This book reports new findings in the fields of nonlinear optics, quantum optics and optical microscopy. It presents the first experimental device able to transform an input Gaussian beam into a non-diffracting Bessel-like beam. The modulation mechanism, i.e. electro-optic effect, allows the device to be fast, miniaturizable and integrable into solid state arrays. Also presented is an extensive study of the superposition of Bessel beams and their propagation in turbid media, with the aim of realizing field that is both localized and non-diffracting. These findings have been implemented in a light-sheet microscope to improve the optical sectioning. From a more theoretical point of view this work also tackles the problem of whether and how a single particle is able to entangle two distant systems. The results obtained introduce fundamental limitations on the use of linear optics for quantum technology. Other chapters are dedicated to a number of experiments carried out on disordered ferroelectrics including negative intrinsic mass dynamics, ferroelectric supercrystals, rogue wave dynamics driven by enhanced disorder and first evidence of spatial optical turbulence.

Atomic Physics provides a concise treatment of atomic physics and a basis to prepare for work in other disciplines that are underpinned by atomic physics, such as chemistry, biology and several aspects of engineering science. The focus is mainly on atomic structure since this is what is primarily responsible for the physical properties of atoms. After a brief introduction to some basic concepts, the perturbation theory approach follows the hierarchy of interactions starting with the largest. The other interactions of spin, and angular momentum of the outermost electrons with each other, the nucleus and external magnetic fields are treated in order of descending strength. A spectroscopic perspective is generally taken by relating the observations of atomic radiation emitted or absorbed to the internal energy levels involved. X-ray spectra are then discussed in relation to the energy levels of the innermost electrons. Finally, a brief description is given of some modern, laser-based, spectroscopic methods for the high-resolution study of the details of atomic structure.

This book studies the dynamics of fundamental collective excitations in quantum materials, focusing on the use of state-of-the-art ultrafast broadband optical spectroscopy. Collective behaviour in solids lies at the origin of several cooperative phenomena that can lead to profound transformations, instabilities and phase transitions. Revealing the dynamics of collective excitations is a topic of pivotal importance in contemporary condensed matter physics, as it provides information on the strength and spatial distribution of interactions and correlation. The experimental framework explored in this book relies on setting a material out-of-equilibrium by an ultrashort laser pulse and monitoring the photo-induced changes in its optical properties over a broad spectral region in the visible or deep-ultraviolet. Collective excitations (e.g. plasmons, excitons, phonons...) emerge either in the frequency domain as spectral features across the probed range, or in the time domain as coherent modes triggered by the pump pulse. Mapping the temporal evolution of these collective excitations provides access to the hierarchy of low-energy phenomena occurring in the solid during its path towards thermodynamic equilibrium. This methodology is used to investigate a number of strongly interacting and correlated materials with an increasing degree of internal complexity beyond conventional band theory.

This thesis presents the first lattice quantum chromodynamics (QCD) approach to the charmed baryon regime, building on the knowledge and experience gained with former lattice QCD applications to nucleon structure. The thesis provides valuable insights into the dynamics of yet unobserved charmed baryon systems. Most notably, it confirms that the expectations of model or effective field theoretical calculations of heavy-hadron systems hold qualitatively, while also demonstrating that they conflict with the quantitative results, pointing to a tension between these complementary approaches. Further, the book presents a cutting-edge approach to understanding the structure and dynamics of hadrons made of quarks and gluons using QCD, and successfully extends the approach to charmed hadrons. In particular, the thesis investigate a peculiar property of charmed hadrons whose dynamics, i.e., structure, deviates from their counterparts, e.g., those of protons and neutrons, by employing the lattice QCD approach -a state-of-the-art numerical method and the powerful ab initio, non-perturbative method.

