"Even though the conscious or
assumed structure of ideas about nature occupies a diminishing sector in
the expansion of science, it remains a thread. Perhaps it must still
be taken as the guiding thread, unless science is to abandon intellectuality
altogether for technology at one end or mathematicization at the other..."
C. C. Gillispie, The Edge of Objectivity
My research is in quantum chaos,
decoherence and the classical limit of quantum mechanics. All of
these may be broadly subsumed under the heading of foundations of quantum
mechanics. Because of my interest in quantum chaos, my work can be
computationally intensive.
I am particularly interested in David Bohm's alternative, causal quantum
theory (Bohmian mechanics). Bohm's theory has attracted attention
primarily in terms of its viability as an alternative interpretation of
quantum mechanics. However, I believe Bohmian mechanics also offers
insights into quantum phenomena that are not available in the "standard"
interpretation. Such insights may provide us with new heuristic tools,
and perhaps even aid in discovery.
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Essential Quantum Mechanics 'Very well written, clear and to the point, and just at the right level to fill the regrettable gap between the maths-free popular books on quantum mechanics and the full courses in most textbooks.' Jeremy Butterfield, University of Cambridge. |
Available at the NAU Bookstore or from Oxford University Press |
Recent Publications
G. Bowman, Essential Quantum Mechanics, 224 pages, Oxford University Press (2007).
G. Bowman, "Quantum-mechanical time evolution and uniform forces," Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and General 39 (2006), 157-162.
G. Bowman, "Gedanken Experiments and the Relativity of Simultaneity," European Journal of Physics 26 (2005), 1093-1099.
G. Bowman, "On the Classical Limit in Bohm's Theory," Foundations of Physics 35 (2005), 605-625.
G. Bowman, "Wave Packets and Bohmian Mechanics in the Kicked Rotator," Physics Letters A 298 (2002), 7-17.
G. Bowman, "Bohmian Mechanics as a Heuristic Device: Wave Packets in the Harmonic Oscillator," American Journal of Physics 70 (2002), 313-318.
G. Bowman, "Propagator Approach for Time Evolving Wave Packets in the Quantum Kicked Rotator," Computer Physics Communications 143 (2002), 181-186.
J. Cushing and G. Bowman, "Bohmian Mechanics and Chaos," in J. Butterfield
and C. Pagonis (eds.) From Physics to Philosophy,
Cambridge University Press (1999).
Non Technical: G. Bowman, "If I Were a Christian," Notre Dame Magazine, Winter, 2005-2006, 93-95. This essay discusses the
relation between science and religion.
We shall not cease from exploration
T. S. Eliot, Little Gidding
Excerpt: In physics and, I believe, in religion, humility means recognizing the limits of our knowledge and accepting those limits. To be human is to be unknowing, but it is itself a kind of knowledge to accept that unknowing.
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
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