Related papers: Quantum criticality
This essay provides a short introduction to the ideas and potential implications of quantum physics for scholars in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. Quantum-inspired ideas pepper current discourse in all of these fields, in ways…
An outstanding problem posed by Einstein's general theory of relativity to the quantum theory of point particle fields is the fate of a massive point particle; for, in the classical solutions of Einstein's theory, such a system should be a…
I show how quantum mechanics, like the theory of relativity, can be understood as a 'principle theory' in Einstein's sense, and I use this notion to explore the approach to the problem of interpretation developed in my book Interpreting the…
The phenomenology of quantum phase transitions concerns physics at low temperatures and energies, and corresponding solid-state experiments often reach millikelvin temperatures. However, this is a scale where in many solids the influence of…
Quantum mechanics, one of the most successful theories in the history of science, was created to account for physical systems not describable by classical physics. Though it is consistent with all experiments conducted thus far, many of its…
That gravitation can be understood as purely metric phenomenon depends crucially on the validity of a number of hypotheses which are summarised by the Einstein Equivalence Principle, the least well tested part of which being the…
Quantum field theory (QFT) based on the principles of special relativity (SR) and it is in fact the \emph{kinematic theory of fields}. The root assumption is that there is "relativistic description" of \emph{any} isolated quantum system in…
Albert Einstein's journey to formulate the theory of general relativity involved significant shifts in his approach to gravitational field equations. Starting in 1912, he collaborated with Marcel Grossmann and initially explored broadly…
As it is well-known, the year 2005 has been the centenary of the "annus mirabilis" (1905) during which Albert Einstein published four fundamental papers of his. But already in 1979, for the centenary of Einstein's birth, the world…
Envisioned by Richard Feynman in the early 1980s, quantum simulation has received dramatic impetus thanks to the development of a variety of plateforms able to emulate a wide class of quantum Hamiltonians. During the past decade, most of…
The unusual properties of elemental plutonium have long been a puzzle. It has been suggested that these properties may be related to quantum criticality [G. Chapline, J. L. Smith LA Sci 26 (2000) 1]. In this talk we will describe some…
Einstein's most famous equation -- $E=mc^2$ -- generated a short-circuit between the concepts of mass and energy, which also affects other concepts like matter, radiation, and vacuum. Physics currently has a mixture of classical,…
The most dramatic developments in theoretical physics in the next millennium are likely to come when we make progress on so far unresolved foundational questions. In this essay I consider two of the deepest problems confronting us, the…
Phase transitions which occur at zero temperature when some non-thermal parameter like pressure, chemical composition or magnetic field is changed are called quantum phase transitions. They are caused by quantum fluctuations which are a…
The physics of the 20th Century is governed by two pillars, Einstein's relativity principle and the quantum principle. At the beginning of the 21st Century, it becomes clear that there exist the smallest units of matter, such as electrons,…
I describe a constructive foundation for Quantum Mechanics, based on the discreteness of the degrees of freedom of quantum objects and on the Principle of Relativity. Taking Einstein's historical construction of Special Relativity as a…
Einstein's contribution to relativity is reviewed. It is pointed out that Weyl gave first unified theory of gravitation and electromagnetism and it was different than the five dimensional theory of Kaluza. Einstein began his work on…
The ordinary quantum theory points out that general relativity is negligible for spatial distances up to the Planck scale. Consistency in the foundations of the quantum theory requires a``soft'' spacetime structure of the general relativity…
Traditionally causes come before effects, but according to modern physics things aren't that simple. Special relativity shows that `before' and `after' are relative, and quantum measurement is even more subtle. Since the nonlocality of…
New status in quantum mechanics is connected with recent achievements in the inverse problem. With its help instead of about ten exactly solvable models which serve as a basis of the contemporary education there are infinite (!) number,…