A Mysterious Universe
Quantum Mechanics, Relativity, and Cosmology for Everyone
M. SUHAIL ZUBAIRY
TexasA&MUniversity
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP, United Kingdom
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2023
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Foreword
Quantum mechanics and Einstein’s special and general theories of relativity formulated at the beginning of the twentieth century are among the most important achievements of human intellect ever. These developments, on the one hand, gave us a clear understanding of what happens inside an atom and a nucleus and, on the other hand, increased our understanding of the evolution of the universe. These ideas are highly counterintuitive and not easily accessible to someone without a sophisticated background in physics and mathematics. Professor Suhail Zubairy’s book, A Mysterious Universe, brilliantly brings these laws of nature and their consequences to a person with no background in mathematics and physics. This book explains deep and profound concepts in a very simple language. It is rare to find a popular book that covers such a vast amount of material that includes not only the extraordinary laws of quantum mechanics and the amazing laws of relativity but also the astonishing developments in the field of cosmology in such a concise and accessible way. A remarkable feature of A Mysterious Universe is that the laws that govern this universe at the micro as well as the macro level are explained with many simple and understandable examples. It is a marvelous book!
David M. Lee, Nobel Prize for Physics 1996
Preface
For thousands of years, since the dawn of civilization, the universe appeared to humans to be quite mysterious. There were so many phenomena that appeared incomprehensible and supernatural. Then the modern scientific revolution started in the sixteenth century. The curtain started lifting from all the mysteries and gradually the laws of nature started to unfold. By the end of the nineteenth century, a feeling started to emerge that all the laws of nature were understood, and these laws could, in principle, explain all the happenings on earth as well as in the cosmos.
Then, at the beginning of the twentieth century, two revolutions brought about the realization that the universe is being run according to the laws that were fundamentally different from the laws that were formulated within the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries through the work of Galileo, Newton, Young, Maxwell, and others. These revolutions, quantum mechanics and the theory of relativity, that developed around the same time, not only overturned these laws but changed our outlook about the universe. The universe is no longer considered deterministic, particles and waves are no longer exclusive traits of the objects around, the universe had a beginning, reality is no longer objective, and space and time are warped. These are just some of the implications of the new laws of nature.
It is ironical that the universe that was thought to be very well understood and in line with our common sense has become more mysterious than ever. The truth is no longer what we perceive but is much deeper and sometimes incomprehensible.
Both quantum mechanics and relativity are highly mathematical subjects and are not easily accessible. In 2020, I wrote a book Quantum Mechanics for Beginners (Oxford University Press, 2020) with the aim of introducing the fundamentals of quantum theory to someone with elementary knowledge of physics and algebra. Here I go one step further and introduce these ideas for someone with no prior knowledge of physics and mathematics.
The purpose of this book is to introduce the fundamental laws of quantum mechanics, relativity, and cosmology to a lay person in as simple a language as possible. The goal is to convey to the reader how strange and mysterious this universe is. Our cherished ideas about space, time, matter, and reality are nothing like what they appear to be. Anyone curious about the foundations of quantum mechanics and the theory of relativity and their consequences would benefit by reading this book.
This book is intended for readers, young and old, who would like to understand the incomprehensible laws that govern the universe without any prior background in physics and mathematics. This book may also be suitable for those with a physics background who would like to glean through the foundational issues of modern physics which are rarely discussed in typical physics courses.
In the first part of the book, topics like wave–particle duality, the probabilistic nature of measurement, the possibility of multiple universes, and the nature of reality are discussed. In the second part, Einstein’s special and general theories of relativity and their amazing and mind-boggling consequences are presented. The impact of the theory of relativity on cosmology is immense. The big bang model of the universe, black holes, and the current hot topics of dark matter and dark energy are explained and discussed. These fields that may hold the key to many unanswered questions about the universe are still evolving.
There are a number of people that should be acknowledged for their contributions in completing this book. My deepest gratitude
goes to Marlan Scully who has remained an inspiration throughout my professional life. This book is dedicated to him for being a steadfast friend for well over 40 years.
I benefitted from the input of a number of colleagues and friends during the preparation of this book. I am particularly grateful to Bob Brick, Wenchao Ge, Yusef Maleki, Khalid Sohail, and Alexei Sokolov for reading parts of the manuscript and for making helpful suggestions. Special thanks are due to Sonke Adlung and Manhar Ghatora at OUP, Karthiga Ramu at Integra, and Julian Thomas (copyeditor) for all their help in the publication of this book.
The love and affection received from my family members, Sarah, Neo, Sahar, Shani, Raheel, and Reema, have always been a source of great support. My recent years have been brightened by the loveliest persons in my life: Zoya, Aliya, Qasim, Sameer, Khalid, and Nisa. The person whose support and encouragement has remained the biggest source of strength is my best friend and my wife, Parveen.
M. Suhail Zubairy College Station, Texas January 12, 2023
Contents
1. Introduction
PART 1 HISTORICAL
2. Newtonian mechanics and the deterministic world
2.1 Newton and the laws of motion
2.2 Failures of Newtonian mechanics
3. Quantum mechanics is born
3.1 Max Planck and blackbody radiation
3.2 Einstein and the photoelectric effect
3.3 Niels Bohr and the hydrogen atom
3.4 Particles behave like waves—de Broglie
3.5 Birth of quantum mechanics
3.6 Why we do not see quantum effects in everyday life?
4. What is light?
4.1 Greeks and antiquity
4.2 Alhazen: End of extramission theory
4.3 From Johannes Kepler to Isaac Newton
4.4 Isaac Newton and corpuscular nature of light
4.5 Thomas Young and Young’s double-slit experiment
4.6 James Clerk Maxwell: Electromagnetic waves
4.7 Albert Einstein and wave–particle duality
5. What does an atom look like?
5.1 From Democritus to John Dalton
5.2 Thomson’s model of the atom
5.3 Rutherford discovers the nucleus
5.4 Bohr’s model
5.5 The quantum mechanical picture
5.6 The nucleus and the forces of nature
5.7 Electromagnetic force
5.8 Weak nuclear force
5.9 Strong nuclear force
PART 2 MYSTERIES OF QUANTUM MECHANICS
6. A single photon—An amazing quantum system
6.1 A heuristic example: “Quantum needle”
6.2 Polarized photon
6.3 Quantum cryptography
6.4 Bennett-Brassad-84 (BB-84) protocol
6.5 Quantum money
7. Does God play dice?
7.1 Two-state examples
7.2 Hidden variables
7.3 Schrödinger equation
7.4 End of determinism
7.5 Schrödinger vs Newton
8. An uncertain world!
8.1 What does a wavefunction look like?
8.2 Heisenberg uncertainty relation
8.3 Measurement disturbs the system
8.4 Bohr’s principle of complementarity
8.5 Can we clone quantum systems?
9. Vacuum is not “nothing”
9.1 Quantum vacuum
9.2 Spontaneous emission
9.3 Lamb shift
9.4 Casimir force
9.5 Can we extract photons from the vacuum?
10. Wave–particle duality
10.1 Young’s double-slit experiment for waves and particles
10.2 Young’s double-slit experiment with electrons
10.3 Einstein–Bohr debate
10.4 Delayed choice and quantum eraser
10.5 Interaction-free measurement
10.6 Counterfactual quantum communication
11. Schrödinger’s cat and entanglement
11.1 Coherent superposition of states
11.2 Schrödinger’s cat paradox
11.3 Quantum entanglement
11.4 Quantum teleportation
11.5 Quantum computing
11.6 Shor’s algorithm
11.7 Quantum shell game
12. Is reality really real?
12.1 Reality and locality
12.2 Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen paradox
12.3 Bohr’s reply
12.4 Bell’s inequality
13. Single universe or multiple universes
13.1 Quantum measurement problem
13.2 Copenhagen interpretation
13.3 Role of consciousness—Wigner’s friend
13.4 Many-worlds interpretation
14. Stellar objects
14.1 Galaxies
14.2 Life of a star
14.3 Neutron stars and pulsars
15. Einstein’s special theory of relativity
15.1 Speed of light
15.2 Michelson–Morley experiment
15.3 Simultaneity
15.4 Time dilation and length contraction
15.5 Paradoxes
15.6 Energy and mass are interconvertible, E= mc2
15.7 Ultimate speed in the universe
15.8 Can we violate causality?
16. General theory of relativity
16.1 Equivalence principle
16.2 Curved space and time
16.3 Why does an object fall on earth?
16.4 Embedding diagrams
16.5 Bending of light: Newton vs Einstein
16.6 Gravitational lens
16.7 Precession of the perihelion of Mercury
16.8 Gravitational red shift
16.9 Gravitational waves
17. Black holes
