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Physics Bulletin

QED – The Strange Theory of Light and Matter

I C C Campbell

Published Sep 1, 1986• 758 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Richard P Feynman 1985 Guildford: Princeton University Press x + 158 pp price £13.40 ISBN 0 691 08388 6 Quantum theory is crucially central to our physical description of the universe, yet because of the complexity and unfamiliarity of some of the ideas involved it is a subject that has not been successfully popularised. QED – The Strange Theory of Light and Matter is a excellent attempt to explain these ideas at a level that requires no foreknowledge of physics.

DOI
10.1088/0031-9112/37/9/035

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Richard P Feynman 1985 Guildford: Princeton University Press x + 158 pp price £13.40 ISBN 0 691 08388 6 Quantum theory is crucially central to our physical description of the universe, yet because of the complexity and unfamiliarity of some of the ideas involved it is a subject that has not been successfully popularised. QED – The Strange Theory of Light and Matter is a excellent attempt to explain these ideas at a level that requires no foreknowledge of physics.
R Loudon Oxford: University Press 1973 pp xii + 338 price £7.50 One merit of Professor Loudon's book, uncommon in its field even in the attempt, is that he has cast it successfully in the tradition of normal physics texts. He starts roughly where undergraduate quantum mechanics courses leave off; introduces his topics as recognizably physics problems; keeps the mathematics to a reasonable minimum; and finally leaves the reader well placed not only to penetrate further technicalities but also to appraise them in context, and all the better for having been approached as a sane physicist, instead of being supposed ignorant of Planck's constant at the start and poised for engineering applications at the end.
A J G Hey and P Walters 1987 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press vii + 1 80 pp price £27.50 (£9.95 paperback) ISBN 0 521 26744 7 Hdbk, 0 521 31845 9 Pbk Described as a ‘coffee table’ book on quantum mechanics, this volume is beautifully illustrated with over a hundred photographs – many of them in colour – and according to the somewhat tongue-in-cheek preface it is aimed at bank managers, builders, housewives and especially politicians! The text is eminently readable, liberally peppered with entertaining historical anecdotes and imaginative analogies. The scope is ambitious, ranging from introductory ideas about waves and particles to the physics of superfluids and stars and the advanced concepts of Feynman diagrams and quantum chromodynamics.
Anthony Sudbery 1986 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press xiii + 358 pp price £40 (£1 5 paperback) ISBN 0 521 25891 X Hdbk, 0 521 27765 5 Pbk An unusual book this, since it tries to provide a basic introduction to quantum theory, together with the elements of modern particle physics, but is aimed not at physicists (who need to learn how to apply quantum mechanics to real physical problems) but at undergraduate mathematicians. The latter, it is supposed, will expect (or tolerate) greater mathematical rigour than the former, but may have little background knowledge of physics and would be more interested in the logical structure of the subject than in how to make use of it.
It has become ever more clear over the past 70 years that reality is best described by a theory that no one fully understands and which cannot be applied to most everyday phenomena. Quantum theory has been subjected to many stringent tests and all of its predictions, however strange, have always been borne out. Originally developed to account for why atoms do not collapse and why they radiate and absorb energy in discrete amounts (quanta), it has now gone far beyond these rather simple beginnings. It is essentially a mathematical theory, so trying to describe it in words is analogous to transforming a picture into a poem. Inaccuracies, distortions and over-simplifications inevitably creep in. Nevertheless, one can convey the essence of the picture, and that is what is attempted here. Some grasp of what the material world is really like, and of the unfamiliar ways in which it can behave, is probably necessary to reaching an understanding of awareness and is certainly needed to comprehend the experimental evidence set out in Chapter 5.
The universe we live in is both strange and interesting. This strangeness comes about because, at the most fundamental level, the universe is governed by the laws of quantum mechanics. This is the most spectacularly accurate and powerful theory ever devised, one that has given us insights into many aspects of the world, from the structure of matter to the meaning of information. This textbook provides a comprehensive account of all things quantum. It starts by introducing the wavefunction and its interpretation as an ephemeral wave of complex probability, before delving into the mathematical formalism of quantum mechanics and exploring its diverse applications, from atomic physics and scattering, to quantum computing. Designed to be accessible, this volume is suitable for both students and researchers, beginning with the basics before progressing to more advanced topics.