Search Results: Titles starting with Q from Atticus Rare Books

Berlin: Julius Springer, 1931. 1st Edition. THREE FULL VOLUMES, 1st EDITIONS OF HÃœCKEL'S THREE LONG PAPERS ON THE QUANTUM MECHANICS OF AROMATIC AND UNSATURATED MOLECULES, TOGETHER CONSITUTING THE HÃœCKEL METHOD OR HÃœCKEL MOLECULAR ORBITAL METHOD (HMO) & PROVIDING "THE FIRST QUANTUM THEORETICAL DESCRIPTION OF BENZENE" (DSB). As a concept, molecular orbital theory " -- a method for determining molecular structure in which electrons are not assigned to individual bonds between atoms but are treated as moving under the influence of the nuclei in the whole molecule" -- was extendable to large molecules of atoms, but Hückel was the first to do so (Wikipedia). Beginning in 1931 and with the first of these papers, Erich Hückel developed an approach that could be used for conjugated systems, [meaning] the electron is considered free to travel throughout the length of a conjugated system" (Allen, Biophysical Chemistry, 276). The three founders of 20th c. quantum chemistry were Erich Hückel, Friedrich… Read More

Berlin: Julius Springer, 1931. 1st Edition. 1st EDITION. COMPLETE VOLUME OF HÃœCKEL'S FIRST LONG PAPER ON THE QUANTUM MECHANICS OF AROMATIC AND UNSATURATED MOLECULES, TOGETHER CONSITUTING THE HÃœCKEL METHOD OR HÃœCKEL MOLECULAR ORBITAL METHOD (HMO) & PROVIDING "THE FIRST QUANTUM THEORETICAL DESCRIPTION OF BENZENE" (DSB). The three founders of 20th c. quantum chemistry were Erich Hückel, Friedrich Hund, and Robert S. Mullikan. Hückel studied physics and mathematics in Göttingen and 1929, Bohr suggested that he "should try to apply the modern quantum mechanics to chemical problems, especially the double bonds of carbon. The development of the so-called Hückel molecular orbital theory is regarded as his opus magnum" (Bard, Electrochemical Dictionary 426). Mulliken later referred to the first of Hückel's papers [this paper] as 'monumental'" (Karachalios, Erich Hückel, 77). As a concept, molecular orbital theory " -- a method for determining molecular structure in which electrons are not assigned… Read More

London: Royal Society, 1931. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION OF DIRAC'S PREDICTION OF A NEW ELEMENTARY PARTICLE - THE POSITRON - ALONG WITH MAGNETIC MONOPOLES. Though not taken terribly seriously at the time, in 1973 "Heisenberg generously called it...perhaps the biggest jump of all big jumps in physics of our century" (Kragh, Quantum Generations, 191). In 1928, Paul Dirac formulated the so-called "Dirac equation" which describes the behavior of fermions and "was the first theory to account fully for special relativity in the context of quantum mechanics" (Wikipedia). Dirac's new theory, however, did have a problem: the Dirac equation "formally included solutions with negative energy. Contrary to the situation in classical physics, these could not be dismissed as nonphysical but had to be taken seriously - that is, somehow to be related to some objects of nature. In 1929, Dirac believed he had found the solution to the problem... of electrons having negative kinetic energy" (ibid 190). Dirac wrote to… Read More

Lancaster: American Institute of Physics, 1963. 1st Edition. BOUND FULL VOLUME FIRST EDITION OF GLAUBER'S NOBLE PRIZE WINNING QUANTUM THEORY OF OPTICAL COHERENCE, the quantum mechanical basis of different types of light. Glauber's announcement of his theory was published in a letter to Physical Review Letters the same year. Offered here is the longer explanation of the theory. "[Glauber's] theory uses the formalism of quantum electrodynamics to describe the absorption of a photon in a detector. By correlating several such detectors, [Glauber showed how] one may obtain higher order correlations, which [then] display clearly the characteristic features of quantum radiation" (Nobel Prize Website). Glauber's work formed the basis for the development of Quantum Optics when it was written and still does to this day. Glauber was awarded the Nobel Prize for his work in optical coherence in 2005. Glauber's seminal theory, at first controversial but now widely used in the field of quantum optics,… Read More

