"Many mysteries of the atom have came unraveled, but one remains intractable- what Frank Close calls the 'Infinity puzzle'. The problem was simple to describe. Although clearly very powerful, quantum field theory ... was making one utterly ridiculous prediction: that certain events had an infinite probability of occurring. ... The Infinity Puzzle charts the birth and life of the idea, and the scientists, ... who realized it. Based on numerous firsthand interviews and extensive research, this book captures an era of great mystery and greater discovery. Even if the Higgs boson is never found, renormalization- the pursuit of an orderly universe- has led to one of the richest and most productive intellectual periods in human history."--Book jacket.

Challenge your mental abilities to solve the amazing collection of out-of-this-world puzzles in this mind-boggling book.

For 100 years, almost all physicists have believed that it was no longer possible to understand the true constitution of nature. The culprit is the unsolved wave-particle paradox, the apparent contradiction between wholeness & divisibility - that subtle smile of nature that was so perplexing that theoretical physics threw in the towel in despair as early as 1927. This was a direct consequence of the Copenhagen Interpretation, in which Niels Bohr had postulated an insurmountable barrier of cognition (at least for physicists). Since then, nature has been regarded as bizarre and weird, the quantum puzzle as unsolvable, and the theory as so complicated that it can no longer be understood by ordinary mortals. In reality, however, the underlying experiments are of a poignant simplicity that even laymen can easily understand geometrically: they show holistic division and branching processes and thus refute the atom and elementary particle hypothesis, i.e. the atomstic world view. Volume 1 introduces the quantum puzzle and identifies the four cognitive problems of quantum physics. They are obviously caused by assumptions that are considered proven, but must nevertheless be false. So we embark on a detective search for clues in the history of ideas in 19th century physics. The investigation reveals, among other things, that the indivisibility hypothesis already failed experimentally justified in the founding days of chemistry, which led Avogadro to the hypothesis of divisible 'atoms', called molecules. The mechanistic interpretation of this divisibility then led to the salvation of the atomic hypothesis, which, however, around 1927 - in quantum physics - suddenly proved to be untenable. No physicist could make sense of it, which led to a hundred-year blockade of thought in theoretical physics: the atom hypothesis had become a paradigm that apparently could no longer be reasonably questioned...

Quantum theory confronts us with bizarre paradoxes which contradict the logic of classical physics. At the subatomic level, one particle seems to know what the others are doing, and according to Heisenberg's "uncertainty principle", there is a limit on how accurately nature can be observed. And yet the theory is amazingly accurate and widely applied, explaining all of chemistry and most of physics. Introducing Quantum Theory takes us on a step-by-step tour with the key figures, including Planck, Einstein, Bohr, Heisenberg and Schrodinger. Each contributed at least one crucial concept to the theory. The puzzle of the wave-particle duality is here, along with descriptions of the two questions raised against Bohr's "Copenhagen Interpretation" - the famous "dead and alive cat" and the EPR paradox. Both remain unresolved.

This account of the foundations of quantum mechanics is an introduction accessible to anyone with high school mathematics, and provides a rigorous discussion of important recent advances in the understanding of quantum physics, including theories put forward by the author himself.

A sophisticated and original introduction to the philosophy of quantum mechanics from one of the world’s leading philosophers of physics In this book, Tim Maudlin, one of the world’s leading philosophers of physics, offers a sophisticated, original introduction to the philosophy of quantum mechanics. The briefest, clearest, and most refined account of his influential approach to the subject, the book will be invaluable to all students of philosophy and physics. Quantum mechanics holds a unique place in the history of physics. It has produced the most accurate predictions of any scientific theory, but, more astonishing, there has never been any agreement about what the theory implies about physical reality. Maudlin argues that the very term “quantum theory” is a misnomer. A proper physical theory should clearly describe what is there and what it does—yet standard textbooks present quantum mechanics as a predictive recipe in search of a physical theory. In contrast, Maudlin explores three proper theories that recover the quantum predictions: the indeterministic wavefunction collapse theory of Ghirardi, Rimini, and Weber; the deterministic particle theory of deBroglie and Bohm; and the conceptually challenging Many Worlds theory of Everett. Each offers a radically different proposal for the nature of physical reality, but Maudlin shows that none of them are what they are generally taken to be.

101 Enigmatic Puzzles: Fractal Mazes, Quantum Chess, Anagram Sudoku, and More is a book of gourmet, handcrafted puzzles is for the puzzle connoisseur who wants hearty meals, not just a series of snacks; unlike many puzzle books which feature large number of little puzzles each of which only take a few minutes, most of these puzzles are carefully constructed to provide a challenge that will last awhile, for the serious puzzler who enjoys being immersed in a puzzle for a time. Many of the puzzles here may take a couple of hours or perhaps even an entire afternoon; though the book is also designed so that one can browse and graze allowing casual puzzlers to explore and enjoy as well. In addition to small, sample puzzles provided when new puzzle forms are presented, there is an entire Hints Section provided, with hints for every puzzle, designed to make the solving easier, while still maintaining a challenge. Thus, the book should be of interest to both hardcore puzzlers and casual puzzlers alike, whether one is looking for brain exercise or an amusing diversion, one can find it here. Most of the puzzles here introduce new twists on older puzzle forms, and some introduce new forms of puzzles as well, that, in addition to needing solutions, require one to figure out how to go about solving them. As the range of puzzles is broad, so is the book's audience; whether one enjoys logic puzzles, mazes, chess puzzles, crossword puzzles, Sudoku, number puzzles, trivia puzzles, or word puzzles, one will find them here, and new varieties of each of them as well. As some of the puzzles combine existing puzzle forms, fans of one type of puzzle will be introduced to other types of puzzles, potentially broadening their areas of interest (for example, the Anagram Sudoku puzzles, which combine Sudoku with anagramming).