Available:*
Library | Item Barcode | Call Number | Material Type | Item Category 1 | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... | 30000010169214 | QC176.8.T8 N55 2008 | Open Access Book | Book | Searching... |
On Order
Summary
Summary
This English edition of a successful, proven title provides a sound scientific background, while allowing a popular presentation of the physics behind the strange and mysterious tunneling process.
Based on his groundbreaking experiments, Prof Nimtz places the topic in a broader context by showing connections with other branches of physics. He and the team of authors begin by introducing such fundamental concepts as space and time and continue with tunneling phenomena from optics, nuclear and solid state physics. Avoiding mathematical equations and definitions altogether, they explain step-by-step the prerequisites for the tunnel effect to function, from classical mechanics to quantum mechanics, right up to modern topics, such as wormholes and space travel a la Star Trek.
With a foreword by astronaut Ulrich Walter, science team member of the D-2 Space Shuttle Mission.
Author Notes
After a diploma in electrical engineering, Gunther Nimtz moved to the University of Vienna were he received his doctorate in physics and philosophy. Back in Germany he finished his habilitation in physics and in 1977 accepted a position as research associate at McGill University, Canada. From 1983 until his retirement he held a professorship at the University of Cologne.
Astrid Haibel finished her PhD thesis at the University of Cologne about the topic of Signal Propagation in Photonic Barriers. She is currently working at the Hahn-Meitner Institute in Berlin in the Department of Materials Science.
Reviews 1
Choice Review
This is the English edition of Tunneleffekt (2004), a popular science book on quantum tunneling in the context of relativity theory. Quantum tunneling is the phenomena in which certain processes, such as the decay of an atomic nucleus, occur even though they are energetically impossible in a macroscopic sense. It is akin to a high jumper successfully jumping a wall even though he/she does not have the speed to do so. Nimtz has been investigating tunneling and its role in transmitting information for a number of years. He claims that the tunneling process requires zero time and therefore quantum tunneling leads to the ability to transmit information faster than the speed of light. This, in effect, violates the principal that a cause must precede its effect, which is a fundamental concept of relativity. The experiments and claims made by Nimtz (ret., Univ. of Cologne) and Haibel (DESY, Hamburg) are in dispute in the scientific community. Nonetheless, the book is interesting because it explains the background concepts behind the authors' experiments, tunneling, light transport, and relativity in a manner that will be accessible to undergraduate physics students. It is well written and worth using as supplemental reading for physics course work. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers; all undergraduates and graduate students. A. Spero formerly, University of California, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
