Quantum Physics for Beginners

By Max Thomson

 

  Are you looking for a book that helps you to understand quantum physics in a simple way? Do you want to discover the Universe's secrets? Or do you want to know how quantum physics has changed our life?

If you answered "yes" to at least one of these questions, then keep reading...

In the heart of the matter, there is an immense world, made of billions and billions of particles, which escapes our senses and intuition, a world in which not apply the natural physical laws, but something much more complicated and "mysterious": the laws of quantum mechanics. It is a theory so preposterous as to astonish the scientists who invented it.

In the first decades of the past century, important physicists such as Max Planck, Niels Bohr, Karl Heisenberg, Albert Einstein, and others, tried to understand the laws that govern nature, answering the questions that men have been asking for millennia.

But don't worry ...

... you mustn't need to be a scientist or an academic to discover quantum physics and its secrets.

The laws of quantum physics are charming, mysterious, and govern our life: from GPS to Laser, from solar panels to computers; our technology is based on theories we don't fully understand yet.

Quantum mechanics, for its almost magic, has always fascinated philosophers and scientists. Moreover, today it enters our "daily life" and inspires books, films, and works of art.

"Physics is not a representation of reality, but our way of thinking about it," said Werner Heisenberg.

In this book, your perception of what is true or false will vanish ...

... waves that act like particles, particles that cross barriers like ghosts or communicate with each other in a "telepathic" way, a cat can be alive or dead at the same time: this is the strange world that you will face when you will read this book.

In "Quantum Physics for Beginners" you will discover:

• What is the atom and what is it formed from (is it really the smallest part of the Universe as classical physicists thought?)
• because Planck is considered the father of quantum physics (did you know that he arrived at his result by "playing with mathematics"?)
• the wonderful discoveries of Heisenberg, Bohr, De Broglie, Einstein in the field of quantum mechanics (the photoelectric effect, the uncertainty principle, and many other theories ...)
• if Schroedinger's cat is alive or dead and the impressive consequences of this mental experiment on the conception of reality
• the various interpretations of reality provided by scientists (from the Copenhagen interpretation to the theory of many worlds; from the holographic universe to the law of attraction)
• how quantum physics has changed our life...
• ... and much, much more!!

There is a famous theory of quantum physics that claims that there are infinite universes; everyone is created when we have to make a decision.

For example, there is a universe in which you will not buy this book, perhaps regretting it because you will not discover the fascinating theories of quantum physics and how these can affect your life, while there is another universe in which you will choose to buy my book and enjoy a fantastic adventure full of secrets, magic, and mysteries yet to be discovered.

I hope this is the universe in which you have decided to enjoy this book.

How to do?

Scroll up and order now!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Max Thomson
• Release date: Dec 17, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393312864

Book preview

QUANTUM PHYSICS FOR BEGINNERS

Understand the principal quantum physics theories explained in a simple way. 

Now you can discover the secrets of the Universe.

Feather

MAX THOMSON

© Copyright 2020 by Max Thomson

All rights reserved.

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Table of contents

PREFACE.............................................1

Note to the reader.....................................2

INTRODUCTION......................................3

Chapter 1: Short history of quantum physics.............6

Chapter 2: Classical physics versus quantum physics....10

2.1 What is physics?..................................10

2.2 Observation, monitoring, measurement and application.11

2.3 Theoretical, experimental physicists and the Gedankenexperiment.......12

2.4 How physics works................................14

2.5 The scale of Quantum Physics.......................18

2.6 The new laws of quantum physics....................19

2.6.1 Intrinsic granularity............................19

2.6.2 Logical inconsistencies.........................20

2.6.3 Intrinsic uncertainty...........................21

2.6.4 Interactive Measures...........................22

Chapter 3: Before quantum physics: light and matter...23

3.1 Newton's light corpuscles..........................24

3.2 Young’s Double-Slit Experiment.....................24

3.3 The famous Maxwell equations......................27

3.4 Electromagnetic Spectra...........................28

3.5 A nod to Thermodynamics..........................29

Chapter 4: From classical physics to quantum physics...31

4.1 The Indivisible Atom...............................32

4.2 X-ray crystallography..............................33

4.3 The Divisible Atom?...............................35

4.4 The Plum Pudding Model...........................36

4.5 The Nuclear Model................................37

4.6 The end of physics?...............................40

Chapter 5: The axioms of quantum physics and Planck's constant........41

5.1 The Ultraviolet Catastrophe........................42

5.2 Planck’s Prediction................................43

5.3 Planck's hypothesis...............................45

5.4 Real examples of quantization and the quantum leap....46

Chapter 6: Quantum physics applied to light...........48

6.1 The photoelectric effect............................49

6.2 The Heuristic Light-Quanta.........................50

6.3 The photon......................................51

6.4 The Compton Effect...............................52

6.5 Wave-Particle Duality..............................53

Chapter 7: Quantization of the atom...................55

7.1 The Atomic Spiral.................................56

7.1.1 Those Mysterious Line Spectra..................56

7.2 The Bohr Model..................................57

7.2.1 Bohr's axioms.................................58

7.2.2 Fill in the gaps................................59

7.3 Hydrogen Explained...............................60

7.4 Explain the periodic table..........................62

Chapter 8: Quantum Mechanics.......................64

8.1 The Electron.....................................65

8.2 De Broglie's radical relationship.....................66

8.3 The Davisson-Germer Experiment...................68

8.4 Protons, potatoes and Pluto.........................69

8.5 The wave-particle duality (vol. 2)....................70

8.6 Double Slit Redux.................................71

Chapter 9: Quantum waves............................74

9.1 Quantum waves explained..........................75

9.2 The role of probability.............................77

9.3 The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle................78

9.4 Conjugate Pairs...................................81

9.5 Uncertainty in a macroscopic world..................83

9.6 The end of determinism............................84

9.7 The Schroedinger Equation.........................85

9.7.1 Wave functions and the Wave equation............87

9.7.2 Solving the Schroedinger equation...............88

9.8 Eigenfunctions, eigenvalues, and quantization.........90

9.9 Values of probability and expectation.................91

9.10 Mechanics of the Heisenberg matrix................92

9.11 Wave Illustrated Functions........................93

9.11.1 The Free Particle.............................94

9.11.2 The particle in a box..........................95

9.11.3 Barriers and Tunnels..........................97

9.11.4 The particle on a spring.......................99

9.12 The Hydrogen Atom.............................100

9.12.1 Electron Clouds.............................101

9.12.2 The New Bohr Atom.........................102

9.12.3 Quantum numbers and degeneration...........103

Chapter 10: Particle Rotation and Antimatter.........107

10.1 The Stern-Gerlach experiment....................108

10.2 The Spin Quantum Number.......................109

10.3 The Pauli Exclusion Principle.....................112

10.4 Revisit the periodic table.........................113

10.5 Antimatter.....................................115

10.5.1 Couple production and annihilation.............116

Chapter 11: The interpretations of Quantum Physics...119

11.1 The Copenhagen interpretation...................120

11.1.1 The Basic Features..........................120

11.1.2 Uncertainty and duality......................122

11.1.3 Wave functions and probabilities...............122

11.1.4 Overlap and collapse.........................123

11.1.5 Measurement and objective reality.............124

11.1.6 Schroedinger's Cat..........................125

11.1.7 The Bohr-Einstein Debates....................128

11.2 The completeness of Quantum Physics.............129

11.2.1 The EPR paradox............................129

11.2.2 Remote Spectral Action......................132

11.2.3 Hidden Variables............................132

11.2.4 Bell's inequality.............................134

11.2.5 The Aspect Experiment.......................136

11.3 Alternative Interpretations.......................138

11.3.1 The Interpretation Of Many Worlds.............138

11.3.2 The de Broglie-Bohm Interpretation............142

11.3.3 The Holographic Universe....................142

11.3.4 Quantum logic..............................144

11.3.5 The Law of Attraction........................144

11.3.6 The role of consciousness.....................149

11.3.7 Why must we worry about trying to interpret Quantum Physics?.......152

Chapter 12: The Great Unification....................154

12.1 The Basic Interactions...........................154

12.1.1 From galaxies to Quarks......................155

12.1.2 Gravitational Interaction......................156

12.1.3 Electromagnetic Interaction...................158

12.1.4 The Strong Interaction.......................159

12.1.5 Weak Interaction............................161

12.2 The Fundamental Particles.......................164

12.2.1 Leptons and Quarks.........................164

12.2.2 Quantum Field Theory.......................169

12.2.3 The Higgs Boson............................178

12.2.4 The Standard Model.........................179

12.3 The theory of everything.........................181

12.3.1 Limits of the Standard model and the theory of everything (GUT).......182

12.3.2 The theories of relativity......................184

12.3.3 Possible quantum theories of gravity............188

12.3.4 And now?..................................190

Chapter 13: Applications of quantum theory...........192

13.1 Quantum and solid lights.........................193

13.1.1 The Neon Light.............................194

13.1.2 The laser...................................195

13.1.3 The GPS...................................197

13.1.4 The semiconductor..........................199

13.1.5 The solar panel and the light-emitting diode (LED) 201

13.1.6 Superconductivity...........................203

Conclusion.........................................205

PREFACE

"Not only is the universe stranger than we think, it's even stranger than we want to think." _Werner Heisenberg

Quantum physics, also known as quantum mechanics or quantum wave mechanics, was born in the late 1800s, It is a study of the atoms' sub-microscopic world and the particles that make them up. In 1800 physicists believed that radiation was a wave phenomenon, and that matter was continuous. They believed in the existence of the ether and had no idea in what was the cause.

