Knots, Braids and Möbius Strips: Particle Physics and the Geometry of Elementarity: An Alternative View: 55 (Series on Knots & Everything) - Hardcover

ELEMENTARY PARTICLES IN THIS BOOK EXIST AS SOLITONS IN-AND-OF THE FABRIC OF SPACETIME ITSELF. AS SUCH THEY ARE CHARACTERIZED BY THEIR GEOMETRY, THAT IS THEIR TOPOLOGY AND CONFIGURATION WHICH LEAD DIRECTLY TO THEIR PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES AND BEHAVIOR AS WELL AS TO A SIMPLIFICATION AND REDUCTION OF ASSUMPTIONS AND THE IMPORTATION OF PARAMETER VALUES. THE EMPHASIS OF THE BOOK IS THUS ON THAT GEOMETRY, THE ALGEBRAIC GEOMETRY ASSOCIATED WITH TAXONOMICAL ISSUES AND THE DIFFERENTIAL GEOMETRY THAT DETERMINES THE PHYSICS AS WELL AS ON SIMPLIFYING THE RESULTS. IN ITSELF, HOWEVER, THE PROCESS OF ASSEMBLING AND DEVELOPING WHAT EVENTUALLY WENT INTO THE BOOK HAS BEEN A SINGULARLY REWARDING JOURNEY. ALONG THE WAY SOME FASCINATING INSIGHTS AND CONNECTIONS TO KNOWN PHYSICAL ATTRIBUTES AND THEORIES EMERGE, SOME PREDICTABLE BUT OTHERS UNBIDDEN AND EVEN UNANTICIPATED. THE BOOK IS INTENDED TO SUMMARIZE THAT JOURNEY IN A WAY THAT, READERS WITH A RANGE OF BACKGROUNDS WILL FIND INTERESTING AND PROVOCATIVE. CONNECTIONS TO OTHER PHYSICAL THEORIES AND SUBJECTS ARE ALSO DISCUSSED. A MOST GRATIFYING DEVELOPMENT IS THE EMERGENCE OF A UNIFYING PRINCIPLE UNDERLYING THE EPISTEMOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF NOT ONLY THE ELEMENTARY PARTICLES BUT OF SUCH DIVERSE FIELDS AS RADAR, QUANTUM MECHANICS, BIOLOGY, COSMOLOGY AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE.