Peter Woit's Books

Not Even Wrong

The Failure of String Theory and the Search for Unity in Physical Law for Unity in Physical Law

By: Peter Woit

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Not Even Wrong

The Failure of String Theory and the Search for Unity in Physical Law for Unity in Physical Law

By: Peter Woit

At what point does theory depart the realm of testable hypothesis and come to resemble something like aesthetic speculation, or even theology? The legendary physicist Wolfgang Pauli had a phrase for such ideas: He would describe them as "not even wrong," meaning that they were so incomplete that they could not even be used to make predictions to compare with observations to see whether they were wrong or not. In Peter Woit's view, superstring theory is just such an idea. In Not Even Wrong , he shows that what many physicists call superstring "theory" is not a theory at all. It makes no predictions, even wrong ones, and this very lack of falsifiability is what has allowed the subject to survive and flourish. Not Even Wrong explains why the mathematical conditions for progress in physics are entirely absent from superstring theory today and shows that judgments about scientific statements, which should be based on the logical consistency of argument and experimental evidence, are instead based on the eminence of those claiming to know the truth. In the face of many books from enthusiasts for string theory, this book presents the other side of the story.

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336

Publisher

Basic Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

046500363X

ISBN 13

9780465003631

Quantum Theory, Groups and Representations

An Introduction

By: Peter Woit

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Quantum Theory, Groups and Representations

An Introduction

By: Peter Woit

This text systematically presents the basics of quantum mechanics, emphasizing the role of Lie groups, Lie algebras, and their unitary representations. The mathematical structure of the subject is brought to the fore, intentionally avoiding significant overlap with material from standard physics courses in quantum mechanics and quantum field theory. The level of presentation is attractive to mathematics students looking to learn about both quantum mechanics and representation theory, while also appealing to physics students who would like to know more about the mathematics underlying the subject. This text showcases the numerous differences between typical mathematical and physical treatments of the subject. The latter portions of the book focus on central mathematical objects that occur in the Standard Model of particle physics, underlining the deep and intimate connections between mathematics and the physical world. While an elementary physics course of some kind would be helpful to the reader, no specific background in physics is assumed, making this book accessible to students with a grounding in multivariable calculus and linear algebra. Many exercises are provided to develop the reader's understanding of and facility in quantum-theoretical concepts and calculations.

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Page Count

668

Publisher

Springer

Published Date

ISBN 10

3319646109

ISBN 13

9783319646107

Not Even Wrong

The Failure of String Theory and the Search for Unity in Physical Law for Unity in Physical Law

By: Peter Woit

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Not Even Wrong

The Failure of String Theory and the Search for Unity in Physical Law for Unity in Physical Law

By: Peter Woit

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336

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Basic Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

046500363X

ISBN 13

9780465003631

Quantum Theory, Groups and Representations

An Introduction

By: Peter Woit

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Quantum Theory, Groups and Representations

An Introduction

By: Peter Woit

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659

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Springer

Published Date

ISBN 10

3319646125

ISBN 13

9783319646121

Optimal and Adaptive Signal Processing

By: Peter M. Clarkson

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Optimal and Adaptive Signal Processing

By: Peter M. Clarkson

Optimal and Adaptive Signal Processing covers the theory of optimal and adaptive signal processing using examples and computer simulations drawn from a wide range of applications, including speech and audio, communications, reflection seismology and sonar systems. The material is presented without a heavy reliance on mathematics and focuses on one-dimensional and array processing results, as well as a wide range of adaptive filter algorithms and implementations. Topics discussed include random signals and optimal processing, adaptive signal processing with the LMS algorithm, applications of adaptive filtering, algorithms and structures for adaptive filtering, spectral analysis, and array signal processing. Optimal and Adaptive Signal Processing is a valuable guide for scientists and engineers, as well as an excellent text for senior undergraduate/graduate level students in electrical engineering.

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Page Count

550

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1351426761

ISBN 13

9781351426763

The Future of Post-Human Geometry

A Preface to a New Theory of Infinity, Symmetry, and Dimensionality

By: Peter Baofu

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The Future of Post-Human Geometry

A Preface to a New Theory of Infinity, Symmetry, and Dimensionality

By: Peter Baofu

Why should some essential properties of geometry (i.e., infinity, symmetry, and dimensionality) be both necessary and desirable in the way that they have been constructed—albeit with different modifications over time—since time immemorial? Contrary to the conventional wisdom in all history hitherto existing, the essential properties of geometry do not have to be both necessary and desirable. This is not to suggest, of course, that one has nothing to learn from geometry. On the contrary, geometry has contributed to the advancement of knowledge in many ways since its inception as a field of knowledge some millennia ago. The point in this book, however, is to show an alternative (better) way to understand the nature of geometry, which goes beyond human conception, intuition, and imagination, together with worldly experience of course, as its foundation, while learning from them all—with theoretical implications for time travel, hyperspace, and other important issues. If true, this seminal view will fundamentally change the way that the nature of abstraction in the thinking process is to be understood, with its enormous implications for the future advancement of knowledge, in a small sense, and what I originally called its “post-human” fate, in a large one.

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Page Count

405

Publisher

Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1443812129

ISBN 13

9781443812122

Evidence, Explanation, and Realism

Essays in Philosophy of Science

By: Peter Achinstein

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Evidence, Explanation, and Realism

Essays in Philosophy of Science

By: Peter Achinstein

The essays in this volume address three fundamental questions in the philosophy of science: What is required for some fact to be evidence for a scientific hypothesis? What does it mean to say that a scientist or a theory explains a phenomenon? Should scientific theories that postulate "unobservable" entities such as electrons be construed realistically as aiming to correctly describe a world underlying what is directly observable, or should such theories be understood as aiming to correctly describe only the observable world? Distinguished philosopher of science Peter Achinstein provides answers to each of these questions in essays written over a period of more than 40 years. The present volume brings together his important previously published essays, allowing the reader to confront some of the most basic and challenging issues in the philosophy of science, and to consider Achinstein's many influential contributions to the solution of these issues. He presents a theory of evidence that relates this concept to probability and explanation; a theory of explanation that relates this concept to an explaining act as well as to the different ways in which explanations are to be evaluated; and an empirical defense of scientific realism that invokes both the concept of evidence and that of explanation.

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Page Count

344

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0190453664

ISBN 13

9780190453664

Zero To Infinity: The Foundations Of Physics

By: Peter Rowlands

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Zero To Infinity: The Foundations Of Physics

By: Peter Rowlands

Unique in its field, this book uses a methodology that is entirely new, creating the simplest and most abstract foundations for physics to date. The author proposes a fundamental description of process in a universal computational rewrite system, leading to an irreducible form of relativistic quantum mechanics from a single operator. This is not only simpler, and more fundamental, but also seemingly more powerful than any other quantum mechanics formalism available. The methodology finds immediate applications in particle physics, theoretical physics and theoretical computing. In addition, taking the rewrite structure more generally as a description of process, the book shows how it can be applied to large-scale structures beyond the realm of fundamental physics.

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Page Count

738

Publisher

World Scientific

Published Date

ISBN 10

9814474630

ISBN 13

9789814474634

Music and the Making of Modern Science

By: Peter Pesic

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Music and the Making of Modern Science

By: Peter Pesic

A wide-ranging exploration of how music has influenced science through the ages, from fifteenth-century cosmology to twentieth-century string theory. In the natural science of ancient Greece, music formed the meeting place between numbers and perception; for the next two millennia, Pesic tells us in Music and the Making of Modern Science, “liberal education” connected music with arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy within a fourfold study, the quadrivium. Peter Pesic argues provocatively that music has had a formative effect on the development of modern science—that music has been not just a charming accompaniment to thought but a conceptual force in its own right. Pesic explores a series of episodes in which music influenced science, moments in which prior developments in music arguably affected subsequent aspects of natural science. He describes encounters between harmony and fifteenth-century cosmological controversies, between musical initiatives and irrational numbers, between vibrating bodies and the emergent electromagnetism. He offers lively accounts of how Newton applied the musical scale to define the colors in the spectrum; how Euler and others applied musical ideas to develop the wave theory of light; and how a harmonium prepared Max Planck to find a quantum theory that reengaged the mathematics of vibration. Taken together, these cases document the peculiar power of music—its autonomous force as a stream of experience, capable of stimulating insights different from those mediated by the verbal and the visual. An innovative e-book edition available for iOS devices will allow sound examples to be played by a touch and shows the score in a moving line.

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Page Count

357

Publisher

MIT Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0262543907

ISBN 13

9780262543903

Concepts and Methods of 2D Infrared Spectroscopy

By: Peter Hamm,Martin Zanni

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Concepts and Methods of 2D Infrared Spectroscopy

By: Peter Hamm,Martin Zanni

2D infrared (IR) spectroscopy is a cutting-edge technique, with applications in subjects as diverse as the energy sciences, biophysics and physical chemistry. This book introduces the essential concepts of 2D IR spectroscopy step-by-step to build an intuitive and in-depth understanding of the method. This unique book introduces the mathematical formalism in a simple manner, examines the design considerations for implementing the methods in the laboratory, and contains working computer code to simulate 2D IR spectra and exercises to illustrate involved concepts. Readers will learn how to accurately interpret 2D IR spectra, design their own spectrometer and invent their own pulse sequences. It is an excellent starting point for graduate students and researchers new to this exciting field. Computer codes and answers to the exercises can be downloaded from the authors' website, available at www.cambridge.org/9781107000056.

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297

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1139497073

ISBN 13

9781139497077

Iraq

A Bibliographical Guide

By: Heather Bleaney,Roper,Peter Sluglett

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Iraq

A Bibliographical Guide

By: Heather Bleaney,Roper,Peter Sluglett

Well-considered answers to the many questions raised by the situation in Iraq, past and present, are rare. This first comprehensive, thematically organised, bibliography devoted to Iraq is based on the full Index Islamicus database and is drawn from a wide variety of European-language journals and books. Featuring an extensive introduction to the subject and its literature by Peter Sluglett, this bibliography will help readers to find their way through the massive secondary literature now available. Following the pattern established by the Index Islamicus, both journal articles and book publications are included, as well as important internet resources. The editors have taken care to add much new material to bring its coverage up to date, and supplement the previously published volumes, while the most important and/or influential publications are conveniently highlighted in the introduction. An indispensable gateway for all those with a more than superficial interest in what is, and what has been, happening in this nation so much the focus of attention today.

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562

Publisher

BRILL

Published Date

ISBN 10

9047413806

ISBN 13

9789047413806

Quantum Theory

A Mathematical Approach

By: Peter Bongaarts

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Quantum Theory

A Mathematical Approach

By: Peter Bongaarts

This book was inspired by the general observation that the great theories of modern physics are based on simple and transparent underlying mathematical structures – a fact not usually emphasized in standard physics textbooks – which makes it easy for mathematicians to understand their basic features. It is a textbook on quantum theory intended for advanced undergraduate or graduate students: mathematics students interested in modern physics, and physics students who are interested in the mathematical background of physics and are dissatisfied with the level of rigor in standard physics courses. More generally, it offers a valuable resource for all mathematicians interested in modern physics, and all physicists looking for a higher degree of mathematical precision with regard to the basic concepts in their field.

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460

Publisher

Springer

Published Date

ISBN 10

3319095617

ISBN 13

9783319095615

On the Origin of Natural Constants

Axiomatic Ideas with References to the Measurable Reality

By: Hans Peter Good

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On the Origin of Natural Constants

Axiomatic Ideas with References to the Measurable Reality

By: Hans Peter Good

Just as the circle number π or the Euler constant e determines mathematics, fundamental constants of nature define the scales of the natural sciences. This book presents a new perspective by means of a few axioms and compares the resulting validity with experimental data. By the axiomatic approach Sommerfeld's mysterious fine-structure constant and Dirac's cosmic number are fixed as pure number constants. Thanks to these number constants, it is possible to calculate the value for the anomalous magnetic-moment of the electron in a simple way compared to QED calculations. With the same number constants it is also possible to calculate masses, partial lifetimes, magnetic-moments or charge radii of fundamental particles. The expressions used for the calculations, with few exceptions, yield values within the experimental error limits of the Particle Data Group. The author shows that the introduced number constants give even better predictions than the complicated QED calculations of today's doctrine. In the first part only experimental data from the literature for checking the postulates are used. In the second part the author explains electrical transport measurements with emergent behaviour, which were carried out in a professional environment.