The experiments carried out in the late 1800s led to the formulation of quantum physics:

- Discovery of the electron;

- Discovery of X-rays;

- Observation of the photoelectric effect;

- Observation of discrete atomic spectra.

Critical was the interpretation of the black hole radiation spectrum, which led to the breakdown of the equipartition theorem for electromagnetic radiation.

This book deals with the basic theory of the various effects discussed from the first principles in the simplest way. It introduces readers to quantum physics's main ideas and teaches the mathematical methods and techniques used in advanced quantum physics, atomic physics, and laser physics...

Note to the reader

THE BOOK CAN BE UNDERSTOOD by a reader with little or no previous knowledge of modern and quantum physics.

However, a basic knowledge of the subject and mathematics will undoubtedly help.

The text will help readers learn how the fact that microscopic objects (particles) behave in unusual ways called quantum effects, what the term quantum means, and where this idea comes from.

The book does not seek to explore all the concepts of quantum physics but aims to have the predictions and problems explored in it provide a useful starting point for those interested in learning more.

It intends to explore the problems that have been the most influential in the development of quantum physics and in the formulation of what we now call modern quantum physics.

Are you ready to know the most famous quantum physics theories and become a new Sheldon Cooper?

Well!

Enjoy the reading!!

INTRODUCTION

"Physics is not a representation of reality, but our way of thinking about it" _Werner Heisenberg

In the heart of the matter, there is an immense world, made of billions and billions of particles, which escapes our senses and intuition, a world in which not apply the natural physical laws, but something much more complicated and mysterious: the laws of quantum mechanics. It is a theory so preposterous as to astonish the scientists who invented it.

"Nobody really understands it," said Richard Feynman, one of the brightest physicists of his generation in 1965.

However, this theory works because it describes the world of atoms and molecules with impeccable precision. Furthermore, it has many applications, from lasers to magnetic resonance imaging. It is suspected that it is some phenomena related to it, such as the tunnel effect that make photosynthesis and, therefore, life possible.

Not only...

... quantum mechanics, for its almost magic, has always fascinated philosophers and scientists. Moreover, today it enters our daily life and inspires books, films, and works of art.

However, what is this theory?

Moreover, why is it so important?

Waves that act like particles, particles that cross barriers like ghosts or communicate with each other in a telepathic way. This is the strange world that scientists faced when they discovered quantum mechanics.

One of the main characteristics of this theory is quantization. This is the fact that, in the microscopic world, physical quantities such as energy cannot be exchanged continuously, like a flow of tap water that can be dosed at will, but through packages called the quanta.

Under this property, light is made up of corpuscles of energy called photons; and even atoms can absorb this energy only in packets: an atom, for example, can absorb or emit 1 or 2 or 3 or more photons, but not 2.7 photons or half a photon.

This is what happens in the photoelectric effect, according to which a metal struck by the right type of light produces electricity: this phenomenon, discovered at the end of the nineteenth century and explained in 1905 by Einstein, is based on the operation of modern photovoltaic panels.

The second oddity of quantum mechanics is that all particles have a second nature: " In some experiments they behave like corpuscles, in others like waves explains Giancarlo Ghirardi, emeritus professor of physics at the University of Trieste.An experiment showing the wave nature of electrons is that of the double slit: a sensitive screen is placed in front of a double slit and it is observed that the electrons impress the plate by forming interference fringes, just as light does. Other experiments show that electrons are particles. "

Classical physics is predictable: it allows you to calculate the trajectory of a projectile or a planet accurately. In quantum mechanics, however, the more precise the position of a particle is, the more uncertain its velocity becomes (and vice versa).

The uncertainty principle supposed in 1927 by the German physicist Werner Heisenberg says so. So if we want to describe the behavior of an electron in an atom, we can only say that it is located in a cloud around the nucleus, and quantum mechanics indicates the probability that, by making a measurement, the electron is at a certain point.

Before the measurement, the electron state is described by the set of all possible results: we, therefore, speak of the superposition of quantum states. At the time of measurement, the electron collapses into a single state. This principle has a crucial conceptual aspect: in a certain sense, with their measuring instruments, scientists intervene in the creation of the reality they are studying.

