This dissertation focuses on the calculation of transport coefficients in the matter created in a relativistic heavy-ion collision after chemical freeze-out. This matter can be well approximated using a pion gas out of equilibrium. We describe the theoretical framework needed to obtain the shear and bulk viscosities, the thermal and electrical conductivities and the flavor diffusion coefficients of a meson gas at low temperatures. To describe the interactions of the degrees of freedom, we use effective field theories with chiral and heavy quark symmetries. We subsequently introduce the unitarization methods in order to obtain a scattering amplitude that satisfies the unitarity condition exactly, then go on to calculate the transport properties of the low-temperature phase of quantum chromodynamics - the hadronic medium - which can be used in hydrodynamic simulations of a relativistic heavy-ion collision and its subsequent evolution. We show that the shear viscosity over entropy density exhibits a minimum in a phase transition by studying this coefficient in atomic Argon (around the liquid-gas phase transition) and in the linear sigma model in the limit of a large number of scalar fields (which presents a chiral phase transition). Finally, we provide an experimental method for estimating the bulk viscosity in relativistic heavy-ion collisions by performing correlations of the fluctuating components of the stress-energy tensor.

This thesis describes a high-quality, high-precision method for the data analysis of an interesting elementary particle reaction. The data was collected at the Japanese B-meson factory KEKB with the Belle detector, one of the most successful large-scale experiments worldwide. CP violation is a subtle quantum effect that makes the world look different when simultaneously left and right and matter and antimatter are exchanged. This being a prerequisite for our own world to have developed from the big bang, there are only a few experimental indications of such effects, and their detection requires very intricate techniques. The discovery of CP violation in B meson decays garnered Kobayashi and Maskawa, who had predicted these findings as early as 1973, the 2008 Nobel prize in physics. This thesis describes in great detail what are by far the best measurements of branching ratios and CP violation parameters in two special reactions with two charm mesons in the final state. It presents an in-depth but accessible overview of the theory, phenomenology, experimental setup, data collection, Monte Carlo simulations, (blind) statistical data analysis, and systematic uncertainty studies.

This monograph is written within the framework of the quantum mechanical paradigm. It is modest in scope in that it is restricted to some observations and solved illustrative problems not readily available in any of the many standard (and several excellent) texts or books with solved problems that have been written on this subject. Additionally a few more or less standard problems are included for continuity and purposes of comparison. The hope is that the points made and problems solved will give the student some additional insights and a better grasp of this fascinating but mathematically somewhat involved branch of physics. The hundred and fourteen problems discussed have intentionally been chosen to involve a minimum of technical complexity while still illustrating the consequences of the quantum-mechanical formalism. Concerning notation, useful expressions are displayed in rectangular boxes while calculational details which one may wish to skip are included in square brackets. Beirut HARRY A. MAVROMATIS June, 1985 IX Preface to Second Edition More than five years have passed since I prepared the first edition of this mono graph. The present revised edition is more attractive in layout than its predecessor, and most, if not all of the errors in the original edition (many of which were kindly pointed out by reviewers, colleagues, and students) have now been corrected. Additionally the material in the original fourteen chapters has been extended with significant additions to Chapters 8, 13, and 14."

The propagation of acoustic and electromagnetic waves in stratified media is a subject that has profound implications in many areas of applied physics and in engineering, just to mention a few, in ocean acoustics, integrated optics, and wave guides. See for example Tolstoy and Clay 1966, Marcuse 1974, and Brekhovskikh 1980. As is well known, stratified media, that is to say media whose physical properties depend on a single coordinate, can produce guided waves that propagate in directions orthogonal to that of stratification, in addition to the free waves that propagate as in homogeneous media. When the stratified media are perturbed, that is to say when locally the physical properties of the media depend upon all of the coordinates, the free and guided waves are no longer solutions to the appropriate wave equations, and this leads to a rich pattern of wave propagation that involves the scattering of the free and guided waves among each other, and with the perturbation. These phenomena have many implications in applied physics and engineering, such as in the transmission and reflexion of guided waves by the perturbation, interference between guided waves, and energy losses in open wave guides due to radiation. The subject matter of this monograph is the study of these phenomena.

techniques, and raises new issues of physical interpretation as well as possibilities for deepening the theory. (3) Barut contributes a comprehensive review of his own ambitious program in electron theory and quantum electrodynamics. Barut's work is rich with ingenious ideas, and the interest it provokes among other theorists can be seen in the cri tique by Grandy. Cooperstock takes a much different approach to nonlinear field-electron coupling which leads him to conclusions about the size of the electron. (4) Capri and Bandrauk work within the standard framework of quantum electrodynamics. Bandrauk presents a valuable review of his theoretical approach to the striking new photoelectric phenomena in high intensity laser experiments. (5) Jung proposes a theory to merge the ideas of free-free transitions and of scattering chaos, which is becoming increasingly important in the theoretical analysis of nonlinear optical phenomena. For the last half century the properties of electrons have been probed primarily by scattering experiments at ever higher energies. Recently, however, two powerful new experimental techniques have emerged capable of giving alternative experimental views of the electron. We refer to (1) the confinement of single electrons for long term study, and (2) the interaction of electrons with high intensity laser fields. Articles by outstanding practitioners of both techniques are included in Part II of these Proceedings. The precision experiments on trapped electrons by the Washington group quoted above have already led to a Nobel prize for the most accurate measurements of the electron magnetic moment.

This thesis focuses on the theoretical foundation of the Standard Model valid up to the Planck scale, based on the current experimental facts from the Large Hadron Collider. The thesis consists of two themes: (1) to open up a new window of the Higgs inflation scenario, and (2) to explore a new solution to the naturalness problem in particle physics. In the first area, on the Higgs inflation scenario, the author successfully improves a large value problem on a coupling constant relevant to the Higgs mass in the Standard Model, in which the coupling value of the order of 105 predicted in a conventional scenario is reduced to the order of 10. This result makes the Higgs inflation more attractive because the small value of coupling is natural in the context of ultraviolet completion such as string theory. In the second area, the author provides a new answer to the naturalness problem, of why the cosmological constant and the Higgs mass are extremely small compared with the Planck scale. Based on the baby universe theory originally proposed by Coleman, the smallness of those quantities is successfully explained without introducing any additional new particles relevant at the TeV energy scale.

This volume comprises both research and survey articles originating from the conference on Arithmetic and Geometry around Quantization held in Istanbul in 2006. A wide range of topics related to quantization are covered, thus aiming to give a glimpse of a broad subject in very different perspectives.

Stephanie Frank Singer received her Ph.D. in Mathematics from the Courant Institute in 1991. In 2002 she resigned her tenured professorship at Haverford College. Since then she has been writing and consulting independently. Her first book was Symmetry In Mechanics: A Gentle, Modern Introduction.The predictive power of mathematics in quantum phenomena is one of the great intellectual successes of the 20th century. This textbook, aimed at undergraduate or graduate level students (depending on the college or university), concentrates on how to make predictions about the numbers of each kind of basic state of a quantum system from only two ingredients: the symmetry and the linear model of quantum mechanics. This method, involving the mathematical area of representation theory or group theory, combines three core mathematical subjects, namely, linear algebra, analysis and abstract algebra. Wide applications of this method occur in crystallography, atomic structure, classification of manifolds with symmetry, and other areas.The topics unfold systematically, introducing the reader first to an important example of a quantum system with symmetry, the single electron in a hydrogen atom. about the numbers of each kind of electronic orbital based solely on the physical spherical symmetry of the hydrogen atom. The final chapters address the related ideas of quantum spin, measurement and entanglement.This user-friendly exposition, driven by numerous examples and exercises, requires a solid background in calculus and familiarity with either linear algebra or advanced quantum mechanics. The Hydrogen Atom: An Introduction to Group and Representation Theory will benefit students in mathematics, physics and chemistry, as well as a literate general readership. A separate solutions manual is available to instructors.

