The Physics of Time Reversal (J. T. Fraser's book)

Robert G. Sachs

ISBN 10: 0226733319 / ISBN 13: 9780226733319

Published by The University Of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 1987

About this Item

Appears to be a First Edition of the soft cover (Number Line 96 down to 87 and then 54321 to the right of that). Either way, this book was previously owned by J. T. Fraser and has his bookplate neatly affixed to the front inside cover. As I've written in the other listings, I purchased this book, and another dozen or so of his books having in one way or another to do with Time, in Westport, Connecticut where he lived. Dr. Fraser may have lost his favorite red pen through most of the reading of his book, but it reappears seven pages from the end of the book and he underlined on four of those. This book is in excellent condition. As you can see from the photos, the covers are quite clean (they have a bit of 'clouding') and they don't appear to have any wear. That description applies to the pages in the book as well. They are very clean (there is a speck of a spot on the front inside cover and half- title page, I didn't see any other soiling on any of the other pages. The tip of the bottom corner of three consecutive pages has a little crease and the tip of the top corner of two pages has a little crease. I didn't see any other creasing. There are no markings. The aforementioned bookplate is the only attachment. From the first paragraph of his Wikipedia profile: 'J. T. Fraser (1923-2010) made important scholarly contributions to the interdisciplinary Study of Time and was a founding member of the International Society for the Study of Time. His work has strongly influenced thinking about the nature of time across the disciplines from physics to sociology, biology to comparative religion, and he was a seminal figure in the general interdisciplinary study of temporality.' 'This book introduces new developments in the field of Time-Reversal Symmetry presenting, for the first time, the Wigner time-reversal operator in the form of a product of two or three time-reversal ope's rators of lower symmetry. The action of these operators leads to the sign change of only one or two angular momentum components, not of all of them. It demonstrates that there are six modes of time-reversal symmetry breaking that do not lead to the complete disappearance of the symmetry but to its lowering. The full restoration of the time-reversal symmetry in the six cases mentioned is possible by introducing six types of metaparticles. The book also confirms the presence of six additional time-reversal operators using a group-theoretical method. The problem is only where to seek these metaparticles. The book discusses time-reversal symmetry in classical mechanics, classical and relativistic electrodynamics, quantum mechanics and theory of quantized fields, including dynamical reversibility and statistical irreversibility of the time, Wigner?s and Herring?s criteria, Kramers theorem, selection rules due to time-reversal symmetry, Onsager?s relations, Poincaré recurrence theorem, and CPT theorem. It particularly focuses attention on time-reversal symmetry violation. It is proposed a new method of testing the time-reversal symmetry, which is confirmed experimentally by EPR spectroscopy data. It shows that the traditional black-white point groups of magnetic symmetry are not applicable to magnetic systems with Kramers degeneration of energy levels and that magnetic groups of four-color symmetry are adequate for them. Further, it addresses the predicted structural distortions in Kramers three-homonuclear magnetic clusters due to time-reversal symmetry that have been identified experimentally. Lastly, it proposes a method of synthesis of two-nuclear coordination compounds with predictable magnetic properties, based on the application of the time-reversal transformation that was confirmed experimentally.'.

Seller Inventory # 003510

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Physics of Time Reversal (J. T. Fraser's book)
• Publisher: The University Of Chicago Press, Chicago and London
• Publication Date: 1987
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0226733319
• ISBN 13: 9780226733319
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 1st Printing
• Condition: Near Fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • One-Of-A-Kind
  • Mathematics
  • Science & Technology

About this title

Synopsis

The notion that fundamental equations governing the motions of physical systems are invariant under the time reversal transformation (T) has been an important, but often subliminal, element in the development of theoretical physics. It serves as a powerful and useful tool in analyzing the structure of matter at all scales, from gases and condensed matter to subnuclear physics and the quantum theory of fields. The assumption of invariance under T was called into question, however, by the 1964 discovery that a closely related assumption, that of CP invariance (where C is charge conjugation and P is space inversion), is violated in the decay of neutral K mesons.

In The Physics of Time Reversal, Robert G. Sachs comprehensively treats the role of the transformation T, both as a tool for analyzing the structure of matter and as a field of fundamental research relating to CP violation. For this purpose he reformulates the definitions of T, P, and C so as to avoid subliminal assumptions of invariance. He summarizes the standard phenomenology of CP violation in the K-meson system and addresses the question of the mysterious origin of CP violation. Using simple examples based on the standard quark model, Sachs summarizes and illustrates how these phenomenological methods can be extended to analysis of future experiments on heavy mesons. He notes that his reformulated approach to conventional quantum field theory leads to new questions about the meaning of the transformations in the context of recent theoretical developments such as non-Abelian gauge theories, and he suggests ways in which these questions may lead to new directions of research.

About the Author

Robert G. Sachs is professor emeritus in the Department of Physics and the Enrico Fermi Institute at the University of Chicago. He is the author of the book Nuclear Theory as well as scores of journal articles on topics in physics.