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Author: Alastair Wilson
Publisher:
ISBN: 0198846215
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 232
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Book Description
This book defends a radical new theory of contingency as a physical phenomenon. Drawing on the many-worlds approach, it argues that quantum theories are best understood as telling us about the space of genuine possibilities, rather than as telling us solely about actuality.
Author: Alastair Wilson
Publisher:
ISBN: 0198846215
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 232
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Book Description
This book defends a radical new theory of contingency as a physical phenomenon. Drawing on the many-worlds approach, it argues that quantum theories are best understood as telling us about the space of genuine possibilities, rather than as telling us solely about actuality.
Author: Dennis Dieks
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9780792352075
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 402
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Book Description
According to the modal interpretation, the standard mathematical framework of quantum mechanics specifies the physical magnitudes of a system, which have definite values. Probabilities are assigned to the possible values that these magnitudes may adopt. The interpretation is thus concerned with physical properties rather than with measurement results: it is a realistic interpretation (in the sense of scientific realism). One of the notable achievements of this interpretation is that it dissolves the notorious measurement problem. The papers collected here, together with the introduction and concluding critical appraisal, explain the various forms of the modal interpretation, survey its achievements, and discuss those problems that have yet to be solved. Audience: Philosophers of science, theoretical physicists, and graduate students in these disciplines.
Author: Olimpia Lombardi
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108473474
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 411
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Book Description
Offers a comprehensive and up-to-date volume on the conceptual and philosophical problems related to the interpretation of quantum mechanics.
Author: Peter Byrne
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199552274
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 451
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Book Description
This book tells the story of Hugh Everett III (1930-1982) who invented a theory of multiple universes that has had a profound impact on physics and philosophy. Everett strove to bring a "rational" order to the interlacing worlds of nuclear war and physics, even as his personal world disintegrated because of his indulgent lifestyle. Using Everett's unpublished papers and dozens of interviews, the book paints a detailed portrait of a man who influenced foundational thinking in quantum mechanics by inventing a way of viewing the universe from inside (known as the universal wave function). In addition to his famous interpretation of quantum mechanics, Everett wrote one of the classic papers in game theory; invented computer algorithms that revolutionized military operations research; and did pioneering work in artificial intelligence. As a Cold Warrior, he designed systems that modelled human behaviour along rational lines, and yet he was largely oblivious to the emotional damage his irrational behaviour inflicted upon his family, lovers and business partners. But he left behind, in the papers on which this book is based, a fascinating record of his life, including correspondence with the leading scientific minds of the day, that illuminates the often bitter struggle over the interpretation of the mystery of measurement at the heart of quantum mechanics.
Author: Simon Saunders
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191614114
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 636
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Book Description
What does realism about the quantum state imply? What follows when quantum theory is applied without restriction, if need be, to the whole universe? These are the questions which an illustrious team of philosophers and physicists debate in this volume. All the contributors are agreed on realism, and on the need, or the aspiration, for a theory that unites micro- and macroworlds, at least in principle. But the further claim argued by some is that if you allow the Schrödinger equation unrestricted application, supposing the quantum state to be something physically real, then this universe is one of countlessly many others, constantly branching in time, all of which are real. The result is the many worlds theory, also known as the Everett interpretation of quantum mechanics. The contrary claim sees this picture of many worlds as in no sense inherent in quantum mechanics, even when the latter is allowed unrestricted scope and even given that the quantum state itself is something physically real. For this picture of branching worlds fails to make physical sense, let alone common sense, even on its own terms. The status of these worlds, what they are made of, is never adequately explained. Ordinary ideas about time and identity over time become hopelessly compromised. The concept of probability itself is brought into question. This picture of many branching worlds is inchoate, it is a vision, an error. There are realist alternatives to many worlds, some even that preserve the Schrödinger equation unchanged. Twenty specially written essays, accompanied by commentaries and discussions, examine these claims and counterclaims in depth. They focus first on the question of ontology, the existence of worlds (Part 1 and 2), second on the interpretation of probability (Parts 3 and 4), and third on alternatives or additions to many worlds (Parts 5 and 6). The introduction offers a helpful guide to the arguments for the Everett interpretation, particularly as they have been formulated in the last two decades.
Author: Daniel Greenberger
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3540706267
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 901
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Book Description
With contributions by leading quantum physicists, philosophers and historians, this comprehensive A-to-Z of quantum physics provides a lucid understanding of key concepts of quantum theory and experiment. It covers technical and interpretational aspects alike, and includes both traditional and new concepts, making it an indispensable resource for concise, up-to-date information about the many facets of quantum physics.
Author: Jeffrey Bub
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521653862
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 312
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Book Description
Philosophy of physics title by highly regarded author, fully revised for this paperback edition.
Author: Richard Healey
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521408745
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 290
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Book Description
One of the most important books on quantum mechanics to appear in recent years offers a dramatically new interpretation to resolve puzzles and paradoxes associated with the measurement problem and the behavior of coupled systems.
Author: Jeffrey A. Barrett
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191583251
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 286
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Book Description
Jeffrey Barrett presents the most comprehensive study yet of a problem that has puzzled physicists and philosophers since the 1930s. The standard theory of quantum mechanics is in one sense the most successful physical theory ever, predicting the behaviour of the basic constituents of all physical things; no other theory has ever made such accurate empirical predictions. However, if one tries to understand the theory as providing a complete and accurate framework for the description of the behaviour of all physical interactions, it becomes evident that the theory is ambiguous, or even logically inconsistent. The most notable attempt to formulate the theory so as to deal with this problem, the quantum measurement problem, was initiated by Hugh Everett III in the 1950s. Barrett gives a careful and challenging examination and evaluation of the work of Everett and those who have followed him. His informal approach, minimizing technicality, will make the book accessible and illuminating for philosophers and physicists alike. Anyone interested in the interpretation of quantum mechanics should read it.
Author: V.P. Belavkin
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9780306451287
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 578
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Book Description
The International Workshop on Quantum Communications and Measurement was held at the University of Nottingham from July 10-16, 1994. It followed the successful meeting on Quantum Aspects of Optical Communications in Paris in November 1990. This time the conference was devoted to mathematical, physical and engineering aspects of quantum noise, signal processing and quantum informa tion in open systems, quantum channels, and optical communications. It brought research workers in the experimental and engineering aspects of quantum optics and communication systems into contact with theoreticians working in quantum probability and measurement theory. The workshop was attended by more than 130 participants from 22 different countries. The largest groups [after the UK (31)] were from Japan (19) and from Russia (14). The subjects discussed included the mathematical foundations of quantum communication systems, experiments and devices, the problem of collapse and continuous measurement, quantum input and output processes, causality and nondemolition observation, squeezed states, quan tum jumps, state diffusion and spontaneous localization, filtering and control in quantum systems, and new quantum optical phenomena and effects, including non classical light. These new mathematical and physical ideas were stimulated by recent advances in generation and detection of light with low quantum noise and the development of techniques for trapping a single atom over an extended period of time, making it possible to observe individual quantum phenomena at the macroscopic level.