This advanced text develops first the underlying concepts of quantum mechanics, thus starting with state spaces of finite dimension followed by the representation of coordinates with their principal formal elements, and their applications such as the harmonic oscillator, magnetic momentum, the hydrogen atom, stationary perturbations etc. This fresh and original text on quantum mechanics focuses on: the development of numerical methods for obtaining specific results; the presentation of group theory and the systematic use of operators; the introduction of the functional integral and its applications in approximation; the discussion of distant correlations and experimental measurements. Numerous exercises with hints and solutions, examples and applications, and a guide to key references help the student to work with the text.

In recent years topology has firmly established itself as an important part of the physicist's mathematical arsenal. It has many applications, first of all in quantum field theory, but increasingly also in other areas of physics. The main focus of this book is on the results of quantum field theory that are obtained by topological methods. Some aspects of the theory of condensed matter are also discussed. Part I is an introduction to quantum field theory: it discusses the basic Lagrangians used in the theory of elementary particles. Part II is devoted to the applications of topology to quantum field theory. Part III covers the necessary mathematical background in summary form. The book is aimed at physicists interested in applications of topology to physics and at mathematicians wishing to familiarize themselves with quantum field theory and the mathematical methods used in this field. It is accessible to graduate students in physics and mathematics.

This volume describes mesoscopic systems with classically chaotic dynamics using semiclassical methods which combine elements of classical dynamics and quantum interference effects. Experiments and numerical studies show that Random Matrix Theory (RMT) explains physical properties of these systems well. This was conjectured more than 25 years ago by Bohigas, Giannoni and Schmit for the spectral properties. Since then, it has been a challenge to understand this connection analytically. The author offers his readers a clearly-written and up-to-date treatment of the topics covered. He extends previous semiclassical approaches that treated spectral and conductance properties. He shows that RMT results can in general only be obtained semiclassically when taking into account classical configurations not considered previously, for example those containing multiply traversed periodic orbits. Furthermore, semiclassics is capable of describing effects beyond RMT. In this context he studies the effect of a non-zero Ehrenfest time, which is the minimal time needed for an initially spatially localized wave packet to show interference. He derives its signature on several quantities characterizing mesoscopic systems, e. g. dc and ac conductance, dc conductance variance, n-pair correlation functions of scattering matrices and the gap in the density of states of Andreev billiards.

This concise and readable book addresses primarily readers with a background in classical statistical physics and introduces quantum mechanical notions as required. Conceived as a primer to bridge the gap between statistical physics and quantum information, it emphasizes concepts and thorough discussions of the fundamental notions and prepares the reader for deeper studies, not least through a selection of well chosen exercises.

The successes of the standard models of particle physics and cosmology are many, but have proven incapable of explaining all the phenomena that we observe. This book investigates the potentially important role of quantum physics, particularly quantum anomalies, in various aspects of modern cosmology, such as inflation, the dynamical generation of the visible and dark matter in the universe, and gravitational waves. By doing so, the authors demonstrate that exploring the links between cosmology and particle physics is key to helping solve the mysteries of our Universe.

This book is a collection of articles from several world-class researchers, and is inspired by Sir Roger Penrose's work. It gives an overview of the interaction between geometry and physics, from which many important developments have emerged. The volume collects together ideas from across the physical sciences, and indicates the many applications of geometrical ideas and techniques across mathematics and mathematical physics.

Quantum dots, often denoted artificial atoms, are the exquisite tools by which quantum behavior can be probed on a scale appreciably larger than the atomic scale, that is on the nanometer scale. In this way, the physics of the devices is closer to classical physics than that of atomic physics but they are still sufficiently small to clearly exhibit quantum phenomena. The present volume is devoted to an introduction to some of these fascinating aspects, addressing in particular graduate students and young researchers in the field. In the first lecture by R. Shankar, the general theoretical aspects of Fermi liquids are addressed, in particular the renormalization group approach. This is then aptly applied to large quantum dots. A completely different approach is encountered in the second contribution by J.M. Elzerman et al., in that it is a thorough experimental expose of what can be done or expected in the study of small quantum dots. Here the emphasis lies on the electron spin to be used as a qubit. In the third lecture series by M. Pustilnik and Leonid I. Glazman, mechanisms of low-temperature electronic transport through a quantum dot a" weakly coupled to two conducting leads a" are reviewed. The fourth series of lectures, by C.W.J. Beenakker, deals with a very interesting aspect of nanophysics: a peculiar property of superconducting mirrors discovered by Andreev about forty years ago and still a challenge to experimental physicists.

