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Feynman's Thesis: A New Approach to Quantum Theory | 
 enlarge | Author: Richard Feynman
Creator: Laurie M. Brown
Publisher: World Scientific Publishing Company
Category: Book
List Price: $17.00
Buy New: $12.59
You Save: $4.41 (26%)
New (17) Used (4) from $12.59
Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 57439
Media: Paperback
Pages: 144
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.4
ISBN: 9812563806
Dewey Decimal Number: 530.12
EAN: 9789812563804
Publication Date: August 30, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New. Delivery is usually 5 - 8 working days from order, International is by Royal Mail Airmail
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Product Description
Richard Feynman s never previously published doctoral thesis formed the heart of much of his brilliant and profound work in theoretical physics. Entitled The Principle of Least Action in Quantum Mechanics, its original motive was to quantize the classical action-at-a-distance electrodynamics. Because that theory adopted an overall space time viewpoint, the classical Hamiltonian approach used in the conventional formulations of quantum theory could not be used, so Feynman turned to the Lagrangian function and the principle of least action as his points of departure. The result was the path integral approach, which satisfied -- and transcended -- its original motivation, and has enjoyed great success in renormalized quantum field theory, including the derivation of the ubiquitous Feynman diagrams for elementary particles. Path integrals have many other applications, including atomic, molecular, and nuclear scattering, statistical mechanics, quantum liquids and solids, Brownian motion, and noise theory. It also sheds new light on fundamental issues like the interpretation of quantum theory because of its new overall space time viewpoint. The present volume includes Feynman s Princeton thesis, the related review article Space Time Approach to Non-Relativistic Quantum Mechanics [Reviews of Modern Physics 20 (1948), 367 387], Paul Dirac s seminal paper The Lagrangian in Quantum Mechanics [Physikalische Zeitschrift der Sowjetunion, Band 3, Heft 1 (1933)], and an introduction by Laurie M Brown. Contents: Least Action in Classical Mechanics: The Concept of Functional; The Principle of Least Action; Conservation of Energy. Constants of the Motion; Particles Interacting Through an Intermediate Oscillator; Least Action in Quantum Mechanics: The Lagrangian in Quantum Mechanics; The Calculation of Matrix Elements in the Language of a Lagrangian; The Equations of Motion in Lagrangian Form; Translation to the Ordinary Notation of Quantum Mechanics; The Generalization to Any Action Function; Conservation of Energy. Constants of the Motion; The Role of the Wave Function; Transition Probabilities; Expectation Values for Observables; Application to the Forced Harmonic Oscillator; Particles Interacting Through an Intermediate Oscillator; Space Time Approach to Non-Relativistic Quantum Mechanics; The Lagrangian in Quantum Mechanics.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Pure Feynman - a real joy June 6, 2006
Peter Haggstrom (BONDI BEACH, NSW Australia)
26 out of 29 found this review helpful
I did a course on quantum theory in the 1970s with John Ward who was recommended for the Nobel Prize in 1965 (Feynman, Schwinger and Tomogana shared it). Those close to the action will know of Ward's Identity. John (died in 2002 from memory) used Feynman's lectures as his course notes.
I must confess a soft spot for Feynman. I would have loved to have been in his lectures (buy his audio tapes and you will get the feel for his delivery). He was truly a great physics communicator and often understated his mathematical abilities (after all he had won the Putnam Prize at some stage so he was no mathematical slouch).
His development of QED is simple to understand and that says it all about his genius. He took the view that if he couldn't give a simple explanation then he really didn't understand the topic. The current crop of tool polishers should heed this.
Anyone who is really serious about physics (and maths) should read the original papers and this is a classic example. I suggest that you fill in the gaps in the derivations. If you can't do that then you haven't really understood it.
It is fascinating to compare Feynman's approach with Schwinger's more abstract approach. I prefer Feynman's but Schwinger does a hugely impressive job in stripping QED down to its logical (almost truth functional) essentials.
Buy this book and see how a first class mind works.
Peter Haggstrom
BONDI BEACH AUSTRALIA
Awesome book March 6, 2006
Donald A. Graft
16 out of 19 found this review helpful
The section on quantum superposition and the essential difference between classical and quantum approaches, found in the article "Space-Time Approach to Non-Relativistic Quantum Mechanics", is mind-blowing stuff. This is a great book.
The early works of a great Physicist March 1, 2008
D. A. Ruiz
Having access to the early ideas that lead R. P. Feynman to the eventual development of his path integral theory of Quantum Mechanics is invaluable.
Richard Phillips Feynman: American Physics Superstar November 28, 2008
Southern Jameson West (Taiwan)
In this thesis we witness a drama unfolding. The young Feynman(later to be the shining light of J.Robert Oppenheimer's theoretical division of The Legendary Manhatten Project in Los Alamos, New Mexico ) is "on to
something". He has read a paper on the "New" Quantum Mechanics written by
P.A.M. Dirac which outlines a possibly new and better way to formulate the theory. One much more radically different from what the original architects (most of them German) of the theory had had in mind. But one which he intuitively ( at this point ) knows will allow him to calculate
certain results that the original formulations seem unable to manage.
That is, up until that point, 1942 no one has been able to successfully calculate the basic photon-electron interaction without getting infinity
for an answer. Which of course is no answer at all. And that's an obvious
embarrassment for the "guys" with big egos who started it all but now can't do the calculations.
He's right at the forefront of knowledge at this point and he knows it.
Nobody is contemplating or attempting to do what he's about to do. Neither
will they be able to understand it. This of course supplies the excitement
of the quest. He is on an adventure and he is doing it himself. And what comes out of the mathematical analysis done in this thesis will eventually lead to a brand new way of calculating Qunatum Mechanical events. One which will conveniently obviate the traps and pitfalls inherent in all of these failed attempts. And that new mathematical construction will be called a " Path Integral". Which in turn
will evolve into the now-famous "Feynman Diagrams" (a better and more efficient way to calculate these subatomic processes.) And which will eventually provide
a beautiful way to envisualize the Quantum phenomenon known as "entanglement".
The stakes are high at this point. The tension and competition are telling to say the least. Who will be first to get there? If Feynman were
to fail in this attempt it would be a great loss of face. But very dramatically just a few years after this thesis he succeeds in such a novel and clever way that it draws both praise and condemnation from the various "camps" of theoretical physics. Ultimately it will result in his sharing in the 1965
Nobel Prize for physics.
The young Feynman has not only won the day but has advanced the prestige of "American Physics" significanly further right on the heels of America's successful creation of the world's first Nuclear device. This would not be Feynman's only triumph. There would be in fact many, many more.
It is significant to note that one of the first professors ever to include Feynman's Path Integral formulation of Quantum Electrodynamics in his lectures
in the 1950's was none other than Wolfgang Pauli. ( Nobel Prize in physics 1945 unshared ) To those who are privy to the enigmatic workings and personalities of the community of theoretical physics at that time (and even now )acceptance
by Pauli would to some have exceeded a Nobel Prize. Now that truly would have been an exciting achievement.
Southern Jameson West
 Can not be compared with his lectures July 27, 2006
Lohit S. Dutta (Muenchen Deutschland)
4 out of 20 found this review helpful
The book is not bad but also not in the same class as his lectures. Good for undergraduates as a quick read.
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