Quanta and Fields

December 1, 2023

Carroll (The Big Picture), a Johns Hopkins professor famous for his many books explicating science, writes the second in his "The Biggest Ideas in the Universe" series, after Space, Time, and Motion. This time he tackles the Standard Model of particle physics, explaining atoms and quantum reality. Prepub Alert.

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March 15, 2024
The author's second volume on the laws that govern the universe. In 2022, Carroll, professor of natural philosophy at Johns Hopkins, published The Biggest Ideas in the Universe: Space, Time, and Motion, in which he explained the first fundamental description of nature in physics: classical mechanics, from Newton's gravity to Einstein's relativity. In the classical world, the workings of particles of energy are often complicated and even bizarre (general relativity is both), but they make sense. Adding that no one, physicists included, can sensibly explain quantum mechanics--even though it's "the way the world works"--the author emphasizes that this book follows naturally from its predecessor. Although Carroll maintains that his field contains an enormous amount of material that he will "boil down to its bare essence," readers may wish that he had kept the pot on longer. Science writers dealing with complex areas--e.g., DNA, immunity, brain function, quantum mechanics--traditionally start with easy material, usually the history, proceed to basic concepts, and slowly add complexity. Carroll, however, is a take-no-prisoners popularizer, and he dispenses with history in a dozen pages. His first equation appears on page 14, and it's a doozy. Torrents of others follow as he eschews analogies, metaphors, and amusing stories for straightforward explanations of matter, fields, and forces as well as quantum behavior that he argues is less bizarre than other authors claim. That may be true, but most readers will agree that concepts such as entanglement, spin, symmetry, antimatter, and gauge theory are difficult to comprehend. This should not be anyone's introduction to quantum theory; for that, try Quantum Mechanics by Leonard Susskind and Art Friedman. Readers who have forgotten first-year college physics and calculus will struggle. Those who remember and pay close attention will receive an unvarnished education on how the universe works. Quantum theory for serious readers.

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April 15, 2024
Those familiar with Carroll's work understand that deep thought and diligence can be required to fully comprehend his ideas. However, when the requisite effort is applied, the rewards in terms of understanding the universe and how it works are immense. To be sure, a rudimentary understanding of mathematics is extremely helpful for readers to truly fathom this book's subject, the mysterious world of quantum mechanics. Fortunately, Carroll's previous book, The Biggest Ideas in the Universe: Space, Time, and Motion (2020), focuses on strategies for unpacking and appreciating the equations underlying theoretical physics. For lay enthusiasts, reading that book first is highly recommended before reading this title. Here, Carroll extends his explanation of space-time and relativity as he explores quantum mechanics. Readers will be electrified by his discussion of wave functions, entanglement, fields, and so much more. From the most infinitesimal of subatomic particles to the seemingly vast infinities of the universe's great expanse, Carroll's latest inquiry illuminates, well, everything.

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