Ya. A. SMORODINSK.Y is a Doctor of Physico-Mathematical Sciences and Professor at the Moscow State University. He is well known in the field of mathematical physics and in nuclear and elementary physics and is also an author of many articles on popular science. For a long time Ya. A. Smorodinsky worked together with the late Academician L. D. Landau. He was awarded the State Prize. The book makes the reader acquainted with the present ‘‘state of art” and perspectives of quantum mechanics. The author exposes in original form the milestones in the history of the development of quantum-mechanical concepts and the difficulties in understanding them.
The book is intended for college students, instructors and teachers of technical and high schools, specialists and all those interested in the present state of the physical theory.
Translated from the Russian by V. Kissin
Many thanks to @life123 for the scans.
Note: There is warping in some pages but the text is clear and readable.
You can get the book here and here
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Preface
Introduction
Motion of Celestial Bodies
What Happens Within Short Distances 12
Myriad of Twins 13
Why Electrons in the Atom Do Not Emit 14
Dimension Considerations 15
Incomprehensible Close by 18
Waves and Particles 19
Coherence 21
Planck’s Constant Enters the Theory 23
How to Trap a Quantum 24
Electron, Pauli’s Principle 26
De Broglie Waves 27
Diffraction of Electrons 29
Phonons 31
Mössbauer Effect 33
Scattering of Particles 35
Schrödinger Equation 35
Wave Function 36
Uncertainty Principle 40
What Else Is Quantized? 42
Quantization of the Projection of Angular Momentum 46
Once More on Angular Momentum 47
Line Width 48
Laws of Light Emission 51
Spontaneous and Stimulated Emission 53
Laser 53
Electrons in Solids 54
Superfluidity 55
Superconductivity 58
Superfluidity of Helium-3 59
Quantization of Magnetic Flux 59
Josephson Effect 60
The Invisible 61
Similarity in Nature 62
Elementary Particles: What We Know and What We Try to Understand 63
The 1932 Nucleus 64
Forces and Fields 66
What Does the Proton Consist of? 68
A Far-Fetched Yet Useful Analogy 70
Indistinguishable Nucleons 71
The Law of Energy Conservation in the Microcosm 72
On Coulomb’s Law and Nuclear Forces 72
The 1948 Nucleus 75
Exponential Decay 75
Baryon Charge 79
Mesons 82
Excited Nucleons 83
Hyperons 85
Excited Hyperons 88
Λ-Hyperon and Its Descendants 89
Strangeness 89
Long Lifetime of Ω 91
Quarks 92
The Baryon Decuplet 94
Do Quarks Exist? 95
π-Meson 97
Fall of 1974: New Problems 99
Weak Interactions 100
Neutrino 101
Muon 104
Charge Symmetry (C-Symmetry) 105
Spatial Symmetry (P-Symmetry) 106
Combined Symmetry (CP-Symmetry) 107
Time Symmetry (T-Symmetry) 108
Decays of π-Mesons 110
Breakdown of Charge Symmetry 112
Conclusion 113
Appendix 116
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