Mark P. Silverman – författare

Mark Silverman has seen light perform many wonders. From the marvel of seeing inside cloudy liquids as a result of his own cutting-edge research to reproducing and examining an unusual diffraction pattern first witnessed by Isaac Newton 300 years ago, he has studied aspects of light that have inspired and puzzled humans for hundreds of years. In this book, he draws on his many experiences as an optical and atomic physicist--and on his consummate skills as a teacher and writer about the mysteries of physics--to present a remarkable tour of the world of light. He explores theoretical, experimental, and historical themes, showing a keen eye for curious and neglected corners of the study of light and a fascination with the human side of scientific discovery. In the course of the book, he covers such questions as how it is possible to achieve magnifications of a millionfold without a single lens or mirror. He asks what all living things have in common that might one day allow the development of a "life-form scanner" like the one in Star Trek. He considers whether more light can reflect from a surface than strikes it, and explores the origin of the strange hyperpolic diffraction pattern Newton originally produced with sunlight and knives. Silverman also discusses his new and ground-breaking experiments to see into murky substances such as fog or blood--a finding with potential applications as diverse as noninvasive medical testing and remote sensing of the environment. His wide-ranging reflections cover virtually all elements of physical optics, including propagation, reflection, refraction, diffraction, interference, polarization, and scattering. Throughout, Silverman makes extensive reference to both modern research and the original works of giants such as Newton, Fresnel, and Maxwell. In a more personal section about physics and learning, Silverman argues for self-directed learning and discusses the central importance of stimulating scientific curiosity in students. Waves and Grains will encourage a spirit of wonder and inquiry in anyone with scientific interests.

The many-faceted efforts to understand the structure and interactions of atoms over the past hundred years have contributed decisively and dramatically to the explosive development of physics. There is hardly a branch of modern physical science that does not in some seminal way rely on the fundamental principles and mathematical and experimental insights that derive from these studies. In particular, the drive to understand the singular features of the hydrogen atom--simultaneously the archetype of all atoms and the least typical atom--spurred many of the twentieth century''s advances in physics and chemistry. This book gives an in-depth account of the author''s own penetrating experimental and theoretical investigations of the hydrogen atom, while simultaneously providing broad lessons in the application of quantum mechanics to atomic structure and interactions. A pioneer in the combined use of atomic accelerators and radiofrequency spectroscopy for probing the internal structure of the hydrogen atom, Mark Silverman examines the general principles behind this far-reaching experimental approach. Fast-moving protons are directed into gas or foil targets from which they capture electrons to become hydrogen atoms moving uniformly at very high speeds. During their rapid passage through the spectroscopy chamber of the atomic accelerator, these atoms reveal by the light they emit fascinating details of their internal configuration and the interactions that created them. Silverman examines the effects of radiofrequency fields on the hydrogen atom clearly and systematically, explaining the details of these interactions at different levels of complexity and refinement, each level illuminating the physical processes involved from different and complementary perspectives. Readers interested in diverse areas of physics and physical chemistry will appreciate both the theoretical and practical implications of Silverman''s studies and the personal style with which he relays them. This is a work of not only an outstanding research physicist, but a fine teacher who understands how curiosity underlies all science.

Coherence, entanglement, and interference arise from quantum superposition, the most distinctive and puzzling feature of quantum physics. Silverman, whose extensive experimental and theoretical work has helped elucidate these processes, presents a clear and engaging discussion of the role of quantum superposition in diverse quantum phenomena such as the wavelike nature of particle propagation, indistinguishability of identical particles, nonlocal interactions of correlated particles, topological effects of magnetic fields, and chiral asymmetry in nature. He also examines how macroscopic quantum coherence may be able to extricate physics from its most challenging quandary, the collapse of a massive degenerate star to a singularity in space in which the laws of physics break down.

Explained by a physicist with a concern for clarity and experimental achievability, the extraordinary nature of quantum superposition will fascinate the reader not only for its apparent strangeness, but also for its comprehensibility.