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IMPERIAL COLLEGE PRESS eBooks

Concepts of Modern Physics - The Haifa Lectures

Mendel Sachs

Published Jan 1, 2007• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Philosophy of Science Classical Precursors for the Concepts of Modern Physics Nineteenth-Century Physics: Atomism and Continuity Early Anomalies and Elementary Particles From the Old Quantum Theory to Quantum Mechanics Quantum Mechanics: Heisenberg's Matrix Mechanics and the Copenhagen School Concepts of the Theory of Relativity From Special to General Relativity The Universe Conflicts in the Foundations of the Quantum and Relativity Theories.

DOI
10.1142/9781860948398

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Philosophy of Science Classical Precursors for the Concepts of Modern Physics Nineteenth-Century Physics: Atomism and Continuity Early Anomalies and Elementary Particles From the Old Quantum Theory to Quantum Mechanics Quantum Mechanics: Heisenberg's Matrix Mechanics and the Copenhagen School Concepts of the Theory of Relativity From Special to General Relativity The Universe Conflicts in the Foundations of the Quantum and Relativity Theories.
The mathematician plays a game in which he himself invents the rules, while the physicist plays a game in which the rules are provided by nature, but as time goes on, it becomes increasingly evident that the rules which the mathematician finds interesting are the same as those which nature has chosen. (Paul A. M. Dirac) As described in Chapter 5, classical ( Newtonian ) mechanics is centered around Hamilton's principle and the associated Newton's second law, particularly as applied to statics and dynamics of nondeformable (discrete) and deformable (continuous) bodies. Such systems are typically of O (1) size operating at O (1) speeds. Modern physics generally refers to branches of physics that have arisen since Einstein's relativity theory in the early part of the twentieth century, including special relativity, general relativity, and quantum mechanics, for example. Modern physics addresses physical phenomena that occur at very small sizes, such as atoms, or very large sizes, such as galaxies, and/or very high speeds close to the speed of light. We focus on the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics, both of which reduce to the classical mechanics limit that has occupied our considerations thus far. Relativity reduces to classical mechanics when υ ≪ c , where c is the speed of light in a vacuum, and υ is a characteristic velocity of the system; quantum mechanics reduces to classical mechanics when length scales dominant within the system are much larger than Planck's universal constant ħ.
The first decades of the twentieth century were marked by two revolutionary scientific accomplishments, the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics, with repercussions still felt today. Relativity theory and quantum mechanics became the two most important branches of “Modern Physics” that emerged as an alternative to “Classical Physics” (a term often used interchangeably with that of “Newtonian” or “Galilean” physics). No field of science (from astronomy to the life sciences), no field of knowledge (from philosophy to sociology), and no artistic practice (from architecture to the fine arts) was left untouched by these investigations into the nature of our physical universe.
By the beginning of the twentieth century, classical physics had accumulated many contradictions that could only be resolved by changing the main concepts of space and time (Einstein’s theory of relativity, Chapter P1) and the laws of motion of particles on atomic scales (quantum mechanics). The first quantum concepts appeared at the very beginning of the century (Planck’s formula for thermal radiation and Einstein’s formula for photoeffect, Chapter P5), but quantum mechanics as a closed science was not constructed until the end of the 1920s.
Quantum mechanics was developed as a response to the inability of the classical theories of mechanics and electromagnetism to provide a satisfactory explanation of some of the properties of electromagnetic radiation and of atomic structure. As a result, a theory has emerged whose basic principles can be used to explain not only the structure and properties of atoms, molecules and solids, but also those of nuclei and of “elementary” particles such as the proton and neutron. Although there are still many features of the physics of such systems that are not fully understood, there are presently no indications that the fundamental ideas of quantum mechanics are incorrect. In order to achieve this success, quantum mechanics has been built on a foundation that contains a number of concepts that are fundamentally different from those of classical physics and which have radically altered our view of the way the physical universe operates. This book aims to elucidate and discuss the conceptual basis of the subject as well as explaining its success in describing the behaviour of atomic and subatomic systems.