This book features the proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute "Manipulating Quantum Coherence in Solid State Systems," held in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, August 2005, which presented a fundamental introduction to solid-state approaches to achieving quantum computation. This proceedings volume describes the properties of quantum coherence in semiconductor spin-based systems and the behavior of quantum coherence in superconducting systems.

This symposium was organized at the B.M. Birla Science Centre, Hyderabad, India, and provided a platform for frontier physicists to exchange ideas and review the latest work and developments on a variety of interrelated topics. A feature of the symposium, as well as the proceedings, is the B.M. Birla Memorial Lecture by Nobel Laureate Professor Gerard 't Hooft. There were participants from the USA, several European countries, Russia and CIS countries, South Africa, Japan, India and elsewhere, of whom some forty scientists presented papers. Spanning a wide range of contemporary issues in fundamental physics from string theory to cosmology, the proceedings present many of these talks and contributions.

This thesis examines the Z box contribution to the weak charge of the proton. Here, by combining recent parity-violating electron-deuteron scattering data with our current understanding of parton distribution functions, the author shows that one can limit this model dependence. The resulting construction is a robust model of the and Z structure functions that can also be used to study a variety of low-energy phenomena. Two such cases are discussed in this work, namely, the nucleon's electromagnetic polarizabilities and quark-hadron duality. By using phenomenological information to constrain the input structure functions, this important but previously poorly understood radiative correction is determined at the kinematics of the parity-violating experiment, QWEAK, to a degree of precision more than twice that of the previous best estimate. A detailed investigation into available parametrizations of the electromagnetic and interference cross-sections indicates that earlier analyses suffered from the inability to correctly quantify their model dependence.

This book is written to conclude the NATO Advanced Research Workshop "Quantum Noise in Mesoscopic Physics" held in Delft, the Netherlands, on June 2-4, 2002. The workshop was co-directed by M. Reznikov of Israel Institute of Technology, and me. The members of the organizing committee were Yaroslav Blanter (Delft), Chirstopher Glattli (Saclay and ENS Paris) and R. Schoelkopf (Yale). The workshop was very successful, and we hope that the reader will be satisfied with the scientific level of the present book. Before addressing scientific issues I find it suitable to address several non-scientific ones. The workshop was attended by researchers from many countries. Most of them perform their activities in academic institutions, where one usually finds the necessary isolation from the problems and sores of the modem world. However, there was a large group of participants for which such isolation was far from perfect. War, hatred, and violence rage just several miles away of their campuses and laboratories, poisoning everyday life in the land of Israel.

Using the quantum properties of single photons to exchange binary keys between two partners for subsequent encryption of secret data is an absolutely novel technology. Only a few years ago quantum cryptography or better: quantum key distribution (QKD) was the domain of basic research laboratories at universities. But during the last few years things changed. QKD left the laboratories and was picked up by more practical oriented teams that worked hard to develop a practically applicable technology out of the astonishing results of basic research.

One major milestone towards a QKD technology was a large research and development project funded by the European Commission that aimed at combining quantum physics with complementary technologies that are necessary to create a technical solution: electronics, software, and network components were added within the project SECOQC (Development of a Global Network for Secure Communication based on Quantum Cryptography) that teamed up all expertise on European level to get a technology for future encryption.

The practical application of QKD in a standard optical fibre network was demonstrated October 2008 in Vienna, giving a glimpse of the future of secure communication. Although many steps have still to be done in order to achieve a real mature technology, the corner stone for future secure communication is already laid.

