Atom-Photon Interactions: Basic Processes and Applications (Wiley Science Paperback Series)

Book Description

Atom-Photon Interactions: Basic Processes and Applications allows the reader to master various aspects of the physics of the interaction between light and matter. It is devoted to the study of the interactions between photons and atoms in atomic and molecular physics, quantum optics, and laser physics. The elementary processes in which photons are emitted, absorbed, scattered, or exchanged between atoms are treated in detail and described using diagrammatic representation. The book presents different theoretical approaches, including:
* Perturbative methods
* The resolvent method
* Use of the master equation
* The Langevin equation
* The optical Bloch equations
* The dressed-atom approach

Each method is presented in a self-contained manner so that it may be studied independently. Many applications of these approaches to simple and important physical phenomena are given to illustrate the potential and limitations of each method.

Customer Reviews:

Very useful.......2000-06-26

Atom Photon Interactions is an excellent text for atomic and optical physics. I refer back to the review material---transition amplitudes, quantum electrodynamic fundamentals, etc--- over and over again. Naturally, these sections are very brief, and the book works best along side Cohen-Tannoudji's more elementary texts Quantum Mechanics and Photons and Atoms, or their equivalents.

Book Description

This established text and reference contains an advanced presentation of quantum mechanics adapted to the requirements of modern atomic physics. It includes topics of great current interest such as semiclassical theory, chaos and Bose-Einstein condensation in atomic gases. The third edition of Theoretical Atomic Physics extends the successful second edition with a detailed treatment of the wave motion of atoms near the anticlassical or extreme quantum regime, and it also contains an introduction to some aspects of atom optics that are relevant for current and future experiments involving ultra-cold atoms. Various problems are included together with complete solutions. Because it has more emphasis on theory, this book enables the reader to appreciate the fundamental assumptions underlying standard theoretical constructs and to embark on independent research projects.

Calogero-Moser-Sutherland Models (CRM Series in Mathematical Physics)

Average customer rating:

Calogero-Moser-Sutherland Models (CRM Series in Mathematical Physics)

Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Physics | Science | Subjects | Books

Mathematical Physics | Physics | Science | Subjects | Books

Quantum Theory | Physics | Science | Subjects | Books

Book Description

In the 1970s F. Calogero and D. Sutherland discovered that for certain potentials in one-dimensional systems, but for any number of particles, the Schrödinger eigenvalue problem is exactly solvable. Until then, there was only one known nontrivial example of an exactly solvable quantum multi-particle problem. J. Moser subsequently showed that the classical counterparts to these models is also amenable to an exact analytical approach. The last decade has witnessed a true explosion of activities involving Calogero-Moser-Sutherland models, and these now play a role in research areas ranging from theoretical physics (such as soliton theory, quantum field theory, string theory, solvable models of statistical mechanics, condensed matter physics, and quantum chaos) to pure mathematics (such as representation theory, harmonic analysis, theory of special functions, combinatorics of symmetric functions, dynamical systems, random matrix theory, and complex geometry). The aim of this volume is to provide an overview of the many branches into which research on CMS systems has diversified in recent years. The contributions are by leading researchers from various disciplines in whose work CMS systems appear, either as the topic of investigation itself or as a tool for further applications.

Average customer rating:

A Unique Book
A sorely needed book
Thought provoking!
The papers speak for themselves

The Dawning of Gauge Theory
Lochlainn O'Raifeartaigh
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Physics | Science | Subjects | Books

Waves & Wave Mechanics | Physics | Science | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Professional | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Science | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0691029776

Book Description

During the course of this century, gauge invariance has slowly emerged from being an incidental symmetry of electromagnetism to being a fundamental geometrical principle underlying the four known fundamental physical interactions. The development has been in two stages. In the first stage (1916-1956) the geometrical significance of gauge-invariance gradually came to be appreciated and the original abelian gauge-invariance of electromagnetism was generalized to non-abelian gauge invariance. In the second stage (1960-1975) it was found that, contrary to first appearances, the non-abelian gauge-theories provided exactly the framework that was needed to describe the nuclear interactions (both weak and strong) and thus provided a universal framework for describing all known fundamental interactions. In this work, Lochlainn O'Raifeartaigh describes the former phase.