Another bizarre quantum phenomenon is the tunnel effect, i.e., particles can overcome a barrier like ghosts passing through a wall. " This is how the decay of radioactive substances is explained, says Ghirardi. The radiation emitted by these materials, in fact, is made up of particles that overcome an energy barrier within the nuclei. "

The experiment of propagation of light at speed 4.7 times higher than that of vacuum (but without violating the relativity of Einstein) is a phenomenon made possible by propagation through an energy barrier (tunnel effect).

All of this is already strange enough. Nevertheless, the most curious phenomenon is entanglement. Imagine taking two photons in a state superposition. We can think of them as coins that turn infinitely, showing both faces (head or cross), subjecting them to the entanglement, and bringing them to opposite sides of the Universe.

According to quantum mechanics, if we make a measurement on one of the two and get ahead, the other coin immediately ceases to be in an indeterminate state. If we measure it (after a second or after a century), we are sure that it will be head. The two particles are like in... telepathic contact.

This extraordinary function can be used to carry out quantum teleportation.  "Suppose we want to transfer a photon identified by its polarization state from point A to point B, says Ghirardi. In addition to the photon teleported, two tangled photons are needed, one in A and the other in B. Then the photon teleported is interacted with the first intertwined photon (the one in A) and communicated to the observer in B the outcome of the operation. In doing so he is shown how he must manipulate the second tangled photon to obtain an identical copy of the starting photon."

In practice, the starting photon's information is transferred to B thanks to the intermediation of the intertwined photons: in reality, it is a transfer of information, rather than a transfer of matter such as that of Star Trek.

Chapter 1: Short history of quantum physics

THE PRESENT IS THE only thing that has no end _ Erwin Schroedinger

By the end of the nineteenth century, classical physics had failed to describe the behavior of matter and electromagnetic radiation on the length scale of the order of the atom or the energy scale of inter-atomic interactions. In particular, the experimental reality of light and electron was still inexplicable.

This limitation of classical laws was the primary motivation that led in the first half of the twentieth century to the development of a physics different from that developed. Until then, through a theory obtained by combining and elaborating a set of theories formulated at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth century, often of an empirical nature, based on the fact that some microscopic quantities, such as energy or angular momentum, can vary only for discrete values called quanta (hence the name quantum theory introduced by Max Planck early twentieth century).

Atoms were recognized by John Dalton in 1803 as the fundamental constituents of molecules and all matter. In 1869 the periodic table of the elements made it possible to group atoms according to their chemical properties. This made it possible to discover periodic laws, such as the octet rule, the origin of which was unknown. Avogadro, Dumas and Gauden's studies have shown that atoms are composed of each other to form molecules, structuring and combining according to laws of a geometric nature.

All these discoveries have not clarified why elements and molecules were formed according to these regular and periodic laws.

In 1874, George Stoney discovered the electron while Rutherford the nucleus: this laid the basis for the atom's internal structure.

According to Rutherford's model, a positively charged central nucleus in an atom acts on negative electrons similar to that the Sun acts on the solar system's planets. However, the electromagnetic emissions foreseen by Maxwell's theory for electric charges in accelerated motion should have had a high intensity causing the collapse of the atom in a few moments, contrary to the stability of all the observed matter.

Electromagnetic radiation was theoretically predicted by James Clerk Maxwell in 1850 and experimentally detected by Heinrich Hertz in 1886. However, according to the time's classical theory, Wien discovered that a black body capable of absorbing all the incident radiation should emit waves electromagnetic of infinite intensity at short wavelength. Although not immediately considered of great importance, this devastating paradox was defined in 1911 as ultraviolet catastrophe.

In 1887 Heinrich Hertz discovered that the electrical discharges between two charged conductive bodies are much more intense if the bodies were exposed to ultraviolet radiation. The phenomenon, due to the interaction between electromagnetic radiation and matter, was called the photoelectric effect. It was discovered that inexplicably it disappeared entirely for frequencies of the incident radiation lower than a threshold value, regardless of its total intensity. Furthermore, if the photoelectric effect occurred, the electrons' energy emitted by the conducting plates was directly proportional to the electromagnetic radiation frequency. Maxwell's classical wave theory could not explain such experimental evidence.

For the theoretical explanation of these counterintuitive properties of light, Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 1921.

Quantum mechanics, developed with numerous physicists' contributions over more than half a century, has provided a satisfactory explanation for all these empirical rules and contradictions.

In 1913 the Danish physicist Niels Bohr proposed an empirical model to try to collect evidence on the stability of the hydrogen atom and its emission spectrum, such as the Rydberg equation. Max Planck, Albert Einstein, Peter Debye, and Arnold Sommerfeld contributed to the development and generalization of the set of