QKD will not be the Holy Grail of security, it will not be able to solve all problems for evermore. But QKD has the potential to replace one of the weakest parts of symmetric encryption: the exchange of the key. It can be proven that the key exchange process cannot be corrupted and that keys that are generated and exchanged quantum cryptographically will be secure for ever (as long as some additional conditions are kept).

This book will show the state of the art of Quantum Cryptography and it will sketch how it can be implemented in standard communication infrastructure. The growing vulnerability of sensitive data requires new concepts and QKD will be a possible solution to overcome some of today s limitations."

This thesis describes experimental work in the field of trapped-ion quantum computation. It outlines the theory of Raman interactions, examines the various sources of error in two-qubit gates, and describes in detail experimental explorations of the sources of infidelity in implementations of single- and two-qubit gates. Lastly, it presents an experimental demonstration of a mixed-species entangling gate.

This thesis presents a qualitative advance in our understanding of quantum effects in layered magnetic materials. The nearest neighbor Heisenberg ferromagnetic ranks among the oldest and most fundamental models of quantum many body effects. It has long been established that in one dimension quantum fluctuations lead to a quantum disordered ground state with fractional excitations called spinons." In two dimensions, the ground state of the Heisenberg model displays static order and to first approximation the dynamics can be described as semi-classical spin waves. Through theoretical advances the author demonstrates that at high energy around particular points in reciprocal space these semi-classical spin-waves deconfine into fractional excitations akin to the one-dimensional spinons. He thereby provides the first explanation of a long-standing experimental observation. In the second half of his thesis Bastien Dalla Piazza develops a unified description of the magnetic excitation spectra of a range of cuprate parent compounds to the high temperature superconductors.

A mind-blowing glimpse into the near future, where quantum computing will have world-transforming effects.
The quantum computer is no longer the stuff of science fiction. Pioneering physicists are on the brink of unlocking a new quantum universe which provides a better representation of reality than our everyday experiences and common sense ever could. The birth of quantum computers - which, like Schrodinger's famous "dead and alive" cat, rely on entities like electrons, photons, or atoms existing in two states at the same time - is set to turn the computing world on its head.
In his fascinating study of this cutting-edge technology, John Gribbin updates his previous views on the nature of quantum reality, arguing for a universe of many parallel worlds where "everything is real." Looking back to Alan Turing's work on the Enigma machine and the first electronic computer, Gribbin explains how quantum theory developed to make quantum computers work in practice as well as in principle. He takes us beyond the arena of theoretical physics to explore their practical applications - from machines which learn through "intuition" and trial and error to unhackable laptops and smartphones. And he investigates the potential for this extraordinary science to create a world where communication occurs faster than light and teleportation is possible.
This is an exciting insider's look at the new frontier of computer science and its revolutionary implications.

This thesis reports on the search for dark matter in data taken with the ATLAS detector at CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The identification of dark matter and the determination of its properties are among the highest priorities in elementary particle physics and cosmology. The most likely candidate, a weakly interacting massive particle, could be produced in the high energy proton-proton collisions at the LHC. The analysis presented here is unique in looking for dark matter produced together with a Higgs boson that decays into its dominant decay mode, a pair of b quarks. If dark matter were seen in this mode, we would learn directly about the production mechanism because of the presence of the Higgs boson. This thesis develops the search technique and presents the most stringent production limit to date.

This thesis, which won one of the six 2015 ATLAS Thesis Awards, concerns the study of the charmonium and bottomonium bound heavy quark bound states. The first section of the thesis describes the observation of a candidate for the chi_b(3P) bottomonium states. This represented the first observation of a new particle at the LHC and its existence was subsequently confirmed by D0 and LHCb experiments. The second part of the thesis presents measurements of the prompt and non-prompt production of the chi_c1 and chi_c2 charmonium states in proton-proton collisions. These measurements are compared to several theoretical predictions and can be used to inform the development of theoretical models of quarkonium production.