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Introduces graduate students and researchers to mathematical physics, providing a mathematical discourse on the relation between theoretical and experimental physics.
List of contents
Prologue; Part I: Introduction to Part I; 1. Mathematical structures on sets of points; 2. Definition of causality on a structureless set; 3. The topology of ordered spaces; 4. Completions of ordered spaces; 5. Structures on order-complete spaces; Part II: Introduction to Part II; 6. Real numbers and classical measurements; 7. Special topics in quantum mechanics; 8. Von Neumann's theory of measurement; 9. Macroscopic observables in quantum physics; 10. Sewell's theory of measurement; 11. Summing-up; 12. Large quantum systems; Epilogue; Appendixes; References; Index.
About the author
R. N. Sen was a Professor in the Department of Mathematics at Ben-Gurion University, Beer-Sheva, Israel, and is now retired. His main research interests were the theory of symmetry of infinite quantum-mechanical systems and mathematical investigations into the relation between mathematics and physics, particularly the origins of the differentiable structure of space-time. He has taught a broad spectrum of courses on physics and mathematics, as well as demography. A life member of Clare Hall, Cambridge, he has been a Gauss Professor in Göttingen and is also a member of the International Association for Mathematical Physics and the Israel Mathematical Union.
Summary
Introducing graduate students and researchers to mathematical physics, this book discusses two recent developments. Providing a mathematical discourse on the relation between theoretical and experimental physics, the book gives detailed accounts of the mathematically difficult measurement theories of von Neumann and Sewell.
