Low Temperature Physics
Product details
Paperback
296 Pages
MIR Publishers Moscow
In the heart of Moscow, within the walls of the Institute for Physical Problems, a group of elite scientists spent decades chasing a ghost: the behavior of matter at the absolute edge of existence. Their leader was the legendary Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitza, a man who didn't just study low-temperature physics—he built the machines that made it possible.
As Kapitza’s 90th birthday approached, his protégés—men and women who had spent their lives under his mentorship—began secretly preparing a gift. They decided to compile a "jubilee" collection of their most groundbreaking work, a testament to the world-class laboratory he had founded in 1934. But history had other plans. Kapitza passed away before the milestone, and what was meant to be a celebration became a solemn memorial.
This book is that collection. It is not just a scientific text; it is a profound act of "heartfelt gratitude" from a generation of physicists to their fallen giant.
The narrative of this volume unfolds across six distinct "dispatches" from the frontiers of the ultra-cold:
The Waves of Solid Ice: Imagine a crystal of helium. Suddenly, waves begin to ripple across its surface—not through melting, but through a strange quantum dance of "crystallization waves." The authors describe how they predicted and then physically saw these macroscopic quantum laws in action.
The Kapitza Jump: The book revisits one of the master’s own mysteries—the "Kapitza jump," a strange thermal resistance that occurs when heat tries to cross into liquid helium. Through the "skilled experiments" of K.N. Zinov'eva, the theory is finally vindicated.
The Refrigerator at the End of the World: Journey into the sub-millikelvin range (0.5 mK) with Yu.M. Bun'kov, who describes the construction of a specialized refrigerator used to observe the "instability" of spinning atoms in Helium-3.
The Tunnelling Electrons: Follow the story of electrons in pure beryllium as they perform "magnetic breakdowns," tunneling between orbits like ghosts through walls—a phenomenon so precise it was named "coherent magnetic breakdown."
The Mystery of the Cylindrical Film: The Sharvins (Yu. V. and D. Yu.) take us into the world of "disordered systems," proving that even in chaotic, imperfect metals, quantum resistance oscillates with a predictable, haunting rhythm.
The Light in the Dark: Finally, the book explores how light itself—through Brillouin-Mandelshtam scattering—can be used to "see" the invisible spin waves of magnets at the bottom of the temperature scale.
This collection is a time capsule of a specific era of scientific brilliance. It captures the moment when Quantum Liquids and Quantum Crystals moved from the chalkboard to the laboratory. For the reader, it offers more than just data; it offers the story of a scientific family continuing the work of a "great modern physicist and outstanding personality."
It is a book for those who want to see how the disciples of Kapitza and Landau pushed the boundaries of the known universe, one liquid-helium-cooled degree at a time.
The authors of this collection are leading members of the staff at the Institute of Physics Problems of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow. Three of them are Members of the Academy of Sciences. The Institute was founded fifty years ago by the great contemporary physicist P.L. Kapitza. Academician L.D. Landau. another giant of our time, also worked at the Institute. The Institute is world famous for research in low temperature physics.
This is a collection of six articles on the basic achievements of the Institute during the last few years. They include the discoveries of crystallization waves in helium and quantum magnetic breakdown. The collection is intended for scientists working in solid state physics and students interested in the latest advances of quantum physics of the condensed state.
Product details
Paperback
296 Pages
MIR Publishers Moscow
In the heart of Moscow, within the walls of the Institute for Physical Problems, a group of elite scientists spent decades chasing a ghost: the behavior of matter at the absolute edge of existence. Their leader was the legendary Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitza, a man who didn't just study low-temperature physics—he built the machines that made it possible.
As Kapitza’s 90th birthday approached, his protégés—men and women who had spent their lives under his mentorship—began secretly preparing a gift. They decided to compile a "jubilee" collection of their most groundbreaking work, a testament to the world-class laboratory he had founded in 1934. But history had other plans. Kapitza passed away before the milestone, and what was meant to be a celebration became a solemn memorial.
This book is that collection. It is not just a scientific text; it is a profound act of "heartfelt gratitude" from a generation of physicists to their fallen giant.
The narrative of this volume unfolds across six distinct "dispatches" from the frontiers of the ultra-cold:
The Waves of Solid Ice: Imagine a crystal of helium. Suddenly, waves begin to ripple across its surface—not through melting, but through a strange quantum dance of "crystallization waves." The authors describe how they predicted and then physically saw these macroscopic quantum laws in action.
The Kapitza Jump: The book revisits one of the master’s own mysteries—the "Kapitza jump," a strange thermal resistance that occurs when heat tries to cross into liquid helium. Through the "skilled experiments" of K.N. Zinov'eva, the theory is finally vindicated.
The Refrigerator at the End of the World: Journey into the sub-millikelvin range (0.5 mK) with Yu.M. Bun'kov, who describes the construction of a specialized refrigerator used to observe the "instability" of spinning atoms in Helium-3.
The Tunnelling Electrons: Follow the story of electrons in pure beryllium as they perform "magnetic breakdowns," tunneling between orbits like ghosts through walls—a phenomenon so precise it was named "coherent magnetic breakdown."
The Mystery of the Cylindrical Film: The Sharvins (Yu. V. and D. Yu.) take us into the world of "disordered systems," proving that even in chaotic, imperfect metals, quantum resistance oscillates with a predictable, haunting rhythm.
The Light in the Dark: Finally, the book explores how light itself—through Brillouin-Mandelshtam scattering—can be used to "see" the invisible spin waves of magnets at the bottom of the temperature scale.
This collection is a time capsule of a specific era of scientific brilliance. It captures the moment when Quantum Liquids and Quantum Crystals moved from the chalkboard to the laboratory. For the reader, it offers more than just data; it offers the story of a scientific family continuing the work of a "great modern physicist and outstanding personality."
It is a book for those who want to see how the disciples of Kapitza and Landau pushed the boundaries of the known universe, one liquid-helium-cooled degree at a time.
The authors of this collection are leading members of the staff at the Institute of Physics Problems of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow. Three of them are Members of the Academy of Sciences. The Institute was founded fifty years ago by the great contemporary physicist P.L. Kapitza. Academician L.D. Landau. another giant of our time, also worked at the Institute. The Institute is world famous for research in low temperature physics.
This is a collection of six articles on the basic achievements of the Institute during the last few years. They include the discoveries of crystallization waves in helium and quantum magnetic breakdown. The collection is intended for scientists working in solid state physics and students interested in the latest advances of quantum physics of the condensed state.
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