This book will serve to end the longstanding confusion and debate on quantum mechanics. Using the picture of elementary particles and interactions provided by the Standard Model, it starts by analyzing the physical meaning of the Schrödinger equation, discovers the physical assumptions and consequences implied by quantum theory, and naturally and intuitively explains quantum entanglement and other confusing quantum concepts such as wave-particle duality and quantum eraser experiments. The book shows that the objectivity of reality is not a simple yes-or-no question.
The aim of this book is twofold: to provide a comprehensive account of the foundations of the theory and to outline a theoretical and philosophical interpretation suggested from the results of the last twenty years.There is a need to provide an account of the foundations of the theory because recent experience has largely confirmed the theory and offered a wealth of new discoveries and possibilities. On the other side, the following results have generated a new basis for discussing the problem of the interpretation: the new developments in measurement theory; the experimental generation of ?Schrdinger cats?; recent developments which allow, for the first time, the simultaneous measurement of complementary observables; quantum information processing, teleportation and computation.To accomplish this task, the book combines historical, systematic and thematic approaches.
This book presents the deterministic view of quantum mechanics developed by Nobel Laureate Gerard 't Hooft. Dissatisfied with the uncomfortable gaps in the way conventional quantum mechanics meshes with the classical world, 't Hooft has revived the old hidden variable ideas, but now in a much more systematic way than usual. In this, quantum mechanics is viewed as a tool rather than a theory. The author gives examples of models that are classical in essence, but can be analysed by the use of quantum techniques, and argues that even the Standard Model, together with gravitational interactions, might be viewed as a quantum mechanical approach to analysing a system that could be classical at its core. He shows how this approach, even though it is based on hidden variables, can be plausibly reconciled with Bell's theorem, and how the usual objections voiced against the idea of ‘superdeterminism' can be overcome, at least in principle. This framework elegantly explains - and automatically cures - the problems of the wave function collapse and the measurement problem. Even the existence of an “arrow of time" can perhaps be explained in a more elegant way than usual. As well as reviewing the author’s earlier work in the field, the book also contains many new observations and calculations. It provides stimulating reading for all physicists working on the foundations of quantum theory.
This title gives students a good understanding of how quantum mechanics describes the material world. The text stresses the continuity between the quantum world and the classical world, which is merely an approximation to the quantum world.
First Published in 1982 Philosophy and the New Physics is a compact and yet remarkably rich excursion through the history of physics from Newtonian mechanics to quantum physics. The theory of relativity, quantum mechanics and ideas about the ‘fundamental constituents’ of matter have attracted a great deal of philosophical comment. Indeed, the originators of some of these theories thought they were solving philosophical problems as well as scientific ones. Classical physics is often portrayed as epitomizing ‘mechanistic materialism’, and the revolution in modern physics is variously claimed to vindicate ‘logical positivism’, ‘operationalism’, ‘organicism’, ‘dialectical materialism’ and ‘Buddhist metaphysics’. In this book Jonathan Powers criticizes all of these claims and argues that such varied and conflicting interpretations are possible because of ineradicable elements of conventionality in scientific theories. This is a must read for scholars and researchers of philosophy of science and philosophy in general.
Authored by an acclaimed teacher of quantum physics and philosophy, this textbook pays special attention to the aspects that many courses sweep under the carpet. Traditional courses in quantum mechanics teach students how to use the quantum formalism to make calculations. But even the best students - indeed, especially the best students - emerge rather confused about what, exactly, the theory says is going on, physically, in microscopic systems. This supplementary textbook is designed to help such students understand that they are not alone in their confusions (luminaries such as Albert Einstein, Erwin Schroedinger, and John Stewart Bell having shared them), to sharpen their understanding of the most important difficulties associated with interpreting quantum theory in a realistic manner, and to introduce them to the most promising attempts to formulate the theory in a way that is physically clear and coherent. The text is accessible to students with at least one semester of prior exposure to quantum (or "modern") physics and includes over a hundred engaging end-of-chapter "Projects" that make the book suitable for either a traditional classroom or for self-study.
Quantum mechanics is widely recognized as the basic law which governs all of nature, including all materials and devices. It has always been essential to the understanding of material properties, and as devices become smaller it is also essential for studying their behavior. Nevertheless, only a small fraction of graduate engineers and materials scientists take a course giving a systematic presentation of the subject. The courses for physics students tend to focus on the fundamentals and formal background, rather than on application, and do not fill the need. This invaluable text has been designed to fill the very apparent gap.The book covers those parts of quantum theory which may be necessary for a modern engineer. It focuses on the approximations and concepts which allow estimates of the entire range of properties of nuclei, atoms, molecules, and solids, as well as the behavior of lasers and other quantum-optic devices. It may well prove useful also to graduate students in physics, whose courses on quantum theory tend not to include any of these applications. The material has been the basis of a course taught to graduate engineering students for the past four years at Stanford University.Topics Discussed: Foundations; Simple Systems; Hamiltonian Mechanics; Atoms and Nuclei; Molecules; Crystals; Transitions; Tunneling; Transition Rates; Statistical Mechanics; Transport; Noise; Energy Bands; Electron Dynamics in Solids; Vibrations in Solids; Creation and Annihilation Operators; Phonons; Photons and Lasers; Coherent States; Coulomb Effects; Cooperative Phenomena; Magnetism; Shake-off Excitations; Exercise Problems.
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.
