Bootstrapping
Douglas Engelbart, Coevolution, and the Origins of Personal
Computing
In a lab at the Stanford Research Institute in the 1960s, Douglas Engelbart, along with a small team of researchers, developed the cornerstones of personal computing as we know it: the mouse, the windowed user interface, hypertext, and networking. Today, all these technologies are well known, even taken for granted, but the assumptions and motivations behind their invention are not. Bootstrapping tells the story of Douglas Engelbart's revolutionary vision, reaching beyond conventional histories of Silicon Valley to probe the ideology that shaped some of the basic ingredients of contemporary life. Engelbart sought a systematic way to think and organize the coevolution of humans and their tools in an effort to discover a path on which a radical technological improvement could lead to a radical improvement in how to make people work effectively.
Part I. Premises: 1. A problematic picture of the personal interface; 2. Social change and networks; Part II. The Prehistory of the Laboratory: 3. Douglas C. Engelbart and the ARPA community; 4. The augmentation framework and the relativist tradition; Part III. Kinaesthetics and the Hypertextual Piano: Feeling the Code: 5. From physico-motor skills to kinaesthetic communication; 6. The mouse is more than a pointing device; Part IV. The Social Construction of the Personal Interface: 7. The beginnings of the hypermedium; 8. The genesis of the graphic interface; 9. The (inter)personal interface; Part V. Coda: 10. When hand and memory meet again.
0 8047 3723 1 Hardcover
0 8047 3871 8 Paperback
Michael Charlton
and John Watkin Humberston
Positron Physics
This book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date account of the field of low energy positrons and positronium within atomic and molecular physics. It begins with an introduction to the field, discussing the background to low energy positron beams, and then covers topics such as total scattering cross sections, elastic scattering, positronium formation, excitation and ionisation, annihilation and positronium interactions. Each chapter contains a blend of theory and experiment, giving a balanced treatment of all the topics. The book will be useful for graduate students and researchers in physics and chemistry. It is ideal for those wishing to gain rapid, in-depth knowledge of this unique branch of atomic physics.
Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. Total scattering cross sections; 3. Elastic scattering; 4. Positronium formation; 5. Excitation and ionization; 6. Positron annihilation; 7. Positronium and its interactions; 8. Exotic species involving positrons.
0 521 41550 0 Hardcover
The Bigger Bang
In the last few years, scientists have begun to answer some of the most fundamental questions about the origin and early evolution of the universe. This book presents a fresh, engaging, and highly readable introduction to these ideas. Using novel, down-to-earth analogies, author James Lidsey deftly steers us along a journey back in time to the very origin of the universe. We are introduced to the fascinating ideas scientists are currently developing to explain what happened in the first billion, billion, billion, billionth of a second - the inflationaryEepoch. Along the way we stop off to review the latest ideas on superstrings, parallel universes, and the ultimate fate of our universe. Lucid analogies, clear and concise prose, and straight-forward language make this book a delight to read. It makes accessible to the general reader some of the most profound and complex ideas about the origin of our universe currently challenging the world's best scientists.
1. The structure of the universe; 2. Why does the sun shine?; 3. The expansion of the universe; 4. Space, time and gravity; 5. Particles and forces; 6. Grand unification, higher dimensions and superstrings; 7. The Big Bang; 8. Beyond the Big Bang; 9. The inflating universe; 10. The eternal universe; 11. Black holes; 12. The birth of the universe.
0 521 58289 X Hardcover
Michael Nielsen
and Isaac Chuang
Quantum Computation and Quantum Information
This text is the first comprehensive introduction to the main ideas and techniques of the field of quantum computation and quantum information. Michael Nielsen and Isaac Chuang ask the question: what are the ultimate physical limits to computation and communication? They describe in detail such remarkable effects as fast quantum algorithms, quantum teleportation, quantum cryptography and quantum error-correction. A wealth of accompanying figures and exercises illustrate and develop the material in more depth. The authors describe what a quantum computer is, how it can be used to solve problems faster than familiar 'classical'computers, and the real-world implementation of quantum computers. The book concludes with an in-depth treatment of quantum information, explaining how quantum states can be used to perform remarkable feats of communication, together with a discussion of how it is possible to protect quantum states against the effects of noise.
Preface; Acknowledgement; Nomenclature and notation; Part I. Fundamental Concepts: 1. Introduction and overview; 2. Introduction to quantum mechanics; 3. Introduction to computer science; Part II. Quantum Computation: 4. Quantum circuits; 5. The quantum Fourier transform and its applications; 6. Quantum search algorithms; 7. Quantum computers: physical realisation; Part III. Quantum Information: 8. Quantum noise, open quantum systems, and quantum operations; 9. Distance measurement for quantum information; 10. Quantum error-correction; 11. Entropy and information; 12. Quantum information theory; Appendix A. Notes on basic probability theory; Appendix B. Group theory; Appendix C. Approximating quantum gates: the Solvay-Kitaev theorem; Appendix D. Number theory; Appendix E. Public-key cryptography and the RSA cryptosystem; Appendix F. Proof of Lieb's theorem; References; Index.
0 521 63235 8 Hardcover
0 521 63503 9 Paperback
Edited by Craig Callender
and Nick Huggett
Physics Meets Philosophy at the Planck Scale
Contemporary Theories in Quantum Gravity
The greatest challenge in fundamental physics is how quantum mechanics and general relativity can be reconciled in a theory of Quantum gravityE The project suggests a profound revision of our notions of space, time and matter, and so has become a key topic of debate and collaboration between physicists and philosophers. This timely volume collects classic and original contributions from leading experts in both fields for a provocative discussion of all the issues. This volume contains accessible introductions to the main and less well known approaches to quantum gravity. It includes exciting topics such as the fate of spacetime in various theories, the so-called Problem of timeEin canonical quantum gravity, black hole thermodynamics, and the relationship between the interpretation of quantum theory and quantum gravity. This book will be essential reading for anyone interested in the profound implications of trying to marry the two most important theories in physics.
0 521 66280 X Hardcover
0 521 66445 4 Paperback
Nonlinear Spatio-Temporal Dynamics and Chaos in Semiconductors
Nonlinear transport phenomena are an increasingly important aspect of modern semiconductor research. Nonlinear Spatio-Temporal Dynamics and Chaos in Semiconductors deals with complex nonlinear dynamics, pattern formation, and chaotic behaviour in such systems. In doing so it bridges the gap between two well-established fields: the theory of dynamic systems, and nonlinear charge transport in semiconductors. This unified approach is used to consider important electronic transport instabilities. The initial chapters lay a general framework for the theoretical description of nonlinear self-organized spatio-temporal patterns, like current filaments, field domains, fronts, and analysis of their stability. Later chapters consider important model systems in detail: impact ionization induced impurity breakdown, Hall instabilities, superlattices, and low-dimensional structures. State-of-the-art results include chaos control, spatio-temporal chaos, multistability, pattern selection, activator-inhibitor kinetics, and global coupling, linking fundamental issues to electronic device applications. This book will be of great value to semiconductor physicists and nonlinear scientists alike.
1. Semiconductors as continuous nonlinear dynamic systems; 2. Concepts of nonlinear charge transport in semiconductors; 3. Pattern formation and oscillatory instabilities in semiconductors; 4. Impact ionization induced impurity breakdown; 5. Nonlinear carrier dynamics in crossed electric and magnetic fields; 6. Stationary and oscillating domains in superlattices; 7. Spatio-temporal chaos.
Cambridge Nonlinear Science Series, 10
0 521 45186 8 Hardcover