Theory of Relativity (Dover Books on Physics) by W. Pauli (PDF)

Description

Wolfgang Pauli (1900–1958) was one of the 20th-century’s most influential physicists. He was awarded the 1945 Nobel Prize for physics for the discovery of the exclusion principle (also called the Pauli principle). A brilliant theoretician, he was the first to posit the existence of the neutrino and one of the few early 20th-century physicists to fully understand the enormity of Einstein’s theory of relativity.Pauli’s early writings, Theory of Relativity, published when the author was a young man of 21, was originally conceived as a complete review of the while literature on relativity. Now, given the plethora of literature since that time and the growing complexity of physics and quantum mechanics, such a review is simply no longer possible.In order to maintain a proper historical perspective of Professor Pauli’s significant work, the original text is reprinted in full, in addition to the author’s insightful retrospective update of the later developments connected with relativity theory and the controversial questions that it provokes.Pauli pays special attention to the thorny problem of unified field theories, its connection with the range validity of the classical field concept, and its application to the atomic features of nature. While an early skeptic of solutions along classical lines, Pauli’s alternative model was subsequently supported by the newer epistemological analysis of quantum or wave mechanics. Given the many pieces of the puzzle yet to be fitted into a cohesive picture of relativity, the differences of opinion on the relation of relativity theory to quantum theory are merging into one of science’s great open problems.Pauli provides additional informative views on: problems beyond the original frame of special and general relativity; the conflict between “classical physics” and the quantum mechanical approach; the importance of Einsteinian theory in the development of physics; and finally, the epistemological analysis of the finiteness of the quantum of action and the move away from naïve visualizations.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐Pauli’s book “Theory of Relativity” which is now classic, is still one of the best treatise on the special and general relativity. Remarkably, at the time when he wrote this book, Wolfgang Pauli (1900-1958) was just 21 years old student of physics at the Univerisity of Munich. Eventually he went on to become one of the most influential physicist of his time and Nobel laureate for discovery of one of the most profound mysteries in the nature, the exclusion principle, which is a pillar on which modern physics and quantum mechanical understanding of the structure of matter rests.It is, perhaps, the best to leave the evaluation of this book to the supreme authority in this area, Albert Einstein. Profoundly impressed with the treatise he wrote: “Whoever studies this mature and grandly concieved work, can hardly believe that the author is a 21-year old man. One hardly knows what to admire and wander at most, the psychological understanding of the development of the ideas, the strength of mathematical deduction, the deep physical insight, the capacity for clear exposition, the knowledge of the literature, the completeness of his treatment and the deepness of his critical approach” (Einstein, 184).P. Todorovic

⭐Great book and was for a long time ‘the’ reference. It has a good historical account and builds Relativity up in a way that is alive and naturally rooted in its origins. Many of the original papers/references are cited. Pauli of course needs little introduction as an authority in the field.Pauli’s exposition is at times a little terse and can be misunderstood (perhaps it is less so in the original German but I am commenting on the English version). I found “The Theory Of Relativity” by C Moller to be an excellent complementary text. Moller’s book is independent but very aligned with Pauli’s; however, it elaborates more on many of the topics that Pauli’s book covers (e.g. the frequency shift of moving sources).

⭐That I rate the book only a two stars is my fault, not that of Wolfgang Pauli. He wrote this book around 1920 or 1921 when he was only 20 or 21. The amount of knowledge he had already accumulated is astounding. (Later he won a Nobel Prize.) The problem is that the book is not for me, and undergraduate sociology major, even though I have been reading about the history of atomic energy for a long time. (Let me give a plug here for The Making of the Atomic Bomb, a Pulitzer winner by Richard Rhodes.) The problem is that the language of Pauli is advanced and, to me, incomprehensible mathematics. The book is almost all equations, a language I do not understand..

⭐Great. Pauli is one of the greats. Book was in perfect condition. 5 stars

⭐I mistakenly bought this book as a Kindle version. This means that the equations are “pasted” onto the text; IOW, you can’t enlarge them. This makes the text and equations seem out of balance, and means some equations are very hard to read. It’s ridiculous that Amazon thinks this is acceptable.

⭐It is very nice

⭐A classic. An account embracing both physics and mathematics with a view towards historical accuracy. Particularly interesting if one appreciates historical scholarship, as Pauli’s footnotes enliven the physics Examples: time reversal invariance (page 63), Bolyai geometry (page 74). Supplementary notes concludes the book and prove enlightening:(1) “Today the equivalence of mass and energy is one of the most certain foundations of nuclear physics…gives rise to…interpreting the mass values of the particles as energy eigen-states.” (page 217).(2) “In the sense that it is not possible theoretically to trace further back the extremely dense state of matter which existed at a time before the present.” (page 222).Five Parts Comprise the text:(1) Foundations of Special Relativity: invariant wave equations, aether, the postulates, transformations derived. Pauli: “Should one completely abandon any attempt to explain the Lorentz transformation atomistically ? “(2) Mathematical tools: four dimensional notation, tensors, geodesics, Riemann, variational theorems,Pauli: “As a precursor to Minkowski, one should mention Poincare as he already introduced the imaginary coordinate.”(3) Elaboration upon Special Relativity: hyperbolic motion, momentum and energy, field of uniformly moving charge. Pauli: “Two different representations can be employed side by side, the one imaginary, the other real.” Read: “We may consider this principle–equivalence of mass and energy– as the most important of the results.”(4) General Relativity: Newton, Poisson, Principle of Equivalence, Action Principles, Field Equations, Rigorous Solutions. Pauli: “Since one can compute the sequence of events in an accelerated system, the principle would make it possible to calculate the effect which a homogeneous gravitational field has on an arbitrary process, it is this feature which renders the principle of equivalence so powerful from an heuristic point of view.”(5) Charged particles: electron, Mie, Weyl. Where we read: “We now have to look for gauge invariant laws.”Pauli, the last line of the last page of the text: “…thus leading to the more general unsolved main problem of accomplishing a synthesis between the General Theory of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics.”Albert Einstein: “No one studying this mature, grandly conceived work would believe that the author is a man of twenty-one.” A quote from Pauli biography: No Time To Be Brief (Enz, Oxford University Press).Pauli has written two classics of physics literature, the book here and his ‘General Principles of Quantum Mechanics’. Both documents are required reading.

⭐This is a pretty doggone good book! The last chapter, especially the last two pages of the text, provides an excellent synopsis of the long standing problem on the structure of matter. It seems that what is left to be done involves the invention or creation of a different mathematical source which is capable of generating a symmetric tensor of rank two that will successfully displace the singularity thru the proper incorporation of the energy tensor, Tuv. This would most certainly shed a new light on the generation of mass and the inherent formation of matter: Form defines Function, Function generates Form. You Betcha!!!

⭐Ouvrage rédigé par le futur prix Nobel à 21 ans aussi grande clarté que rigueur scientifique qui impressionnera Einstein lui-même…

⭐IT IS OBVIOUS WHY THIS BOOK IS A CLASSIC.

⭐This book is a classic all people who study physics have to read

⭐Probably the best book on relativity out there.

⭐A maneira lucida e ao mesmo tempo genial , de uma coragem intelectual impactante

⭐

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