the last few years, considerable interest has been focused on the phase that waves accumulate when the equations governing the waves vary slowly. The recent flurry of activity was set off by a paper by Michael Berry, where it was found that the adiabatic evolution of energy eigenfunctions in quantum mechanics contains a phase of geometric origin (now known as Berry's phase') in addition to the usual dynamical phase derived from Schr dinger's equation. This observation, though basically elementary, seems to be quite profound. Phases with similar mathematical origins have been identified...
During the last few years, considerable interest has been focused on the phase that waves accumulate when the equations governing the waves vary slowl...
Our understanding of nature's deepest reality has changed radically, but almost without our noticing, over the past twenty-five years. Transcending the clash of older ideas about matter and space, acclaimed physicist Frank Wilczek explains a remarkable new discovery: matter is built from almost weightless units, and pure energy is the ultimate source of mass. He calls it "The Lightness of Being." Space is no mere container, empty and passive. It is a dynamic Grid--a modern ether-- and its spontaneous activity creates and destroys particles. This new understanding of mass explains the puzzling...
Our understanding of nature's deepest reality has changed radically, but almost without our noticing, over the past twenty-five years. Transcending th...
Does the universe embody beautiful ideas? Artists as well as scientists throughout human history have pondered this -beautiful question.- With Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek as your guide, embark on a voyage of related discoveries, from Plato and Pythagoras up to the present. Wilczek's groundbreaking work in quantum physics was inspired by his intuition to look for a deeper order of beauty in nature. This is the deep logic of the universe--and it is no accident that it is also at the heart of what we find aesthetically pleasing and inspiring. Wilczek is hardly alone...
Does the universe embody beautiful ideas? Artists as well as scientists throughout human history have pondered this -beautiful...