This accessible monograph introduces physicists to the general relation between classical and quantum mechanics based on the mathematical idea of deformation quantization and describes an original approach to the theory of quantum integrable systems developed by the author.The first goal of the book is to develop of a common, coordinate free formulation of classical and quantum Hamiltonian mechanics, framed in common mathematical language.In particular, a coordinate free model of quantum Hamiltonian systems in Riemannian spaces is formulated, based on the mathematical idea of deformation quantization, as a complete physical theory with an appropriate mathematical accuracy.The second goal is to develop of a theory which allows for a deeper understanding of classical and quantum integrability. For this reason the modern separability theory on both classical and quantum level is presented. In particular, the book presents a modern geometric separability theory, based on bi-Poissonian and bi-presymplectic representations of finite dimensional Liouville integrable systems and their admissible separable quantizations.The book contains also a generalized theory of classical Stackel transforms and the discussion of the concept of quantum trajectories.In order to make the text consistent and self-contained, the book starts with a compact overview of mathematical tools necessary for understanding the remaining part of the book. However, because the book is dedicated mainly to physicists, despite its mathematical nature, it refrains from highlighting definitions, theorems or lemmas.Nevertheless, all statements presented are either proved or the reader is referred to the literature where the proof is available.

Physical Relativity explores the nature of the distinction at the heart of Einstein's 1905 formulation of his special theory of relativity: that between kinematics and dynamics. Einstein himself became increasingly uncomfortable with this distinction, and with the limitations of what he called the 'principle theory' approach inspired by the logic of thermodynamics. A handful of physicists and philosophers have over the last century likewise expressed doubts about Einstein's treatment of the relativistic behaviour of rigid bodies and clocks in motion in the kinematical part of his great paper, and suggested that the dynamical understanding of length contraction and time dilation intimated by the immediate precursors of Einstein is more fundamental. Harvey Brown both examines and extends these arguments (which support a more 'constructive' approach to relativistic effects in Einstein's terminology), after giving a careful analysis of key features of the pre-history of relativity theory. He argues furthermore that the geometrization of the theory by Minkowski in 1908 brought illumination, but not a causal explanation of relativistic effects. Finally, Brown tries to show that the dynamical interpretation of special relativity defended in the book is consistent with the role this theory must play as a limiting case of Einstein's 1915 theory of gravity: the general theory of relativity. Appearing in the centennial year of Einstein's celebrated paper on special relativity, Physical Relativity is an unusual, critical examination of the way Einstein formulated his theory. It also examines in detail certain specific historical and conceptual issues that have long given rise to debate in both special and general relativity theory, such as the conventionality of simultaneity, the principle of general covariance, and the consistency or otherwise of the special theory with quantum mechanics. Harvey Brown' s new interpretation of relativity theory will interest anyone working on these central topics in modern physics.

Domain theory is a subject that emerged as a response to natural concerns in the semantics of computation, and it involves the study of ordered sets that possess an unusual amount of mathematical structure. Disorder in Domain Theory explores the connection between domain theory and quantum information science and the concept that relates them: disorder.

This thesis describes the structures of six-dimensional (6d) superconformal field theories and its torus compactifications. The first half summarizes various aspects of 6d field theories, while the latter half investigates torus compactifications of these theories, and relates them to four-dimensional superconformal field theories in the class, called class S. It is known that compactifications of 6d conformal field theories with maximal supersymmetries provide numerous insights into four-dimensional superconformal field theories. This thesis generalizes the story to the theories with smaller supersymmetry, constructing those six-dimensional theories as brane configurations in the M-theory, and highlighting the importance of fractionalization of M5-branes. This result establishes new dualities between the theories with eight supercharges.

In the field of particle and astrophysics one of the major unresolved problems is to understand the nature and properties of dark matter, which constitutes almost 80% of the matter content of the universe. This book gives a pedagogical introduction to the field of dark matter in general, and in particular to the model building perspective. This book focuses on teaching the basic tools for model building of dark matter, and it aims to motivate the reader to propose a new dark matter model.