O'Raifeartaigh first illustrates how gravitational theory and quantum mechanics played crucial roles in the reassessment of gauge theory as a geometric principle and as a framework for describing both electromagnetism and gravitation. He then describes how the abelian electromagnetic gauge-theory was generalized to its present non-abelian form. The development is illustrated by including a selection of relevant articles, many of them appearing here for the first time in English, notably by Weyl, Schrodinger, Klein, and London in the pre-war years, and by Pauli, Shaw, Yang-Mills, and Utiyama after the war. The articles illustrate that the reassessment of gauge-theory, due in a large measure to Weyl, constituted a major philosophical as well as technical advance.

Customer Reviews:

A Unique Book.......2007-04-25

If you're reading this, then you undoubtedly know all about the usual mathematical symmetries: translational, rotational, etc., and you also know that they are responsible for the conservation of momentum, energy, angular momentum, etc.

But maybe you've never heard of gauge symmetry, and how it accounts for the conservation of electric charge and, indeed, why Nature demands electrodynamics in the first place.

Well, this wonderful book explains how it all came about, from Weyl's brilliant but ill-fated 1918 theory to the modern gauge theories of Yang-Mills, Utiyama and beyond. Gauge symmetry is deceptively simple, but it's what lies behind the most profound idea of modern physics: that Nature is invariant under a local rescaling of scalar and spinorial wave functions. It's the real power behind quantum electrodynamics, the Higgs hypothesis, much of quantum field theory, and perhaps even gravitation. The real question: why does Nature place such emphasis on this kind of obvious, run-of-the-mill symmetry?

After reading O'Raifeartaigh's book, you'll be in a better position to appreciate the fact that, for whatever reason, Nature loves simplicity, and that simplicity is nothing less than beauty and truth.

A sorely needed book.......2002-07-29

Once thought of as merely a mathematical curiosity, the concept of gauge invariance now plays the dominant role in theoretical particle physics. Gauge invariance is not a really difficult concept in which to understand, but it does have some hidden subtleties that can seem rather obscure in the context of modern quantum field theories. The reader of this book will walk away with a deeper appreciation of the history of gauge invariance, due to the inclusion of original articles written by some of the early contributors to the theory. These contributions were attempts to generalize Einstein's theory of gravitation, and, just as in that theory, made use of concepts from differential geometry. Ideas from the mathematical theory of groups were also used, setting the stage for later developments in particle physics. One can only wonder of course what these individuals would have thought about modern theories of gravitation and particle interactions, making use of highly esoteric and complex mathematical constructions. Their thinking at the time was itself thought of as very exotic, but it pales in comparison with the level of abstraction that now permeates elementary particle physics in the language of superstring and M-theory.

The author has written additional papers on the history of gauge theory,which can easily be found via an online search, and this book could be considered an excellent introduction to them. He addresses more modern developments in gauge theories as they relate to the early history, such as superstring theory. Readers who study this book, will not only come away with a deeper appreciation of the underlying concepts in gauge theory, but will be prepared to appreciate in greater detail these modern developments, being as they are the best current hope for understanding the nonperturbative region in quantum field theories and string theories.

Thought provoking!.......2002-06-26

I picked this book up when it first came out and gave it a quick read. Now, five years later, having just read it again, I cannot believe that it was not as indelible in my mind then as it is now. A combination of original papers, peppered with O'Raifeartaigh's informed remarks and hindsight, produces an eligant book that follows a timeline that begins with the greatest minds in physics of the last century. The fits and starts of physicists such as London, Fock, Schrodinger, and Klein, though viewed as disparate attempts at the time, give way to an understanding of analogous formulations, and the suggestion of something powerful and underlying. This, of course, being gauge invariance, has equipped the modern physicist with tools that has produced the most striking conclusions: QED and electroweak theory to name a few. The way in which these notions arose, I suspect, is not common knowledge. Just as understanding a breakthrough may only require the reading of a few seminal papers by a few people, the foundation of a good theory often is the result of many people and many false starts. O'Raifeartaigh uses excellent judgement in what to include, and what not to, in his book. It does, incidentally, start with Kuluza-Klein, and run all the way though the 50's to Yang and Mills theory of isotopic spin and gauge invariance (conservation).