Lancaster: The American Physical Society, 1967. 1st Edition. TWO ISSUE FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL WRAPS of all three parts of Bryce DeWitt's paper on quantum gravity, including the introduction of the Wheeler-DeWitt equation. Near fine condition. Quantum gravity attempts to unify quantum mechanics (which describes the behavior of electromagnetism, the weak interaction and the strong interaction) with general relativity (the theory of gravity). In these works, DeWitt, known as the father of quantum gravity, formed important calculations on quantum gravity highly controversial and important to modern theoretical physics. The Wheeler-DeWitt "equation expresses the expectation that the total energy of a closed universe vanishes" (Liebscher, Cosmology, 269). It is a "cosmic Schrodinger equation" that describes the whole universe - both atoms and galaxies - in a unified manner. Although controversial, the equation unifies deep properties of both quantum theory and general relativity. "The Wheeler-DeWitt… Read More

Lancaster: American Physical Society, 1923. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION OF ARTHUR COMPTON'S NOBEL PRIZE WINNING PAPER ON THE ‘COMPTON EFFECT,' THE SCATTERING OF HIGH-ENERGY PHOTONS BY ELECTRONS. The landmark "discovery of the Compton effect served as the technical catalyst for the acceptance and rapid development of quantum mechanics in the 1920s and 1930s" (Todd, Scientists in Space and Astronomy, 88). From this distance, "it is difficult for us today to understand that Compton's explanation of X-ray scattering was regarded as revolutionary. Physicists until then had learned that electromagnetic radiation, depending on the process studied, had to be described as consisting of EITHER waves OR energy quanta but now had to accept that BOTH the wave AND the particle property were needed" (Brandt, The Harvest of the Century, 130). "Compton carried out relativistic calculations (assuming detailed conservation of energy and momentum on a quantum-by-quantum basis) that predicted that energetic X-ray or… Read More

Lancaster: American Physical Society, 1967. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION of Bryce DeWitt's first paper on quantum gravity, including the introduction of both the Wheeler-DeWitt equation and canonical quantum gravity. "Quantum gravity attempts to unify quantum mechanics (which describes the behavior of electromagnetism, the weak interaction and the strong interaction) with general relativity (the theory of gravity)" (Wenner Collection). NOTE that we separately offer the 1st ed. in original wraps of all three parts of Bryce DeWitt's paper on quantum gravity, including the introduction of the Wheeler-DeWitt equation. In this work, DeWitt, known as the father of quantum gravity, formed important calculations on quantum gravity highly controversial and important to modern theoretical physics. The Wheeler-DeWitt "equation expresses the expectation that the total energy of a closed universe vanishes" (Liebscher, Cosmology, 269). It is a "cosmic Schrodinger equation" that describes the whole universe - both… Read More

New York: American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2012. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL WRAPS OF TWO (withbound) PAPERS RELATED TO WHEELER'S DELAYED CHOICE EXPERIMENT, THESE DEMONSTRATING THE "ULTIMATE" DELAYED CHOICE EXPERIMENT IN WHICH THE CHOICE IS DELAYED UNTIL AFTER THE MEASUREMENT IS MADE. These papers appear in the same November 2, 2012 issue of Science and describe "sophisticated demonstrations of the wave-particle duality of single quanta" (Wikipedia). Both also describe Wheeler delayed choice experiments in which the choice about which path the photon takes is made AFTER the measurement is made. The Peruzzo et al., paper "uses Bell inequalities to replace the delayed choice devices, but it achieves the same experimental purpose in an elegant and convincing way" (Wikipedia). The fourth, by Kaiser et al., specifically notes that "wave and particle behavior can coexist simultaneously" (Kaiser, 2012). The result "underlines the fact that a simple vision of light as a… Read More

London: Macmillan, 2001. 1st Edition. FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL PICTORIAL WRAPS OF A 2001 PAPER C-AUTHORED BY SETH LLOYD. The authors "exploit ‘quantum weirdness' [in an effort to] dramatically improve the precision of radar, sonar, the global positioning system and other object locators...[They] propose "that taking advantage of the quirky nature of certain quantum pulses would create a significantly more accurate object locator" (Ball, Nature Online, 2002). "The precision with which objects can be located depends on the accuracy with which the arrival time of the pulses can be determined. ‘Our work shows that by exploiting 'quantum weirdness,' one can in principle dramatically enhance the precision of such pulse-timing methods,' Lloyd said. ‘Counterintuitive features of quantum mechanics such as entanglement (quantum correlations that are 'excessive,' or greater than classical) and squeezing (the reduction of quantum noise levels below their semiclassical limit) can be employed to overcome… Read More