What on earth do bananas have to do with quantum mechanics? From a modern perspective, quantum mechanics is about strangely counterintuitive correlations between separated systems, which can be exploited in feats like quantum teleportation, unbreakable cryptographic schemes, and computers with enormously enhanced computing power. Schro?dinger coined the term "entanglement" to describe these bizarre correlations. Bananaworld - an imaginary island with "entangled" bananas - brings to life the fascinating discoveries of the new field of quantum information without the mathematical machinery of quantum mechanics. The connection with quantum correlations is fully explained in sections written for the non-physicist reader with a serious interest in understanding the mysteries of the quantum world. The result is a subversive but entertaining book that is accessible and interesting to a wide range of readers, with the novel thesis that quantum mechanics is about the structure of information. What we have discovered is that the possibilities for representing, manipulating, and communicating information are very different than we thought.

While there are many good books in particle physics, there are very few non-specialist comprehensive descriptions of quantum field theory. The intention of this short book is to offer a guided tour of that innermost topic of theoretical physics, in plain words and avoiding the mathematical apparatus, but still describing its various facets up to the research frontier.

Fractional quantum mechanics is a recently emerged and rapidly developing field of quantum physics.This is the first monograph on fundamentals and physical applications of fractional quantum mechanics, written by its founder.The fractional Schroedinger equation and the fractional path integral are new fundamental physical concepts introduced and elaborated in the book. The fractional Schroedinger equation is a manifestation of fractional quantum mechanics. The fractional path integral is a new mathematical tool based on integration over Levy flights. The fractional path integral method enhances the well-known Feynman path integral framework.Related topics covered in the text include time fractional quantum mechanics, fractional statistical mechanics, fractional classical mechanics and the -stable Levy random process.The book is well-suited for theorists, pure and applied mathematicians, solid-state physicists, chemists, and others working with the Schroedinger equation, the path integral technique and applications of fractional calculus in various research areas. It is useful to skilled researchers as well as to graduate students looking for new ideas and advanced approaches.

The invention of the semiconductor laser along with silica glass fiber has enabled an incredible revolution in global communication infrastructure of direct benefit to all. Development of devices and system concepts that exploit the same fundamental light-matter interaction continues. Researchers and technologists are pursuing a broad range of emerging applications, everything from automobile collision avoidance to secure quantum key distribution. This book sets out to summarize key aspects of semiconductor laser device physics and principles of laser operation.

This thesis focuses on an unresolved problem in particle and nuclear physics: the relation between two important non-perturbative phenomena in quantum chromodynamics (QCD) - quark confinement and chiral symmetry breaking. The author develops a new analysis method in the lattice QCD, and derives a number of analytical formulae to express the order parameters for quark confinement, such as the Polyakov loop, its fluctuations, and the Wilson loop in terms of the Dirac eigenmodes closely related to chiral symmetry breaking. Based on the analytical formulae, the author analytically as well as numerically shows that at finite temperatures there is no direct one-to-one correspondence between them. The thesis describes this extraordinary achievement using the first-principle analysis, and proposes a possible new phase in which quarks are confined and chiral symmetry is restored.

This book includes review articles in the field of elliptic integrals, elliptic functions and modular forms intending to foster the discussion between theoretical physicists working on higher loop calculations and mathematicians working in the field of modular forms and functions and analytic solutions of higher order differential and difference equations.

Scattering of light by light is a fundamental process arising at the quantum level through vacuum fluctuations. This short book will explain how, remarkably enough, this quantum process can be described in terms classical quantities. The description is derived from general principles, such as causality, unitarity, Lorentz and gauge symmetries. The reader will be introduced into a rigorous formulation of these fundamental concepts, as well as their physical interpretation and applications.

This present edition of the book follows the generally pedagogic style of Quantum Mechanics. The scope ranges from relativistic quantum mechanics to an introduction to quantum field theory with quantum electrodynamics as the basic example and ends with an exposition of important issues related to the standard model. The book presents the subject in basic and easy-to-grasp notions which will enhance the purpose of this book as a useful textbook in the area of relativistic quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics.