Download or read book Probability in Physics written by Andy Lawrence and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2019-09-01 with total page 347 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This textbook presents an introduction to the use of probability in physics, treating introductory ideas of both statistical physics and of statistical inference, as well the importance of probability in information theory, quantum mechanics, and stochastic processes, in a unified manner. The book also presents a harmonised view of frequentist and Bayesian approaches to inference, emphasising their complementary value. The aim is to steer a middle course between the "cookbook" style and an overly dry mathematical statistics style. The treatment is driven by real physics examples throughout, but developed with a level of mathematical clarity and rigour appropriate to mid-career physics undergraduates. Exercises and solutions are included.
Download or read book Probability in Physics written by Yemima Ben-Menahem and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-01-25 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is the role and meaning of probability in physical theory, in particular in two of the most successful theories of our age, quantum physics and statistical mechanics? Laws once conceived as universal and deterministic, such as Newton‘s laws of motion, or the second law of thermodynamics, are replaced in these theories by inherently probabilistic laws. This collection of essays by some of the world‘s foremost experts presents an in-depth analysis of the meaning of probability in contemporary physics. Among the questions addressed are: How are probabilities defined? Are they objective or subjective? What is their explanatory value? What are the differences between quantum and classical probabilities? The result is an informative and thought-provoking book for the scientifically inquisitive.
Download or read book Probability for Physicists written by Simon Širca and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-05-20 with total page 415 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is designed as a practical and intuitive introduction to probability, statistics and random quantities for physicists. The book aims at getting to the main points by a clear, hands-on exposition supported by well-illustrated and worked-out examples. A strong focus on applications in physics and other natural sciences is maintained throughout. In addition to basic concepts of random variables, distributions, expected values and statistics, the book discusses the notions of entropy, Markov processes, and fundamentals of random number generation and Monte-Carlo methods.
Download or read book Probability and Statistics for Particle Physics written by Carlos Maña and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-04-21 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book comprehensively presents the basic concepts of probability and Bayesian inference with sufficient generality to make them applicable to current problems in scientific research. The first chapter provides the fundamentals of probability theory that are essential for the analysis of random phenomena. The second chapter includes a full and pragmatic review of the Bayesian methods that constitute a natural and coherent framework with enough freedom to analyze all the information available from experimental data in a conceptually simple manner. The third chapter presents the basic Monte Carlo techniques used in scientific research, allowing a large variety of problems to be handled difficult to tackle by other procedures. The author also introduces a basic algorithm, which enables readers to simulate samples from simple distribution, and describes useful cases for researchers in particle physics.The final chapter is devoted to the basic ideas of Information Theory, which are important in the Bayesian methodology. This highly readable book is appropriate for graduate-level courses, while at the same time being useful for scientific researches in general and for physicists in particular since most of the examples are from the field of Particle Physics.
Download or read book Probability and Statistics in Experimental Physics written by Byron P. Roe and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-03-09 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A practical introduction to the use of probability and statistics in experimental physics for graduate students and advanced undergraduates. Intended as a practical guide, and not as a comprehensive text, the emphasis is on applications and understanding, on theorems and techniques that are actually used in experimental physics. Proofs of theorems are generally omitted unless they contribute to the intuition in understanding and applying the theorem. The problems, many with worked solutions, introduce the student to the use of computers; occasional reference is made to some of the Fortran routines available in the CERN library, but other systems, such as Maple, will also be useful.
Download or read book The Concept of Probability in Statistical Physics written by Y. M. Guttmann and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1999-07-13 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A most systematic study of how to interpret probabilistic assertions in the context of statistical mechanics.
Download or read book E T Jaynes written by Edwin T. Jaynes and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 1989-04-30 with total page 468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first six chapters of this volume present the author's 'predictive' or information theoretic' approach to statistical mechanics, in which the basic probability distributions over microstates are obtained as distributions of maximum entropy (Le. , as distributions that are most non-committal with regard to missing information among all those satisfying the macroscopically given constraints). There is then no need to make additional assumptions of ergodicity or metric transitivity; the theory proceeds entirely by inference from macroscopic measurements and the underlying dynamical assumptions. Moreover, the method of maximizing the entropy is completely general and applies, in particular, to irreversible processes as well as to reversible ones. The next three chapters provide a broader framework - at once Bayesian and objective - for maximum entropy inference. The basic principles of inference, including the usual axioms of probability, are seen to rest on nothing more than requirements of consistency, above all, the requirement that in two problems where we have the same information we must assign the same probabilities. Thus, statistical mechanics is viewed as a branch of a general theory of inference, and the latter as an extension of the ordinary logic of consistency. Those who are familiar with the literature of statistics and statistical mechanics will recognize in both of these steps a genuine 'scientific revolution' - a complete reversal of earlier conceptions - and one of no small significance.
Download or read book Reasoning About Luck written by Vinay Ambegaokar and published by Courier Dover Publications. This book was released on 2017-01-18 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book introduces college students and other readers to the uses of probability and statistics in the physical sciences, focusing on thermal and statistical physics and touching upon quantum physics. Widely praised as beautifully written and thoughtful, Reasoning About Luck explains concepts in a way that readers can understand and enjoy, even students who are not specializing in science and those outside the classroom — only some familiarity with basic algebra is necessary. Attentive readers will come away with a solid grasp of many of the basic concepts of physics and some excellent insights into the way physicists think and work. "If students who are not majoring in science understood no more physics than that presented by Ambegaokar, they would have a solid basis for thinking about physics and the other sciences." — Physics Today. "There is a real need for rethinking how we teach thermal physics—at all levels, but especially to undergraduates. Professor Ambegaokar has done just that, and given us an outstanding and ambitious textbook for nonscience majors. I find Professor Ambegaokar's style throughout the book to be graceful and witty, with a nice balance of both encouragement and admonishment." — American Journal of Physics.
Download or read book Sojourns in Probability Theory and Statistical Physics I written by Vladas Sidoravicius and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2019-10-17 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Charles M. (Chuck) Newman has been a leader in Probability Theory and Statistical Physics for nearly half a century. This three-volume set is a celebration of the far-reaching scientific impact of his work. It consists of articles by Chuck’s collaborators and colleagues across a number of the fields to which he has made contributions of fundamental significance. This publication was conceived during a conference in 2016 at NYU Shanghai that coincided with Chuck's 70th birthday. The sub-titles of the three volumes are: I. Spin Glasses and Statistical Mechanics II. Brownian Web and Percolation III. Interacting Particle Systems and Random Walks The articles in these volumes, which cover a wide spectrum of topics, will be especially useful for graduate students and researchers who seek initiation and inspiration in Probability Theory and Statistical Physics.
Download or read book Creating Modern Probability written by Jan von Plato and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1998-01-12 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book the author charts the history and development of modern probability theory.
Download or read book Probability and Stochastic Processes for Physicists written by Nicola Cufaro Petroni and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-06-25 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book seeks to bridge the gap between the parlance, the models, and even the notations used by physicists and those used by mathematicians when it comes to the topic of probability and stochastic processes. The opening four chapters elucidate the basic concepts of probability, including probability spaces and measures, random variables, and limit theorems. Here, the focus is mainly on models and ideas rather than the mathematical tools. The discussion of limit theorems serves as a gateway to extensive coverage of the theory of stochastic processes, including, for example, stationarity and ergodicity, Poisson and Wiener processes and their trajectories, other Markov processes, jump-diffusion processes, stochastic calculus, and stochastic differential equations. All these conceptual tools then converge in a dynamical theory of Brownian motion that compares the Einstein–Smoluchowski and Ornstein–Uhlenbeck approaches, highlighting the most important ideas that finally led to a connection between the Schrödinger equation and diffusion processes along the lines of Nelson’s stochastic mechanics. A series of appendices cover particular details and calculations, and offer concise treatments of particular thought-provoking topics.
Download or read book Probability and Statistics in the Physical Sciences written by Byron P. Roe and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-09-26 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book, now in its third edition, offers a practical guide to the use of probability and statistics in experimental physics that is of value for both advanced undergraduates and graduate students. Focusing on applications and theorems and techniques actually used in experimental research, it includes worked problems with solutions, as well as homework exercises to aid understanding. Suitable for readers with no prior knowledge of statistical techniques, the book comprehensively discusses the topic and features a number of interesting and amusing applications that are often neglected. Providing an introduction to neural net techniques that encompasses deep learning, adversarial neural networks, and boosted decision trees, this new edition includes updated chapters with, for example, additions relating to generating and characteristic functions, Bayes’ theorem, the Feldman-Cousins method, Lagrange multipliers for constraints, estimation of likelihood ratios, and unfolding problems.
Download or read book Probabilities in Physics written by Claus Beisbart and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2011-09-15 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many results of modern physics—those of quantum mechanics, for instance—come in a probabilistic guise. But what do probabilistic statements in physics mean? Are probabilities matters of objective fact and part of the furniture of the world, as objectivists think? Or do they only express ignorance or belief, as Bayesians suggest? And how are probabilistic hypotheses justified and supported by empirical evidence? Finally, what does the probabilistic nature of physics imply for our understanding of the world? This volume is the first to provide a philosophical appraisal of probabilities in all of physics. Its main aim is to make sense of probabilistic statements as they occur in the various physical theories and models and to provide a plausible epistemology and metaphysics of probabilities. The essays collected here consider statistical physics, probabilistic modelling, and quantum mechanics, and critically assess the merits and disadvantages of objectivist and subjectivist views of probabilities in these fields. In particular, the Bayesian and Humean views of probabilities and the varieties of Boltzmann's typicality approach are examined. The contributions on quantum mechanics discuss the special character of quantum correlations, the justification of the famous Born Rule, and the role of probabilities in a quantum field theoretic framework. Finally, the connections between probabilities and foundational issues in physics are explored. The Reversibility Paradox, the notion of entropy, and the ontology of quantum mechanics are discussed. Other essays consider Humean supervenience and the question whether the physical world is deterministic.
Download or read book Probabilities in Physics written by Claus Beisbart and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2011-09-15 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume provides a philosophical appraisal of probabilities in all of physics. It makes sense of probabilistic statements as they occur in the various physical theories and models and presents a plausible epistemology and metaphysics of probabilities.
Download or read book Physics and Probability written by W. T. Grandy, Jr and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2004-12-16 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The pioneering work of Edwin T. Jaynes in the field of statistical physics, quantum optics, and probability theory has had a significant and lasting effect on the study of many physical problems, ranging from fundamental theoretical questions through to practical applications such as optical image restoration. Physics and Probability is a collection of papers in these areas by some of his many colleagues and former students, based largely on lectures given at a symposium celebrating Jaynes' contributions, on the occasion of his seventieth birthday and retirement as Wayman Crow Professor of Physics at Washington University. The collection contains several authoritative overviews of current research on maximum entropy and quantum optics, where Jaynes' work has been particularly influential, as well as reports on a number of related topics. In the concluding paper, Jaynes looks back over his career, and gives encouragement and sound advice to young scientists. All those engaged in research on any of the topics discussed in these papers will find this a useful and fascinating collection, and a fitting tribute to an outstanding and innovative scientist.
Download or read book Quantum Probability written by Stanley P. Gudder and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2014-06-28 with total page 331 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Quantum probability is a subtle blend of quantum mechanics and classical probability theory. Its important ideas can be traced to the pioneering work of Richard Feynman in his path integral formalism.Only recently have the concept and ideas of quantum probability been presented in a rigorous axiomatic framework, and this book provides a coherent and comprehensive exposition of this approach. It gives a unified treatment of operational statistics, generalized measure theory and the path integral formalism that can only be found in scattered research articles.The first two chapters survey the necessary background in quantum mechanics and probability theory and therefore the book is fairly self-contained, assuming only an elementary knowledge of linear operators in Hilbert space.
Download or read book Epistemology and Probability written by Arkady Plotnitsky and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2009-10-20 with total page 426 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers an exploration of the relationships between epistemology and probability in the work of Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, and Erwin Schro- ̈ dinger, and in quantum mechanics and in modern physics as a whole. It also considers the implications of these relationships and of quantum theory itself for our understanding of the nature of human thinking and knowledge in general, or the ‘‘epistemological lesson of quantum mechanics,’’ as Bohr liked 1 to say. These implications are radical and controversial. While they have been seen as scientifically productive and intellectually liberating to some, Bohr and Heisenberg among them, they have been troublesome to many others, such as Schro ̈ dinger and, most prominently, Albert Einstein. Einstein famously refused to believe that God would resort to playing dice or rather to playing with nature in the way quantum mechanics appeared to suggest, which is indeed quite different from playing dice. According to his later (sometime around 1953) remark, a lesser known or commented upon but arguably more important one: ‘‘That the Lord should play [dice], all right; but that He should gamble according to definite rules [i. e. , according to the rules of quantum mechanics, rather than 2 by merely throwing dice], that is beyond me. ’’ Although Einstein’s invocation of God is taken literally sometimes, he was not talking about God but about the way nature works. Bohr’s reply on an earlier occasion to Einstein’s question 1 Cf.
