There are several crucial ideas in the history of knowledge. In their times, they seemed to be absolutely amazing. Their striking effects were due to the fact that they displaced great illusions.
The stunning statement that the Earth is a sphere moving through the dark space of the Universe was a real challenge for the imagination of a naive observer; it displaced illusions of the flatness and uniqueness of our world.
Galileo's counterintuitive finding that all objects fall down with an equal acceleration seemed to contradict common sense and everyday experience; however, it proved to be valid and pointed out the universality of gravity.
Galileo's law of inertia, which states that nonaccelerated motion of an object occurs without any action from other objects, and thus it could elapse infinitely, displaced a natural illusion that space is a sort of viscous medium, which interacts with moving objects, resists and slows them down. This idea provided the basis for modern physics.
Newton's law of gravitation enhanced the universality of gravity. It assumed that falling apples, moving planets and any objects in the Universe are all governed by the same force; this discovery completed the revolution in minds by definitively displacing the illusion of a net separation between our close surrounding and celestial spheres of distant stars and planets.

Preface vii

1. The Fast, the Heavy and the Free 1

      1.1 Classical Equivalence Principle 1

      1.2 Sailing Ship, Flying Jet and Falling Elevator: The Principle of Relativity 25

      1.3 Artificial Gravity and Curved Space: The Least Action Principle 44

      1.4 ∑υνοψιζ 61

2. When a Particle Becomes a Wave 67

      2.1 Quantum Fall 67

      2.2 Persistence of States 87

      2.3 The Principle of Relativity and the Equivalence Principle in Quantum Mechanics 110

      2.4 ∑υνοψιζ 124

3. Bouncing Neutrons 131

      3.1 Ultracold Neutrons and Challenge of Gravity 131

      3.2 Bouncing Wave: Penetration Through a Wall and Reflection from a Well 155

      3.3 Energy of Gravitational States: Shaken, Not Stirred 169

      3.4 ∑υνοψιζ 182

4. Bouncing Particles and Their Applications 187

      4.1 Whispering Gallery and Surface Potentials 187

      4.2 Fundamental Interactions and Quantum Bouncing 203

      4.3 Bouncing Antihydrogen and Gravity of Antimatter 215

      4.4 ∑υνοψιζ 235

Bibliography 243

Index 263

中科院文献情报中心