A Universe of Atoms, An Atom in the Universe Springer New York Berlin Heidelberg Hong Kong London Milan Paris Tokyo Mark P. Silverman A Universe of Atoms, An Atom in the Universe With 74 Illustrations 1 3 Mark P. Silverman Department of Physics Trinity College Hartford, CT 06106 Cover illustration: Chris Silverman. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Silverman, Mark P. Auniverse of atoms, an atom in the universe / Mark P. Silverman.—2nd ed. p. cm. Rev. ed. of: And yet it moves. c1993. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-387-95437-6 (acid-free paper) 1. Physics. 2. Quantum theory. I. Silverman, Mark P. And yet it moves. II. Title. QC21.3 .S55 2002 530—dc21 2002016006 ISBN 0-387-95437-6 Printed on acid-free paper This book is a revised edition of And Yet It Moves, published in 1993 by Cambridge University Press. © 2002 Springer-Verlag New York, Inc. All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Springer-Verlag New York, Inc., 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. Printed in the United States of America. 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 SPIN 10865410 www.springer-ny.com Springer-Verlag New York Berlin Heidelberg Amember of Bertelsmann Springer Science+Business Media GmbH To Sue, Chris, and Jen atoms with consciousness... matter with curiosity. Stands at the sea... wonders at wondering... I...a universe of atoms... an atom in the universe. —Richard P. Feynman Contents Preface ix Introduction The Fire Within 1 Chapter 1 The Wirbelrohr’s Roar 7 1.1 Wirbelrohr Follow-up 24 Chapter 2 Musical Bottles, Flying Balloons, and Hot Stoves: The Uncommon Physics of Common Things 30 2.1 The Good Sound of CokeTM: Physical Modeling by Analogy 30 2.2 Comedy of Errors: What Every Aeronaut Needs to Know 38 2.3 Cool in the Kitchen: Radiation, Conduction, and Newton’s “Hot Block” Experiment 48 Chapter 3 The Unimaginably Strange Behavior of Free Electrons 63 3.1 Variations on “The Only Mystery” 63 3.2 Electron Interference in a Space with Holes 76 3.3 The Two-Electron Quantum Interference Disappearing Act 92 3.4 Heretical Correlations 102 3.5 HBT Update 119 Chapter 4 Quantum Beats and Giant Atoms 127 4.1 The Light from Atomic “Pulsars” 127 4.2 Anomalous Reversals 140 4.3 Quantum Implications of Traveling in Circles 155 4.4 Long-Distance Beats 168 viii Contents Chapter 5 And Yet It Moves: Exotic Atoms and the Invariance of Charge 181 5.1 ACommotion About Motion 181 5.2 The Electric Charge of a Moving Electron 187 5.3 The Exotic Atom 191 5.4 The Planetary Atom 197 Chapter 6 Reflections on Light 203 6.1 Exorcising a Maxwell Demon 203 6.2 Enhanced Reflection: How Light Gets Brighter When It Is Up Against a Wall 206 6.3 Left- and Right-Handed Reflection 224 Chapter 7 Two Worlds, Large and Small: Earth and Atom 245 Chapter 8 Computers, Coins, and Quanta: Unexpected Outcomes of Random Events 279 8.1 The Suggestive Power of Fun 279 8.2 To Switch or Not to Switch—That Is the Question 281 8.3 On the Run: How Random Is Random? 283 8.4 Random Acts of Measurement 294 8.5 Do Radioactive Nuclei Decay Randomly? 299 8.6 Mark Off Time with Markov 316 8.7 Exponential Decay, Correlation, and Randomness: The Quantum Perspective 320 Chapter 9 AUniverse of Atoms: Symmetry, Unity, Gravity, and the Problem of “Missing Mass” 325 9.1 Keep It Together! Keep It Together! Keep It Together! 325 9.2 Symmetries for the Mind’s Eye 329 9.3 Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking 342 9.4 What Is the Matter with Gravity? 348 9.5 Shedding Light on Dark Matter 364 9.6 AGalactic Superfluid? 371 9.7 And So... 377 Chapter 10 Science and Wonder 386 Selected Papers by the Author 396 About the Author 409 Index 411 Preface Approximately 10 years have passed since the publication of And Yet It Moves: Strange Systems and Subtle Questions in Physics.1 During this time, the book has done very well, being received favorably by both readers and reviewers. The exhaustion of the last printing has given me the opportunity to make revisions. The present volume, updated and expanded by three new chapters containing a total of 17 additional essays on a wide range of questions that I have explored in quantum mechanics, nuclear physics, thermodynamics, general relativity, and astrophysics, has been given a new title to reflect the broad thematic coverage and a new publisher (Springer-Verlag). The Introduction (The Fire Within) that follows, based on the preface to the original edition, explains fully the purpose and content of this book. I wish to note briefly here, however, that time and the advance of physics have not dulled the scientific relevance of any of the essays. This book, like its predecessor, is not intended to be a popularization, a textbook, or a monograph of any field of physics. Rather, it is a per- sonal account of the scientific underpinnings, motivations, lessons, and ramifications of some of the many fundamental physical problems that have engaged me throughout my career to the present. These are essays that anyone with an interest in contemporary physics can read, although it is certainly the case that the more serious the interest, the more meaningful will be the essays. In the years following And Yet It Moves, I have written, besides the present book, three others, principally for physicists, teachers, and students, more specifically focused on those parts of my researches concerned with quantum interference phenomena,2 classical optics and electromagnetism,3 and quantum electrodynamics and atomic physics,4 respectively. As was the case with my previous books, there is again in this one an underlying concern with physics education. By that I mean not merely the transmission of facts and formulas, but a communication of the delight of scientific exploration, the ultimate exercise of human curiosity and ingenuity, without which any science,