This book addresses the pursuit and further investigation of experimental results by analyzing classic examples from physics. The authors concentrate on the investigation of experimental results by examining case studies from the history of 20th and 21st century physics. Discussions on the discovery of parity nonconservation, the rise and fall of the Fifth Force, the search for neutrinoless double β decay, supersymmetry and the expansion of the Standard Model, and measurements of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muons are provided. Experimental results may achieve acceptance to the point that even well known principles, such as conservation of energy and quantization, lose their status as accepted. Such principles and their options are treated on an equal footing as being pursuit worthy even though there is no plausible explanation as to why and how they might have failed.

This book focuses on a forensics-style re-examination of several historical events. The purpose of these studies is to afford readers the opportunity to apply basic principles of physics to unsolved mysteries and controversial events in order to settle the historical debate. We identify nine advantages of using case studies as a pedagogical approach to understanding forensic physics. Each of these nine advantages is the focus of a chapter of this book. Within each chapter, we show how a cascade of unlikely events resulted in an unpredictable catastrophe and use introductory-level physics to analyze the outcome. Armed with the tools of a good forensic physicist, the reader will realize that the historical record is far from being a set of agreed upon immutable facts; instead, it is a living, changing thing that is open to re-visitation, re-examination, and re-interpretation.

The pendulum: a case study in physics is a unique book in several ways. Firstly, it is a comprehensive quantitative study of one physical system, the pendulum, from the viewpoint of elementary and more advanced classical physics, modern chaotic dynamics, and quantum mechanics. In addition, coupled pendulums and pendulum analogs of superconducting devices are also discussed. Secondly, this book treats the physics of the pendulum within a historical and cultural context, showing, for example, that the pendulum has been intimately connected with studies of the earth's density, the earth's motion, and timekeeping. While primarily a physics book, the work provides significant added interest through the use of relevant cultural and historical vignettes. This approach offers an alternative to the usual modern physics courses. The text is amply illustrated and augmented by exercises at the end of each chapter.

Case Studies in Atomic Physics III focuses on case studies on atomic and molecular physics, including atomic collisions, transport properties of electrons, ions, molecules, and photons, interaction potentials, spectroscopy, and surface phenomena. The selection first discusses detailed balancing in the time-dependent impact parameter method, as well as time-reversal in the impact parameter method and coupled state approximation. The text also examines the mechanisms of electron production in ion. Topics include measurement of doubly differential cross sections and electron spectra, direct Coulomb ionization, autoionization and Auger effect, charge transfer to continuum states, and electron promotion. The book takes a look at the production of inner-shell vacancies in heavy ion-atom collisions and hyperfine and Zeeman studies of metastable atomic states by atomic-beam magnetic-resonance. Topics include molecular orbital model, experimental considerations, and theoretical considerations and interpretation of experimental results. The manuscript also evaluates the coupled integral-equation approach to nonrelativistic three-body systems with applications to atomic problems, including kinematic theory of three-body system, reduction of the coupled equations, and application to atomic problems. The selection is a dependable reference for readers interested in atomic and molecular physics.

Case Studies in Atomic Collision Physics II focuses on studies on the role of atomic collision processes in astrophysical plasmas, including ionic recombination, electron transport, and position scattering. The book first discusses three-body recombination of positive and negative ions, as well as introduction to ionic recombination, calculation of the recombination coefficient, ions recombining in their parent gas, and three-body recombination at moderate and high gas-densities. The manuscript also takes a look at precision measurements of electron transport coefficients and differential cross sections in electron impact ionization. The publication examines the interpretation of spectral intensities from laboratory and astrophysical plasmas, atomic processes in astrophysical plasmas, and polarized orbital approximations. Discussions focus on collision rate experiments, line spectrum, collisional excitation and ionization, polarized target wave function, and application to positron scattering and annihilation. The text also ponders on cross sections and electron affinities and the role of metastable particles in collision processes. The selection is a valuable source of data for physicists and readers interested in atomic collision.

In this collection of essays Allan Franklin defends the view that science provides us with knowledge about the world which is based on experimental evidence and on reasoned and critical discussion. In short, he argues that science is a reasonable enterprise. He begins with detailed studies of four episodes from the history of modern physics: (1) the early attempts to detect gravity waves, (2) how the physics community decided that a proposed new elementary particle, 17-keV neutrino, did not exist, (3) a sequence of experiments on K meson decay, and (4) the origins of the Fifth Force hypothesis, a proposed modification of Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation. The case studies are then used to examine issues such as how discord between experimental results is resolved, calibration of an experimental apparatus and its legitimate use in validating an experimental result, and how experimental results provide reasonable grounds for belief in both the truth of physical theories and in the existence of the entities involved in those theories. This book is a challenge to the critics of science, both postmodern and constructivist, to provide convincing alternative explanations of the episodes and issues discussed. It should be of interest to philosophers, historians, and sociologists of science, and to scientists themselves.