17.1 General theory of relativity and black holes
17.2 How is a black hole formed?
17.3 Evaporation of black holes
17.4 Rotating black holes and the possibility of time travel
18. Big bang—Birth of the universe
18.1 Expansion of the universe
18.2 How old is the universe?
18.3 Cosmic microwave background radiation
18.4 Big bang: The first second
18.5 Stars, galaxies, and planets are formed
18.6 Shape of the universe
18.7 Inflationary universe
18.8 Unanswered questions
19. Dark matter and dark energy
19.1 Dark matter
19.2 Search for dark matter
19.3 Dark energy
PART 4 EPILOGUE
20. Dreams of the future
20.1 Quantum gravity
20.2 What is life?
20.3 Free will and the laws of nature
20.4 Why is the universe just right for life?
Bibliography Index
1 Introduction
Not only is the universe stranger than we think, it is stranger than we can think.
— Werner Heisenberg
Since the dawn of civilization, humans have pondered about the universe around them. They have wondered about the motion of the cosmic objects like the sun, the moon, the planets, and the stars. They have tried to explain the nature and the constituents of objects around them. They have tried to understand how we are able to see and perceive things.
The march toward an understanding of the basic laws of nature has been slow and tedious. As examples, it took almost 2000 years to debunk the Aristotelian idea that all objects are made of four elements, earth, fire, air, and water and realize that they are made of indivisible tiny objects called atoms; it took almost 1000 years before vision was understood as not being through the striking of light rays emitted by the eye on the object to perceive things such as its color, shape, and size, but as the light scattered from the objects into the eye; and it took about 1500 years to move from a geocentric model of the planetary system (in which everything including the sun, the moon, the planets, and the stars revolved around the earth) to a heliocentric model (in which the sun is at the center and the planets, including earth, revolved around it).
Through the millennia, some common observations like thunder and lightning in the sky and solar eclipses when earth becomes dark during the day appeared very mysterious and a lot of myths grew out of their observances. The cover of mystery started lifting with the advent of science and scientific thought. The modern era of science that started in the sixteenth century brought rational thinking to the fore and led to a belief that every phenomenon in this world and the cosmos should have a rational and scientific explanation.
At the end of the nineteenth century, the universe appeared to be completely understood from a scientific point of view. The main conclusions were:
We live in an infinite three-dimensional universe that has existed for ever.
Time is completely independent of space and flows uniformly from the past to the present, and then onto the future.
All the objects in this universe obey laws that are completely deterministic. If we apply a force, any kind of force, we can predict the response very precisely.
Light is a wave and a ball is a particle—there is no doubt about it. Light cannot behave like a particle and a ball cannot behave like a wave.
There is no limit to how fast we can move. It is just a matter of building suitable machines and devices that would take us far, very far, at speeds with no limit.
All the matter in the universe consists of the smallest particles, called atoms. These atoms are like small solid spheres and all the objects are made by stacking these atoms one on another. The ultimate vacuum is where there is no movement whatsoever and no energy present. All objects that we see around us are real—they continue to exist even when we do not look at them.
There is only one universe that we see around us. There is no possibility that there are other universes where we may exist in different states (if we are smiling here, we may be sad in another universe).
After the passage of well over one century, our perception about the universe remains the same. All these conclusions remain ingrained within us and any deviation from these would appear to be a complete surprise, indeed shocking, to us.
