The Lorentz group, which is the underlying scientific language for modern optics, has most notably been used for understanding Einstein’s special relativity. By using a simplified approach of two-by-two matrices and Wigner functions, this book provides a basic and novel approach to classical and quantum optics, making these difficult subjects more transparent to the reader. Written by three experts in the field, Sibel Başkal, Young S Kim and Marilyn E Noz, this book will provide the reader with a comprehensive overview of how fundamental issues in quantum mechanics can be approached using various optical instruments, Wigner functions and quantum entanglement.
Table of Content
Chapter 1 – Forms of Quantum Mechanics
Chapter 2 – Lorentz Group and Its Representations
Chapter 3 – Internal Space-time Symmetries
Chapter 4 – Photons and Neutrinos in the Relativistic World of Maxwell and Wigner
Chapter 5 – Wigner Functions
Chapter 6 – Coherent States of Light
Chapter 7 – Squeezed States and Their Symmetries
Chapter 8 – Entanglement and Entropy
Chapter 9 – Ray Optics and Optical Activities
Chapter 10 – Polarization Optics
Chapter 11 – Stokes Parameters and Poincaré Sphere
Appendix – Covariant Harmonic Oscillators and the Quark-Parton Puzzle
Index
About the author
Sibel Başkal is a Professor of Physics at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey where she researches manifestations of Poincaré, Lorentz, and Wigner’s little groups and of group contractions in optical sciences. She also researches current problems in classical field theories such as sigma models, non-abelian gauge fields and general relativity, with a particular focus on alternative approaches.
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