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Page Count

288

Publisher

Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published Date

ISBN 10

3110612380

ISBN 13

9783110612387

Distributed Event-Based Systems

By: Gero Mühl,Ludger Fiege,Peter Pietzuch

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Distributed Event-Based Systems

By: Gero Mühl,Ludger Fiege,Peter Pietzuch

This book provides an in-depth description of event-based systems, covering topics ranging from local event matching and distributed event forwarding algorithms, through a practical discussion of software engineering issues raised by the event-based style, to state-of-the-art research in event-based systems like composite event detection and security. The authors offer a comprehensive overview, and show the power of event-based architectures in modern system design, encouraging professionals to exploit this technique in next generation large-scale distributed applications like information dissemination, network monitoring, enterprise application integration, or mobile systems.

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Page Count

396

Publisher

Springer Science & Business Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

3540326537

ISBN 13

9783540326533

Quantum Causality

Conceptual Issues in the Causal Theory of Quantum Mechanics

By: Peter J. Riggs

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Quantum Causality

Conceptual Issues in the Causal Theory of Quantum Mechanics

By: Peter J. Riggs

There is no sharp dividing line between the foundations of physics and philosophy of physics. This is especially true for quantum mechanics. The debate on the interpretation of quantum mechanics has raged in both the scientific and philosophical communities since the 1920s and continues to this day. (We shall understand the unqualified term ‘quantum mechanics’ to mean the mathematical formalism, i. e. laws and rules by which empirical predictions and theoretical advances are made. ) There is a popular rendering of quantum mechanics which has been publicly endorsed by some well known physicists which says that quantum mechanics is not only 1 more weird than we imagine but is weirder than we can imagine. Although it is readily granted that quantum mechanics has produced some strange and counter-intuitive results, the case will be presented in this book that quantum mechanics is not as weird as we might have been led to believe! The prevailing theory of quantum mechanics is called Orthodox Quantum Theory (also known as the Copenhagen Interpretation). Orthodox Quantum Theory endows a special status on measurement processes by requiring an intervention of an observer or an observer’s proxy (e. g. a measuring apparatus). The placement of the observer (or proxy) is somewhat arbitrary which introduces a degree of subjectivity. Orthodox Quantum Theory only predicts probabilities for measured values of physical quantities. It is essentially an instrumental theory, i. e.

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Page Count

240

Publisher

Springer Science & Business Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

9048124034

ISBN 13

9789048124039

Strategic Management

Concepts and Cases

By: Peter L. Wright,Mark J. Kroll,John Alan Parnell

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Strategic Management

Concepts and Cases

By: Peter L. Wright,Mark J. Kroll,John Alan Parnell

An introduction to the multidisciplinary field of strategic management, which incorporates knowledge from traditional business fields such as economics, management, marketing, finance, and operations management as well as non-business fields like psychology, sociology, and anthropology. The text co

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1082

Published Date

ISBN 10

0133628159

ISBN 13

9780133628159

Book's by Peter Woit

Not Even Wrong

Not Even Wrong

Quantum Theory, Groups and Representations

Quantum Theory, Groups and Representations

Not Even Wrong

Not Even Wrong

Quantum Theory, Groups and Representations

Quantum Theory, Groups and Representations

Optimal and Adaptive Signal Processing

Optimal and Adaptive Signal Processing

The Future of Post-Human Geometry

The Future of Post-Human Geometry

Evidence, Explanation, and Realism

Evidence, Explanation, and Realism

Zero To Infinity: The Foundations Of Physics

Zero To Infinity: The Foundations Of Physics

Music and the Making of Modern Science

Music and the Making of Modern Science

Concepts and Methods of 2D Infrared Spectroscopy

Concepts and Methods of 2D Infrared Spectroscopy

Iraq

Iraq

Quantum Theory

Quantum Theory

On the Origin of Natural Constants

On the Origin of Natural Constants

Distributed Event-Based Systems

Distributed Event-Based Systems

Quantum Causality

Quantum Causality

Strategic Management

Strategic Management

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