Exploration of Quantum Transport Phenomena Via Engineering Emergent Magnetic Fields in Topological Magnets

by Yu Zhu (Author), Lei Liu (Author)

In the strange world of quantum mechanics the application of visualization techniques is particularly rewarding, for it allows us to depict phenomena that cannot be seen by any other means. Visual Quantum Mechanics relies heavily on visualization as a tool for mediating knowledge. The book comes TM with a CD-ROM containing about 320 digital movies in QuickTime f- mat, which can be watched on every multimedia-capable computer. These computer-generated animations are used to introduce, motivate, and ill- trate the concepts of quantum mechanics that are explained in the book. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then my hope is that each short animation (consisting of about a hundred frames) will be worth a hundred thousand words. The collection of ?lms on the CD-ROM is presented in an interactive en- TM vironmentthathasbeendevelopedwiththehelpofMacromediaDirector . This multimedia presentation can be used like an adventure game without special computer skills. I hope that this presentation format will attract the interest of a wider audience to the beautiful theory of quantum mechanics.

This volume extends the ISSI series on magnetic fields in the Universe into the domain of what are by far the strongest fields in the Universe, and stronger than any field that could be produced on Earth. The chapters describe the magnetic fields in non-degenerate strongly magnetized stars, degenerate stars (such as white dwarfs and neutron stars), exotic members called magnetars, and in their environments, as well as magnetic fields in the environments of black holes. These strong fields have a profound effect on the behavior of matter, visible in particular in highly variable processes like radiation in all known wavelengths, including Gamma-Ray bursts. The generation and structure of such strong magnetic fields and effects on the environment are also described.

This book grew out of a 2-semester graduate course in laser physics and quantum optics. It requires a solid understanding of elementary electro­ magnetism as well as at least one, but preferably two, semesters of quantum mechanics. Its present form resulted from many years of teaching and research at the University of Arizona, the Max-Planck-Institut fiir Quanten­ optik, and the University of Munich. The contents have evolved signifi­ cantly over the years, due to the fact that quantum optics is a rapidly chang­ ing field. Because the amount of material that can be covered in two semes­ ters is finite, a number of topics had to be left out or shortened when new material was added. Important omissions include the manipulation of atomic trajectories by light, superradiance, and descriptions of experiments. Rather than treating any given topic in great depth, this book aims to give a broad coverage of the basic elements that we consider necessary to carry out research in quantum optics. We have attempted to present a vari­ ety of theoretical tools, so that after completion of the course students should be able to understand specialized research literature and to produce original research of their own. In doing so, we have always sacrificed rigor to physical insight and have used the concept of "simplest nontrivial exam­ ple" to illustrate techniques or results that can be generalized to more com­ plicated situations.

These are the proceedings of a meeting celebrating Michael Thompson's seminal work on solar and stellar physics, as well as his major contributions to the development of the National Center for Atmospheric Research.