Invitation to Contemporary Physics (2nd Edition)

This completely revised second edition of our hugely popular book invites the reader to explore ten of the most important areas of modern physics: Symmetry, Lasers, Superconductivity, Bose-Einstein Condensation, Nanoscience, Quantum Computation, Chaos and Fractals, Stellar Evolution, Particles, and Cosmology.The new edition adds three new chapters in about a third of the book, covering the latest, hottest topics in contemporary physics: Bose-Einstein Condensate: Where Many Become One and How to Get There: Bose Statistics: Counting of the Indistinguishables; Bose-Einstein Condensation (BEC): The Over-Population Crisis; Cooling and Trapping of Atoms: Towards BEC; Doppler Limit and its Break Down; Trapping of Cold Atoms: Magnetic and Magneto-Optic Trap; Evaporative Cooling; BEC Finally: But How do We Know?; BEC: What Good is it? Exploring Nanostructures: Towards the Bottom; The Rise of Nanoscience; Confined Systems; Quantum Devices; The Genius of Carbon; Spintronics; Nanos at Large. Quantum Computation and Information: Classical Computer; Quantum Computer; Quantum Gates; Deutsch's Algorithm; Finding the Period of a Function; Shor's Factorization Algorithm; Grover's Search Algorithm; Hardware and Error Correction; Cryptography; Quantum Teleportation.The authors give a fascinating, up-to-date account of the exciting advances in these fast-moving fields. Their emphasis is as much on describing natural phenomena as on attempting to explain them in terms of basic principles, replacing equations with physical insight. General readers and university undergraduates alike will find this unique book a useful guide to the worlds of modern physics, while the mature scientist will get an insightful survey of neighboring fields of research. For the teacher who takes a thematic approach to teaching physics, this book will be a complete source of current topics at the frontiers of research; and for the student, a valuable tool of study, made even more useful by numerous pertinent problems (with complete solutions) and references found at the end of each chapter.