Quo Vadis Quantum Mechanics?

Quo Vadis Quantum Mechanics?
Author: Avshalom C. Elitzur
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 448
Release: 2005-01-19
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 9783540221883

For more than a century, quantum mechanics has served as a very powerful theory that has expanded physics and technology far beyond their classical limits, yet it has also produced some of the most difficult paradoxes known to the human mind. This book represents the combined efforts of sixteen of today's most eminent theoretical physicists to lay out future directions for quantum physics. The authors include Yakir Aharonov, Anton Zeilinger; the Nobel laureates Anthony Leggett and Geradus 't Hooft; Basil Hiley, Lee Smolin and Henry Stapp. Following a foreword by Roger Penrose, the individual chapters address questions such as quantum non-locality, the measurement problem, quantum insights into relativity, cosmology and thermodynamics, and the possible bearing of quantum phenomena on biology and consciousness.

Quo Vadis Quantum Mechanics?

Quo Vadis Quantum Mechanics?
Author: Avshalom C. Elitzur
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 426
Release: 2006-03-30
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3540266690

Each contribution is an article in itself, and great effort has been made by the authors to be lucid and not too technical. A few brief highlights of the round-table discussions are given between the chapters. Topics include: Quantum non-locality, the measurement problem, quantum insights into relativity, cosmology and thermodynamics, and possible bearings of quantum mechanics to biology and consciousness. Authors include Yakir Aharanov and Anton Zeilinger, plus Nobel laureates Anthony J. Leggett (2003) and Gerardus ‘t Hooft (1999). Foreword written by Sir Roger Penrose, best-selling author (The Emperor's New Mind) and world-renowned mathematical physicist.

Prologue to Super Quantum Mechanics

Prologue to Super Quantum Mechanics
Author: Victor Vaguine
Publisher: ConsReality Inc
Total Pages: 156
Release: 2012-03
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1936795116

Since its foundation more than eight decades ago, quantum mechanics has been plagued by enigmas, mysteries and paradoxes and held hostage by quantum positivism. This fact strongly suggests that something is fundamentally wrong with the quantum mechanics paradigm. The best scientific minds, such as Albert Einstein, Louis de Broglie, David Bohm, Richard Feynman and others have spent years of their professional lives attempting to find resolution to the quantum mechanics predicament, with not much success. A shift of the quantum mechanics paradigm toward a deeper physics theory is long overdue. The Prologue is an introduction by Victor Vaguine of a fundamentally new quantum mechanics paradigm which he calls Super Quantum Mechanics (SQM). The theory and concept will be further expanded in a companion book Conceptual and Philosophical Foundations of Super Quantum Mechanics (February 2013). In contrast with quantum mechanics, which remains an enigmatic and mysterious science full of paradoxes, SQM is an ontological science. The SQM is a giant step in the progression of quantum mechanics toward a deeper physics theory. Fulfilling Einstein’s dream, the centerpiece of SQM is an elementary quantum entity/event which can be visualized by humans. Each quantum entity is tangible with all its physical attributes at all times and not hanging in limbo. The philosophy of SQM is non-local realism. SQM brings non-locality dimension into focus and into system. Einstein stubbornly rejected non-locality, in effect imposing a subjective constraint on objective reality. He thus missed a supreme opportunity of a lifetime to free quantum mechanics from the detrimental influence of quantum positivism and to bring it to a deeper level. In contrast with the Standard Model of particle physics, which assumes elementary particles as point-like with no structure, SQM states that elementary particles (and forces) have dimension and structure. Based on three fundamental reasons, Victor Vaguine declares that the string theory is not valid scientific theory. The author ventures into cosmology by declaring intrinsic connections of SQM with the origin of the Universe through his original concept of absolute quantum entanglement at the pre-Big Bang state. Victor Vaguine states that the inflationary multiverse theory is scientifically invalid and replaces it with a concept of Uni-Universe, a new term coined by the author. The Uni-Universe is an assembly of habitable universes in 4-dimensional space. Each individual universe, such as our Universe, is sharply and uniquely defined. Based on the law of fine tuning, the author estimates: • expected time of arrival of humans on the cosmic scene versus actual timing • size of our Universe (unknown to science until now) • the extent of the habitability in the Milky Way galaxy, the observed Universe and our Universe • a time window for emerging intelligence in our Universe. Never ending scientific progress is presented as a series of curtains, each hiding a fundamentally new scientific paradigm. None of the curtains can be opened by logic or mathematical formalism alone—requiring instead great intuition and counter-intuition. Victor Vaguine declares that the lethal combination of materialism and quantum positivism is an impediment to scientific progress in theoretical physics and cosmology. The book, written at a high scientific level, contains minimal mathematical formalism and is accessible for laypersons with intellectual curiosity.

The Quantum Mechanics Conundrum

The Quantum Mechanics Conundrum
Author: Gennaro Auletta
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 879
Release: 2019-08-17
Genre: Science
ISBN: 303016649X

This comprehensive volume gives a balanced and systematic treatment of both the interpretation and the mathematical-conceptual foundations of quantum mechanics. It is written in a pedagogical style and addresses many thorny problems of fundamental physics. The first aspect concerns Interpretation. The author raises the central problems: formalism, measurement, non-locality, and causality. The main positions on these subjects are presented and critically analysed. The aim is to show that the main schools can converge on a core interpretation. The second aspect concerns Foundations. Here it is shown that the whole theory can be grounded on information theory. The distinction between information and signal leads us to integrating quantum mechanics and relativity. Category theory is presented and its significance for quantum information shown; the logic and epistemological bases of the theory are assessed. Of relevance to all physicists and philosophers with an interest in quantum theory and its foundations, this book is destined to become a classic work.

Mind, Matter and Quantum Mechanics

Mind, Matter and Quantum Mechanics
Author: Henry P. Stapp
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 297
Release: 2013-04-17
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3662053691

"Scientists other than quantum physicists often fail to comprehend the enormity of the conceptual change wrought by quantum theory in our basic conception of the nature of matter," writes Henry Stapp. Stapp is a leading quantum physicist who has given particularly careful thought to the implications of the theory that lies at the heart of modern physics. In this book, which contains several of his key papers as well as new material, he focuses on the problem of consciousness and explains how quantum mechanics allows causally effective conscious thought to be combined in a natural way with the physical brain made of neurons and atoms. The book is divided into four sections. The first consists of an extended introduction. Key foundational and somewhat more technical papers are included in the second part, together with a clear exposition of the "orthodox" interpretation of quantum mechanics. The third part addresses, in a non-technical fashion, the implications of the theory for some of the most profound questions that mankind has contemplated: How does the world come to be just what it is and not something else? How should humans view themselves in a quantum universe? What will be the impact on society of the revised scientific image of the nature of man? The final part contains a mathematical appendix for the specialist and a glossary of important terms and ideas for the interested layman. This new edition has been updated and extended to address recent debates about consciousness.

Quantum Information Theory and the Foundations of Quantum Mechanics

Quantum Information Theory and the Foundations of Quantum Mechanics
Author: Christopher G. Timpson
Publisher: Oxford Philosophical Monograph
Total Pages: 308
Release: 2013-04-25
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 0199296464

Christopher G. Timpson provides the first full-length philosophical treatment of quantum information theory and the questions it raises for our understanding of the quantum world. He argues for an ontologically deflationary account of the nature of quantum information, which is grounded in a revisionary analysis of the concepts of information.

Foundational Transformation of Quantum Mechanics

Foundational Transformation of Quantum Mechanics
Author: Victor Vaguine
Publisher: ConsReality, Inc.
Total Pages: 136
Release: 2020-09-13
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1936795191

Aphysical Quantum Mechanics (AQM) is a deeper and more profound quantum theory. Volume One expands the understanding of quantum reality with the addition of two new fundamental categories: aphysical and elementary consciousness of elementary particles. Using the AQM Theory, Volume One details the explanation of all known and long standing quantum enigmas, including “the collapse of the wave function,” and presents and explains the inner structures of perfect geometry of the photon and the intrinsic electron. AQM brings not only foundational transformation to quantum mechanics, but also to other branches of physics, such as quantum optics and particle physics. The paradigmatic power of AQM is such that the author was able to uncover 47 fundamental misconceptions/absurdities in the Standard Model theory of particle physics, and to make 27 fundamental scientific discoveries, all presented in these Volumes.

Many Worlds?

Many Worlds?
Author: Simon Saunders
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Total Pages: 636
Release: 2010-06-24
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0191614114

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.

The Quantum Structure of Space and Time

The Quantum Structure of Space and Time
Author: David Gross
Publisher: World Scientific
Total Pages: 295
Release: 2007
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9812569529

Ever since 1911, the Solvay Conferences have shaped modern physics. The 23rd edition, chaired by 2004 Nobel Laureate David Gross, did not break with that tradition. It gathered most of the leading figures working on the central problem of reconciling Einstein's theory of gravity with quantum mechanics.These proceedings give a broad overview with unique insight into the most fundamental issues raised by this challenge for 21st century physics, by distinguished renowned scientists. The contributions cover: the status of quantum mechanics, spacetime singularities and breakdown of classical space and time, mathematical structures underlying the most promising attempts under current development, spacetime as an emergent concept, as well as cosmology and the cosmological constant puzzle. A historical overview of the Solvay conferences by historian of sciences Peter Galison opens the volume.In the Solvay tradition, the volume also includes the discussions among the participants ? many of which were quite lively and illustrate dramatically divergent points of view ? carefully edited and reproduced in full.