A Treatise On Quantum Theory (was: Textbook on quantum mechanics)
whopkins_at_csd.uwm.edu
Date: 02/09/05
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Date: 9 Feb 2005 10:06:30 -0800
Peter Craven wrote:
>
> Could you please advise me which is the textbook that
> you think most correctly explains quantum mechanics.
Not to plug new or upcoming books, but [oops too late], I've been
working through the basic topics of a treatise, as per the subject
header, for quite some while. The initial draft of the Prologue
addresses some of the issues and also shows the general direction the
treatise will be headed in.
The basic point of departure (and there are many) is to firmly cast the
foundation in the realm of finite temperature physics; and closely
integrate it with statistical mechanics and classical physics, itself;
bringing all simultaneously under a common foundation, a' la the
Landsman 1998 epitome "Mathematical Topics Between Classical and
Quantum Physics".
The Big Picture
===============
[Stuff about Olbers' paradox -- why the sky isn't hot white -- deleted]
... Why is space black, then?
In fact, it's not.
We're bathing in the afterglow of a brilliant flash which was so
enormous that even today it heats the entirely of outer space to a
temperature that is 3 degrees above absolute zero [or about 5 degrees,
Fahrenheit above absolute zero]; and colors outer space with a faint
and, to the naked eye invisible, glow in the microwave spectrum so that
it is, in fact, still not entirely black. The occurrence of the event
was long ago, but is still directly in the line of sight of where we
are today. In fact, it is the one and only place and time in the
universe that is in the line of sight of all other places in the
universe, at all other times -- visible in all directions at once.
For, you see, the visible universe is actually a projection of the
past. The Earth (as well as each other place and time everywhere else)
is surrounded by a nested series of spheres -- exactly as apprehended
by philosophers of old. But they are not spheres of substance, rather
they are spheres that envelope all those places a set distance from
Earth which existed a set time in the past and are, only now, becoming
visible to us by their light. The sphere of radius 4.3 light years,
which crosses the neighborhood of the nearest star, comprises events
that are 4.3 years ago. Likewise, the projection seen of Andromeda --
our nearest (regular) galaxy -- is of 2,000,000 years past.
Going further out, the image seen of galaxies more distant, or other
exotic objects like quasars, whose appearance steadily become more and
more primitive the further out we go are of time yet more remote.
Eventually you reach a point where is visible nothing more than a shell
-- of enormous size -- of nearly uniform but diffuse glow: the Cosmic
Microwave Background or CMB. That's the glow, mentioned at the outset,
which still illuminates the entire universe, but only faintly.
It represents the last moment that outer space was opaque, and the
first moment it became transparent. The times following form smaller
spherical shells within, and all that's visible lies on one of these.
The times preceding lie outside the CMB and are largely obscured by the
opaqueness of outer space at these remote times. Though nearly
uniform, ever so slight variations show up in the CMB -- lumps and
regions slightly more sparse than the surround background -- that are
directly tied to what later became the -- visible -- structure formed
by the galaxies in the large: the vast network of filaments and cosmic
gaps that these galaxies do (or do not) lie along.
Beyond the CMB shell lie other shells, further remote in time, and
further out. They, too, are directly in the line of sight, though
obscured and cloaked by the CMB. Going far enough, ultimately, one
reaches the outermost shell, at which lies the earliest point in time,
and the brilliant occurrence alluded to -- that, which Cosmology calls
the Big Bang.
But this "shell", in fact, is NOT a shell at all. It's a point! It is
the same point in space and time that lies on every part of this outer
shell. All directions lead to the point.
Before reaching this outermost shell, at some point along the process,
the nested series of shells actually quit getting larger and larger and
actually start to curve the other way around and get smaller and
smaller! Though we appear to be on the inside of them, they curve the
OTHER way, and we are on the outside; as are all other places and times
following the moment these shells existed at. Indeed, the CMB itself
may even be curved the other way around.
[Picture of the famous Medieval painting, also illustrated in Rudy
Rucker's 'Infinity and the Mind' here. This shows the outermost
sphere, "Empyrean" as a single point, lying at the antipode of a
hyperspherical universe -- and represents one of the earliest
expressions of a non-Euclidean geometry].
-- to be continued --
[why this tack is taken on in the prologue will become clear in the
following articles, provided I have time to post them.]
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