The amazing fact is that none of these conclusions that were reached through scientific research spread over three centuries ending at the end of the nineteenth century is correct according to the laws of physics that we understand today. All these self-evident truths were shaken and overturned as a result of a scientific revolution that took place in the first quarter of the twentieth century. It was like a massive earthquake whose tremors are felt still today.
The purpose of this book is to convey the fundamental laws of physics as embodied in the quantum and relativity revolutions in as simple a language as possible. This deeper understanding of the laws of nature and the cosmos leads us to ponder that we live in a universe that is incomprehensible. It is truly a mysterious universe.
What was found at the beginning of the twentieth century was that the laws of physics that were formulated by Newton, Young, Maxwell, and others were good only for big objects, intense light, and objects moving very slowly as compared to the speed of light. For small objects like electrons and atoms, very weak light signals, and objects with very high speeds, these laws fail miserably. For example, light can behave both like a wave and a particle. Similarly, an atom can also behave as both a particle and a wave. And someone moving at speeds close to the speed of light lives much longer as compared to a person at rest.
At the dawn of the twentieth century, two revolutions took place independently of each other. The first revolution was entirely due to Albert Einstein, who formulated his theories of relativity during the first twenty years of the twentieth century. These theories would revolutionize our understanding of space and time in ways that were contrary to our common sense. This work had far-reaching consequences in understanding the birth and evolution of our universe.
The second revolution was the birth of quantum mechanics whose formulation took about 30 years starting in December 1900. Quantum mechanics provided the laws that govern the motion of the objects and their interactions with each other and these laws are nothing that we can imagine in our everyday life. They challenge how we perceive our long-cherished concept of reality.
In spite of the highly counterintuitive nature of these theories, quantum mechanics and the theory of relativity are perhaps the two most successful theories in human history. The justification for this remarkable claim is that, after a passage of over 100 years, no physical phenomenon has been found to be in violation of the predictions of these theories. This is true in spite of the tremendous advances in the precision with which the measurements can be made. For example, time can be measured with an accuracy of a billionth of a billionth of a second, distance to a trillionth of a meter, temperature to a millionth of a kelvin,1 and weight to a billionth of a gram. We can see and manipulate a single atom and cool a gas to an extent that atoms and molecules lose their identity. We can carry out experiments where light consists of a single “photon” and even manipulate the interaction of a single “photon” with a single atom. In all such experiments, the results are dramatically different from what the physics of the nineteenth century predicts but they are remarkably in full agreement with the predictions of quantum mechanics.
In this book, we first give a brief history of how classical mechanics evolved into quantum mechanics. We then attempt to present the foundational issues of quantum theory in a language that should be understandable even to non-physicists. In the latter part, we will discuss Einstein’s special and general theories of relativity as well as our understanding of the universe in light of these developments, again in layman’s language.
Note
1 Kelvin is a temperature scale similar to the centigrade, shifted by 273 degrees. For example, 0°C is equal to 273 Kelvin, 10°C is equal to 263 Kelvin, and so on. The kelvin scale (K) is chosen such that 0 K is the lowest temperature possible.
Newtonian mechanics and the deterministic world
The seeker after truthis not one who studies the writings ofthe ancients and, following his natural disposition, puts his trust in them, but rather the one who suspects his faith in them andquestions what he gathers from them, the one who submits to argumentanddemonstration.
Ibn alHaytham
Ulm is the birthplace of Albert Einstein. The most prominent landmark in the city is a church called Ulmer Munster with one of the largest and majestic steeples in the world. During the second world war, the church was badly damaged. However, like other places, Germans reconstructed the church to the extent that a visitor could not sense how badly it was damaged until she saw the pictures of the church taken just after the war. During the reconstruction, they had replaced some painted glass windows that had been destroyed. One painting is particularly interesting. It has the pictures of Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Newton, and Einstein (Fig. 2.1). This is highly unusual to see the pictures of scientists in a church where one expected only to see the pictures and statues of Christ, his disciples, and the Christian saints. Even more remarkable is the selection of the scientists in this painting. After all Germany is the country where many other great scientists were born. What was so special about Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Newton, and Einstein? Why were such
giants of Western science like Faraday, Maxwell, Heisenberg, Schrödinger, and Dirac ignored? A careful consideration reveals that there is one thing common to them: they all explained the laws that dealt with the cosmic objects. Humans have, since antiquity, looked up at the sky and wondered about the mysterious shining stars and yearned for a better understanding of these elusive objects.