A knowledge of tensor analysis (the index (i.e., f_i,j) type), group theory, and differetial geometry is assumed. Topology would broaden the experience.

The papers speak for themselves.......1998-03-25

A powerhouse collection of papers in modern Physics! O'Raifeartaigh's introduction and commentary brings each paper's contribution into sharp focus (with benefit of hindsight, of course).

The papers by Weyl and Kaluza are startling in their simplicity and boldness. If you haven't read them yet, these two alone justify buying the book.

Customer Reviews:

Still a classic after more than fifteen years.......2000-07-02

I left the field of physics twenty years ago, and as a graduate physicist I am now doing social science research into information systems. But I like to stay informed about current developments in physics. And certainly a unified theory of the fundamental forces of nature is attracting a lot of attention from both specialists and laymen alike. I knew that gauge theories are important for a unified theory, and nobody interested in physics could escape the renewed interest through the awarding of the 1999 Nobel Prize in physics to Veltman and 't Hooft. So I bought this classic text of Chris Quigg. Many popular books on modern physics (e.g. Bedersen, 1999) quote this text. By no means I was disappointed. Of course the mathematics is often difficult, but the author is starting each chapter outlining what the fundamental ideas are. And that alone makes the book a good read. The book has nine chapters, and each chapter is concluded with an assessment or a reflection on the contents, which are highly understandable. Many of the problems of 1983, when the book was published, are still open today. It is didactically very suited as textbook or reference book for those physicists wishing to specialize in high energy physics.

Modern Trends In Chemical Reaction Dynamics: Experiment And Theory (Advanced Series in Physical Chemistry)

Average customer rating:

Modern Trends In Chemical Reaction Dynamics: Experiment And Theory (Advanced Series in Physical Chemistry)

Manufacturer: World Scientific Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General & Reference | Chemistry | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Physics | Science | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 9812389237

Book Description

The field of chemical reaction dynamics has made tremendous progress during the last decade or so. This is due largely to the development of many new, state-of-the-art experimental and theoretical techniques during that period. It is beneficial to present these advances, both theoretical and experimental, in a review volume (Parts I and II). The primary purpose of this review volume is to provide graduate students and experts in the field with a rather detailed picture of the current status of advanced experimental and theoretical research in chemical reaction dynamics. All chapters in these two parts have been written by world-renowned experts active in such research.

Introductory nuclear reactor theory (Reinhold chemical engineering series)

Average customer rating:

Introductory nuclear reactor theory (Reinhold chemical engineering series)
Herbert S Isbin
Manufacturer: Reinhold Pub. Corp
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0007DP8ES

Albert Einstein Century International Conference (AIP Conference Proceedings / Astronomy and Astrophysics)

Average customer rating:

Albert Einstein Century International Conference (AIP Conference Proceedings / Astronomy and Astrophysics)

Manufacturer: American Institute of Physics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Astronomy | Astronomy | Science | Subjects | Books

Cosmology | Astronomy | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Cosmology | Physics | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Physics | Science | Subjects | Books

Relativity | Physics | Science | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0735403597

Book Description

All papers were peer-reviewed. This conference celebrated the centenary of Einstein's fundamental papers on special relativity, quantum mechanics, and Brownian motion. A wide panel of experts working in many areas of these fields initiated by Albert Einstein give an overview of his legacy and describe the most recent and exciting developments of the knowledge of our physical world. This conference gathered the top researchers of the beginning of our century in string theory, quantum gravity, non-commutative geometry, cosmology, high energy astrophysics, quantum aspects as well as Brownian motion.

