Another talk-prep photo, because I wanted a shot to suggest the academic side of quantum physics. Of course, my actual textbooks are all in my office on campus, but then, they mostly have boring covers and titles, so they’re not a great visual. So I stacked up some pop-physics books:
I meant to write out a couple of pages of equations, too, but I had to break off to cook dinner, and then I fell asleep at 9pm, so that never happened. Maybe today.
Anyway, I liked all these books, so, you know, check them out. Or read this post about good pop-quantum books, which has more detail.
I’d like to give a shout out for “Einstein and the Quantum: The Quest of the Valiant Swabian”, by A. Douglas Stone, which I’ve been enjoying a lot over the last few days. I had hesitated because I had thought the title was unprepossessing, but eventually I had reason to read it. Doug Stone tells the story of Einstein’s crucial role in QM very well, and also tells the physics involved very well. Notably, that leads to some very good discussions of the often crucial importance of thermodynamics. Almost all good reviews on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Einstein-Quantum-Quest-Valiant-Swabian/dp/0691168563
Is there an entanglement trend/fad/season going on lately? Because almost everywhere I go I keep bumping into EPR and entanglement allusions, in this case the PDC laser pattern on the “Dance of the Photons” book in your picture. There’s also every chance that my recent self study of entanglement and bell tests has driven me mad, and I’m pretty sure that’s not an uncommon effect of this material.