Intro -- Table of Contents -- A preface of prefaces -- Introduction -- Nature is quantized -- Physics, mathematics and concepts -- I The journey: from classical to quantum worlds -- I.1 The gems of classical physics -- Mission almost completed -- Newtonian mechanics and gravity -- Four laws only -- Dynamical systems -- Conservation lawssubjectsI]Conservation laws -- Classical mechanics for aficionados -- grey The shortest path -- Maxwell's electromagnetism -- The Maxwell equations -- Electromagnetic wavessubjectsI]Electromagnetic waves -- Lorentz invariance: the key to relativity -- Gauge invariance: beauty and redundance -- Monopoles: Nature's missed opportunity? -- Statistical Physics: from micro to macro physics -- Thermodynamics: the three laws -- Understanding entropy. -- grey Two cultures -- Statistical mechanics -- Statistical thermodynamics. -- The ideal gas. -- I.2 The age of geometry, information and quantum -- Canaries in a coal mine -- The physics of space-time -- Special relativity -- General relativity -- Big Bang cosmology -- Cosmic inflation -- grey Much ado about nothing -- The physics of geometry -- Curved spaces (manifolds) and topology -- The geometry of gauge invariance -- The physics of information: from bits to qubits -- Information and entropy -- Models of computation -- Going quantum -- Quantum physics: the laws of matter -- I.3 Universal constants, scales and units -- Is man the measure of all things? -- On time -- Reinventing the meter -- grey When the saints go marching in... -- How universal is universal? -- Theories outside their comfort zone -- The virtue of heuristics -- Going quantum -- Natural units ©1898 Max Planck -- Black holes -- Black hole thermodynamics -- Accelerated observers and the Unruh effect -- The magic cube -- I.4 The quest for basic building blocks -- A splendid race to the bottom.

Fatal attraction: forces yield structure -- Atomic structure -- The Bohr atom: energy quantization -- The Schrödinger atomsubjectsI]Schrödinger atom: three numbers -- The discovery of spin -- grey Behind the scenes -- Fermions and bosons -- Atoms: the building blocks of chemistry -- Nuclear structure -- Isotopes and nuclear decay modes -- Positron-emission tomography (PET) -- Transmutation: Fission and fusion -- grey Chysopoeia? -- ITER: the nuclear fusion reactor -- Field theory: particle species and forces -- The Dirac equation: matter and anti-matter -- Quantum Electrodynamics: QED -- Subnuclear structure -- The Standard Model -- Flavors, colors and families -- The strong interactions -- The electro-weak interactions -- A brief history of unification. -- Supersymmetry -- Superstrings -- Strings: all fields in one? -- M-theory, D-branes and dualities -- Holography and the AdS/CFT program -- At home in the quantum world -- Indices -- Subject index Volume I -- Name index Volume I -- II Quantessence: how quantum theory works -- Contents -- III Hierarchies: the emergence of diversity -- Contents -- Appendix A Math Excursions -- Appendix B Chronologies, ideas and people -- Indices -- Acknowledgements -- About the Author:.