Description
The forty papers collected here honor one of the great scientists of our time--John Archibald Wheeler. In this volume are gathered the six issues of the journal Foundations of Physics (February through July 1986) that celebrate his seventy-fifth birthday. Enlivened by Professor Wheeler's celebrated drawings, the book captures and illuminates his many contributions to physics, including his discovery of the scattering matrix and his elucidation, with Niels Bohr, of the mechanism of nuclear fission, his many contributions to Einstein's theory of gravity (for instance, the black hole), his deep insights into quantum theory and measurement (the elementary quantum phenomenon), and his efforts to explain the origins of the quantum postulate and quantum gravity (the meaning circuit and the Wheeler-DeWitt Equation). The majority of the papers reflect and build on Professor Wheeler's revolutionary ideas. Many scientists are convinced that his insights into the foundation of modern-day physics will induce a profound change in our perception of the universe. This book will appeal to scientists and philosophers who wish to look at one man's rendering of the "big picture" through the eyes of his colleagues. The work is prefaced by a compilation of quotes from Professor Wheeler, edited by Kip S. Thorne and Wojciech Zurek. The contributors to Between Quantum and Cosmos are M. Alexander, A. Anderson, H. H. Barschall, J. D. Bekenstein, C. H. Bennett, P. G. Bergmann, V. B. Braginsky, D. R. Br
Chapter
1. John Archibald Wheeler: A Few Highlights of His Contributions to Physics by Kip S. Thorne and Wojciech H. Zurek
2. Early Estimates of the Strength of the Nuclear Spin-Orbit Force by H. H. Barsehall and Louis Brown
3. Momentum Projection of Solitons Including Quantum Corrections by Lawrence Wilets
4. An S Matrix Theory for Classical Nonlinear Physics by J. Glimm and D. H. Sharp
5. Some Generalizations of the Virial Theorem by Edward Teller
6. Does the Topology of Space Fluctuate? by Arlen Anderson and Bryce Dewitt
7. Barrier Penetration and Initial Values in Kaluza–Klein Theories by Dieter R. Brill
8. Obvious, Incredible . . .by V. N. Lukash and I. D. Novikov
9. Professor Wheeler and the Crack of Doom: Closed Cosmologies in the 5-D Kaluza-Klein Theory by Richard A. Matzner and Anthony Mezzacappa
10. Gravitation and Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking by Jacob D. Bekenstein
11. The Birth of Time by J. Geheniau and I. Prigogine
12. Black Holes and Quantum Coherence by Robert M. Wald
13. Heuristic Viewpoint Concerning the Thermal Ambience Relative to an Accelerated Frame by Ulrich H. Gerlach
14. Test of the Gravitomagnetic Field via Laser–Ranged Satellites by Ignazio Ciufolini
15. Static Electromagnetic Geon by Marek Demianski
16. The Geometrodynamic Content of the Regge Equations as Illuminated by the Boundary of a Boundary Principle by Warner Allen Miller
17. Canonical Geometrodynamics and General Covariance by Karel V. Kuchar
18. Boundary Terms in the Action Principles of General Relativity by James W. York, Jr.
19. Bianchi Identities and the Automatic Conservation of Energy–Momentum and Angular Momentum in General–Relativistic Field Theories by Friedrich W. Hehl and J. Dermott McCrea
20. The Boundary of a Boundary Principle: A Unified Approach by Arkady Kheyfets
21. The Gravitational Field at Spatial Infinity by Matthew Alexander and Peter G. Bergmann
22. Gravitational Radiation Reaction on the Motion of Particles in General Relativity by P. A. Hogan and I. Robinson
23. Equivalent Lagrangians in Classical Field Theory by Sergio Hojman and L. C. Shepley
24. P-Form Electrodynamics by Marc Henneaux and Claudio Teitelboim
25. General Covariance and Quantum Theory by Bahram Mashhoon
26. Steering the Universe by James Lsenberg
27. On Observing the Absence of an Atom by R. H. Dicke
28. How to Evade the Confrontation with the Uncertainty Relations by V. B. Braginsky and F. Ya. Khalili
29. Are the Quantum Rules Exact? The Case of the Imperfect Measurements by Bernard D'espagnat
30. The Problems in Quantum Foundations in the Light of Gauge Theories by Yuval Ne'eman
31. Joint Wigner Distribution for Spin–1/2 Particles by Leon Cohen and Marian O. Scully
32. Wedges I by Cecile Dewitt–Morette, Stephen G. Low, Lawrence S. Schulman, and Anwar Y. Shiekh
33. The Measurement of Quantum Noise Reduction in Squeezed States by W. G. Unruh
34. Quantum Mechanics Without Probability Amplitudes by William K. Wootters
35. Quantum Mechanical Computers by Richard P. Feynman
36. Computability and Physical Theories by Robert Geroch and James B. Hartle
37. Computation and Physics: Wheeler's Meaning Circuit? by Rolf Landauer
38. On Wheeler's Notion of "law Without Law" in Physics by David Deutsch
39. Existence of "Free Will" as a Problem of Physics by Asher Peres
40. On the Nature and Origin of Complexity in Discrete, Homogeneous, Locally–Interacting Systems by Charles H. Bennett
Between Quantum and Cosmos
：Studies and Essays in Honor of John Archibald Wheeler
( Princeton Legacy Library )
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