These choices are justified from another angle. In December 2000, it was not just the year that was coming to an end, a century and a millennium were coming to a close as well. Time magazine was searching for the Person of the Century, the twentieth century. They wanted to name the person who had the greatest influence on humanity during the preceding hundred years. There was also the question as to who the most influential person of the last thousand years was. There were many distinguished names to choose from all sorts of fields—politicians, poets, writers, philosophers, reformers, conquerors, and scientists. It was remarkable that, in such a tough competition, Einstein was chosen as the Man of the Century and Newton was named the most influential person of the last thousand years.
We are justified in asking why Newton is perceived as an iconic figure of history? What did he do to earn the reputation of the most
Fig. 2.1 Glass windows at Ulmer Munster in Ulm.
person of the last millennium?
2.1 Newton and the laws of motion
Sir Isaac Newton was born an orphan in 1642, the same year Galileo Galilei died. His transformational work ushered us into the modern era of science and laid the foundations of the industrial revolution of the eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries. He contributed to all branches of mathematics and invented calculus, that provided tools to solve intricate problems in all branches of science. His impact is not diminished by the fact that a German mathematician Gottfried Leibniz also invented calculus independently and around the same time as Newton. Newton made important contributions to optics. However, his greatest contribution lies in formulating universal laws that govern our universe. The hallmark of Newton’s discoveries was determinism—we could predict with an arbitrary accuracy the future if we knew all about the past and present.
In order to appreciate the impact of his contributions, one has to go back about a hundred years to the era of Nicolaus Copernicus. In 1543, Copernicus, a monk in a monastery in Poland, presented a heliocentric model of the planetary motion proclaiming the sun at the center and all the planets, including earth, revolving around it in circular orbits. This work challenged the long-held belief that the earth was at the center of the universe and all the planets, the sun, the moon, and the stars revolved around it. This view, going back to antiquity, affirmed the supreme status of human beings at the center of the cosmos. This central status was adopted by the Christian church as well as other religions as a foundational belief that humans were the supreme beings for whom the entire universe was created. Copernicus’ model took away this centrality and made earth look like any other planet. More than that, it was inconceivable that humans, and all the other objects, could maintain their stability on a
moving earth. They should fall away from the planet with nothing to hold them. The opposition to the heliocentric model was so great that Copernicus could not dare to publish his book for a long time in fear of reprisal from the Church. According to one legend, he received the published copy of his book on the last day of his life, thus dying without knowing the impact that his work would have on subsequent history.
Another breakthrough came through the work of Johannes Kepler. He analyzed the known stellar data and concluded that the orbits of the planets were not circular as proposed by Copernicus, but elliptical. He could empirically derive certain laws of planetary motion based on these observations. For example, he could show that the planets moved slower when farther away from the sun. He could quantitatively derive the speed of the planets in terms of the distance from the sun. This was truly amazing how Kepler could formulate these laws of planetary motion by sifting through the astronomical data.
The next major figure is Galileo Galilei who was born in Pisa in 1564. He is regarded as the father of modern physics. He was the first one to insist that the laws of nature should be written in the language of mathematics instead of a verbal and qualitative account of physical phenomena. He did not invent the telescope but was the first one to use it to observe many stars that were not visible to the naked eye. He discovered the moons of the planet Jupiter. His major astronomical discoveries using telescopes paved the way for the acceptance of the heliocentric system suggested by Copernicus. He made important contributions to the science of motion, discussing the law of falling bodies and parabolic trajectories. Galileo’s work preceded the ground-breaking discoveries made by Isaac Newton who was born in the same year (1642) as Galileo died.
In the year 1666, when Newton was a 24-year-old student at Cambridge University, a plague swept the British Isles. The universities were closed for one year and the students were sent