Applied Nuclear Theory and Nuclear Model Calculations for Nuclear Technology Applications

Average customer rating:

Applied Nuclear Theory and Nuclear Model Calculations for Nuclear Technology Applications
M. K. Mehta
Manufacturer: World Scientific Pub Co Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Nuclear | Engineering | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

General | Physics | Science | Subjects | Books

Chiral Dynamics: Theory & Experiment III

Average customer rating:

Chiral Dynamics: Theory & Experiment III
Workshop on Chiral Dynamics: Theory and Experiment (3rd : 2000 : Jefferson Laboratory) , and Ulf G. Meissner
Manufacturer: World Scientific Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Nuclear | Engineering | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

General | Medicine | Subjects | Books

General | Physics | Science | Subjects | Books

Average customer rating:

Very funny but too many characters and it petered out

Slab Riot!

Had to put it down after 60 pages

Hilarious! One of the Best Books I've Read in Awhile

All right but Has Been Done Better by Other Authors, if You Like This Genre Check Out Barry, Sparling and Tropper as Well!

Slab Rat: A Novel
Ted Heller
Manufacturer: Scribner
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Comic | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Joe College: A Novel

A Certain Chemistry: A Novel

Love Monkey : A Novel (P.S.)

Funnymen: A Novel

Love and Other Near-Death Experiences: A Novel

ASIN: 0684864975

Book Description

Zachary Arlen Post is a lazy but ambitious associate editor at IT magazine who finds himself in a rut: he can't seem to move up. When Mark Larkin comes to work for IT, Zack realizes immediately that he has met his nemesis. Mark plays the magazine power game very well: He works hard (Zack would prefer to trade emails with his unstable, paranoid pal Willie Lister); his story ideas have the right spin for IT (Zack disdains most of what IT publishes); and he knows how to network with his superiors (a skill Zack never mastered). Mark is clearly headed for big things. Soon enough, he becomes Zack and Willie's boss. Complicating Zack's life further is his involvement with two women at the magazine. One is Leslie Usher-Soames, a British ice queen whose family knew Winston Churchill (Winston Churchill!) The other is Ivy Kooper, a young, earnest intern who is the daughter of the magazine's corporate counsel. Zack is attracted to both women for different reasons: to Ivy because she is sweet and trusting; to Leslie because she has a hyphenated last name and her family is well-connected (Winston Churchill!) But when Zack is forced to choose between them, he opts for style-and the hyphen-over substance. Emboldened by his decision (and the fact that he got away with treating Ivy so shabbily), Zack turns his attention to destroying Mark Larkin. In a series of complex, hilarious maneuvers, Zach plays Iago to Willie's Othello, and soon Mark is discovered dead-an apparent suicide. The police aren't convinced, however, and as they get closer to the truth, Willie himself commits suicide. Zack is not implicated. By the end of the novel, two things are clear: Zack is exactly what he wants to be-a senior editor at IT, married to Leslie Usher-Soames, with Ivy as one of his assistant editors-and that what he wants will never make him happy. SLAB RAT is a hip, sophisticated morality tale that will appeal to any reader who enjoys sharp wit and clever storytelling.

Download Description

Zachary Arlen Post, an associate editor at IT magazine, has his eye on a promotion. His mind, however, is more engaged in figuring out which of the two attractive women in the office he should pursue -- the sweet, earnest Ivy, or Leslie, a classy, English ice queen with a hyphenated last name. When Mark, an eager young man, joins the staff, Zack knows that he has met his nemesis. Mark works hard and plays the power game like a pro, demonstrating the all-important networking skills Zack has never mastered. Soon enough, Mark becomes Zack's boss and Zack knows that only desperate measures will save his own career. From fabricating a fabulous resume to back-stabbing with finesse, this deliciously wicked novel reveals what it takes to make it to the top of the masthead at one of the hottest magazines in the business.

Customer Reviews:

Very funny but too many characters and it petered out.......2006-03-19

There are some wonderful things going on in this novel. The basic premise--a young man from Hofstra getting ahead by falsely claiming to be from a posh background--is great. The names of the magazines at Versailles Publishing--It, Her, Him, etc.--are cute and are well-used in funny wordplay. Heller has a knack for interesting women characters, particularly the triangle contrast among Marjorie, Ivy and Leslie.

