The Butterfly in the Quantum World

The story of the most fascinating quantum fractal

Nonfiction, Science & Nature, Science, Physics, Mathematical Physics, Quantum Theory
Cover of the book The Butterfly in the Quantum World by Indubala I Satija, Morgan & Claypool Publishers
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Indubala I Satija ISBN: 9781681741819
Publisher: Morgan & Claypool Publishers Publication: September 6, 2016
Imprint: IOP Concise Physics Language: English
Author: Indubala I Satija
ISBN: 9781681741819
Publisher: Morgan & Claypool Publishers
Publication: September 6, 2016
Imprint: IOP Concise Physics
Language: English

Butterfly in the Quantum World by Indu Satija, with contributions by Douglas Hofstadter, is the first book ever to tell the story of the "Hofstadter butterfly", a beautiful and fascinating graph lying at the heart of the quantum theory of matter. The butterfly came out of a simple-sounding question: What happens if you immerse a crystal in a magnetic field? What energies can the electrons take on? From 1930 onwards, physicists struggled to answer this question, until 1974, when graduate student Douglas Hofstadter discovered that the answer was a graph consisting of nothing but copies of itself nested down infinitely many times. This wild mathematical object caught the physics world totally by surprise, and it continues to mesmerize physicists and mathematicians today.

The butterfly plot is intimately related to many other important phenomena in number theory and physics, including Apollonian gaskets, the Foucault pendulum, quasicrystals, the quantum Hall effect, and many more. Its story reflects the magic, the mystery, and the simplicity of the laws of nature, and Indu Satija, in a wonderfully personal style, relates this story, enriching it with a vast number of lively historical anecdotes, many photographs, beautiful visual images, and even poems, making her book a great feast, for the eyes, for the mind and for the soul.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Butterfly in the Quantum World by Indu Satija, with contributions by Douglas Hofstadter, is the first book ever to tell the story of the "Hofstadter butterfly", a beautiful and fascinating graph lying at the heart of the quantum theory of matter. The butterfly came out of a simple-sounding question: What happens if you immerse a crystal in a magnetic field? What energies can the electrons take on? From 1930 onwards, physicists struggled to answer this question, until 1974, when graduate student Douglas Hofstadter discovered that the answer was a graph consisting of nothing but copies of itself nested down infinitely many times. This wild mathematical object caught the physics world totally by surprise, and it continues to mesmerize physicists and mathematicians today.

The butterfly plot is intimately related to many other important phenomena in number theory and physics, including Apollonian gaskets, the Foucault pendulum, quasicrystals, the quantum Hall effect, and many more. Its story reflects the magic, the mystery, and the simplicity of the laws of nature, and Indu Satija, in a wonderfully personal style, relates this story, enriching it with a vast number of lively historical anecdotes, many photographs, beautiful visual images, and even poems, making her book a great feast, for the eyes, for the mind and for the soul.

More books from Morgan & Claypool Publishers

Cover of the book Advanced Tokamak Stability Theory by Indubala I Satija
Cover of the book Fourier Ptychographic Imaging by Indubala I Satija
Cover of the book Magnetically Confined Fusion Plasma Physics by Indubala I Satija
Cover of the book Origins of Life by Indubala I Satija
Cover of the book Natural Language Processing for the Semantic Web by Indubala I Satija
Cover of the book Halo Nuclei by Indubala I Satija
Cover of the book Theories of Matter, Space, and Time by Indubala I Satija
Cover of the book Designing Hybrid Nanoparticles by Indubala I Satija
Cover of the book Designing for Gesture and Tangible Interaction by Indubala I Satija
Cover of the book Communication Networks by Indubala I Satija
Cover of the book Introduction to Secure Outsourcing Computation by Indubala I Satija
Cover of the book A Little Book on Teaching by Indubala I Satija
Cover of the book Liquid Crystals through Experiments by Indubala I Satija
Cover of the book Survive and Thrive by Indubala I Satija
Cover of the book Is It the 'Same' Result by Indubala I Satija
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy