The Fine Structure Constant

The Fine Structure Constant

Jacob Bekenstein

"Jacob Bekenstein, an Israeli physicist of the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, planted the seeds of a revolution of our understanding of space-time. Using conservative intuitive methods including time-old gedanken experiments, he discovered that black holes have thermodynamical properties such as entropy. Moreover, he found that their entropy was not extensive, unlike that of any other thermodynamical system considered before, but rather is proportional to the surface of their horizon. Furthermore, Bekenstein pioneered the study of black holes by focusing on their information content aspects. This led him to obtain bounds of a holographic nature on the amount of information that can be stored in a given region of space-time. This book contains a series of scientific and personal contributions by his contemporaries who recall the struggle against his ideas and then with them: the fate accompanying many revolutionary ideas. This is followed by original scientific contributions by many of the leaders of current research on black hole physics and holography. They have trodden his path and expanded it. The impact of Jacob Bekenstein's visionary ideas is just starting to be understood."--

100 Years of Fundamental Theoretical Physics in the Palm of Your Hand

This book aims to integrate, in a pedagogical and technical manner, with detailed derivations, all essential principles of fundamental theoretical physics as developed over the past 100 years. It covers: Quantum physics and Stability Problems in the Quantum World, Minkowski Spacetime Physics Particle Classifications and Underlying Symmetries, Symmetry Violations, Quantum Field Theory of Particle Interactions, Higgs Field Physics, Supersymmetry: A Theory with Mathematical Beauty Superstrings, Gravity and Supergravity, General Relativity Predictions, including Frame Dragging, Intricacies of Black Hole Physics, Perturbative and Non-perturbative Quantum Gravity Intricacies of Modern Cosmology, including Inflation and Power Spectrum If you are in the process of learning, or are lecturing on, any of the subjects above, then this is your book - irrespective of your specialty. With over-specialization and no time to master all the fields given above, students, and perhaps many physicists, may find it difficult to keep up with all the exciting developments going on, and are even less familiar with their underlying technicalities: e.g. they might have heard that the Universe is 13.8 billion years old, but have no idea on how this number is actually computed. This unique book will be of great value to graduate students, instructors and researchers interested in the intricacies and derivations of the many aspects of modern fundamental theoretical physics. And, although a graduate level book, some chapters may also be suitable for advanced undergraduates in their final year.