Like many reviewers, though, I got lost in the middle of the novel and the ending seemed wrong. There are too many characters and they sort of get lost on occasion. The simple devise of adding a masthead of It Magazine at the front, with the names and titles of the characters, might have been helpful.

I have a far more specific criticism, however. There is a moment in the book when Heller had a choice. Zeke is a fraud, and is losing everything he had looked forward to when Mark Larkin joins the company. Zeke and his friend Willie conspire to get rid of Larkin. Then Zeke finds out that [spoiler alert] Larkin is a fraud, too, only he's a lot better at it than Zeke is. He befriends all the mucky-mucks in the company, gets promoted ahead of Zeke and Willie, supplants Zeke in the bed of his former lover Marjorie and becomes a rising star in New York society, all without being found out. But when Zeke discovers that Mark is a thief and a fraud, instead of making common cause with him, or exposing him, he continues along in the scheme of actually killing him, and gets away with it, even letting Willie take the rap and do away with himself. Zeke's only penalty is entering into a loveless marriage with frigid Leslie and having to watch the woman he loves, Ivy, getting it on with Todd, the even-better schemer he underestimated, who had exposed Larkin's other secret before his death.

Not only is this morally ridiculous--writers can have different senses of morality--but it's inefficient. The proper result here was that Todd would end up not only with Ivy, but with Zeke's job. And all could have been accomplished without killing Larkin and Willie. Once Zeke was willing to kill Larkin, just as when he was willing to leave the party with Leslie in full view of Ivy, he deserved to lose what he had. Heller had created the means of his destruction, but instead took the cheap way out. As others have said, there was an editor asleep on this one. Which is something of a meta-criticism, isn't it?

Slab Riot!.......2005-10-05

Slab Rat is one of my all-time favorite novels. Ted Heller is hilarious. The setting of the book is the magazine publishing world of New York City, but really, anyone who has ever worked in a cubicle environment of the corporate world will relate to it.

The narrator of the story, Zachary Post, leads us through the daily back-stabbing machination of the publishing world. Post both envies and loathes the upper management (or as he refers to them-the Important People) who keep the lower level employees like him in check.

Some negative reviews have complained that the lead character-in fact all the characters-is shallow and self-centered. Guess what? They are! That's the point. In the end, Post becomes what he has always hated-an Important Person. He had the personality for it all along.

Had to put it down after 60 pages.......2005-05-16

I really should have looked at the book's subject before I ordered it. A writer who writes about being a writer and his oh so funny editor conflicts. How original. If I recall Nick Hornby's character in Fever Pitch had a good quip about writers who seem to think writing about being a writer is the height of originality. After about 60 pages I realized I didn't give a wit about the main character. I guess if you work in the industry these inside jokes are funny 'n' all but if you're looking for a book that's more than an inside joke check out Nick Hornby's stuff.

Hilarious! One of the Best Books I've Read in Awhile.......2003-11-07

The characters in this book are priceless-- 3 dimensional portraits that humorously depict common human insecurities and frailties. Slab Rats is also a tremendous look at intra-office rivalries and relationships. It presents an accurate-- unfortunately for Northeasters, a bit too accurate- satire of the snobbery and Ivy-league elitism that still dominates the New York professional world. A must read. On to Funneymen, which, if it's half as good as Slap Rats, will quickly vault Heller to my short list of favorite authors.

All right but Has Been Done Better by Other Authors, if You Like This Genre Check Out Barry, Sparling and Tropper as Well!.......2003-09-27

This book is all right and funny in parts especially the first quarter but never really goes anywhere or reaches the peaks that similar novels by other authors such as Maxx Barry, Nancy Sparling, Jonathan Tropper or Harry Bingham do. If you liked this book you will really, really like Syrup or Company by Maxx Barry, Being Alexander by Nancy Sparling, the Money Makers by Harry Bingham or the Book of Joe by Jonathan Tropper. Maybe it is because I read these other exceptional novels before this one that I had extremely high expectations for Slab Rat that it could never achieve. All right and worth reading if you can get it from your library but if you are going to spend money buy the other authors instead.

Average customer rating:

Slab Rat: A Novel

Manufacturer: Amazon Remainders Account
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000H2MMRA

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books