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Index
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Praise for Symmetry and the Beautiful Universe
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INTRODUCTION: WHAT IS SYMMETRY?
Symmetry in Music
Earth Is Round
Symmetry in Mathematics and Physics
A Tribute to Emmy Noether
CHAPTER 1: CHILDREN OF THE TITANS
The Evolution of the Universe and Its Metaphors
The Titans
Götterdämmerung: Twilight of the Titans
Earth
Oklo
Stability of the Laws of Physics
CHAPTER 2: TIME AND ENERGY
It Can’t Happen Here
But What Is Energy?
The Looming Energy Crisis
CHAPTER 3: EMMY NOETHER
Mathematics versus Physics
The Life and Times of Emmy Noether
Symmetry and Physics
CHAPTER 4: SYMMETRY, SPACE, AND TIME
Gedankenlab
Spatial Translations
Time Translations
Rotations
The Symmetry of Motion
“Global” versus “Local”
CHAPTER 5: NOETHER’S THEOREM
Conservation Laws in Elementary Physics
Conservation of Momentum
Conservation of Energy
Conservation of Angular Momentum
CHAPTER 6: INERTIA
A Brief History of Inertia, Symmetry, and Our Solar System
Noticing Inertia
The Union of Symmetry, Inertia, and the Laws of Physics
Newton’s Laws of Motion
Acceleration
Gravity
CHAPTER 7: RELATIVITY
The Speed of Light
The Speed of Light as Seen by Moving Observers
The Principle of Relativity
The Overthrow of the Relativity of Galileo
The Relativity of Einstein
The Bizarre Effects of Special Relativity
Energy and Momentum in Special Relativity
General Relativity
CHAPTER 8: REFLECTIONS
Reflection Symmetry
Parity Symmetry and the Laws of Physics
The Overthrow of Parity Symmetry
Time Reversal Symmetry
Time Reversal Invariance and Antimatter
Putting It All Together: CPT
CHAPTER 9: BROKEN SYMMETRY
A Pencil on Its Tip
Magnets
Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking throughout Nature
Cosmic Inflation
CHAPTER 10: QUANTUM MECHANICS
Is Light a Particle or a Wave?
Quantum Theory Becomes Ever More Curious
The Uncertainty Principle
The Wave Function
A Bound State
Spin and Orbital Angular Momentum in Quantum Theory
The Symmetry of Identical Particles
Exchange Symmetry, Stability of Matter and All of Chemistry
Quantum Theory Meets Special Relativity: Antimatter
CHAPTER 11: THE HIDDEN SYMMETRY OF LIGHT
Hints of a Symmetry
Local Gauge Invariance
The Quantum Process of Radiation: QED
Feynman Diagrams
Toward Unifying All Forces in Nature
CHAPTER 12: QUARKS AND LEPTONS
Inside the Atom of the Mid-twentieth Century
Quarks
The Standard Model of Particles and Forces
The Strong Force Is a Gauge Symmetry
The Weak Force
Enter the Higgs Field
Beyond the Higgs Boson: Supersymmetry?
Philosophical Comments
AN EPILOGUE FOR EDUCATORS
APPENDIX: SYMMETRY GROUPS
The Mathematics of Symmetry
A Simple Problem on Sherman’s SAT
Continuous Symmetry Groups
NOTES
INDEX
BACK COVER
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