scholarly journals Consistent description of microscopic phenomena by macroscopic observers in quantum theory

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexey Kryukov
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Quantum Theory ◽  
Quantum Physics ◽  
Random Noise ◽  
Thought Experiments ◽  
Newtonian Physics ◽  
Measurement Results ◽  
Modern Physics ◽  
Measured System ◽  
Physical Phenomena

Abstract Quantum mechanics is the foundation of modern physics that is thought to be applicable to all physical phenomena, at least in principle. However, when applied to macroscopic bodies, the theory seems to be inconsistent. Wigner's friend and related thought experiments demonstrate that accounts by different observers described by the rules of quantum mechanics may be contradictory. Although still highly debated, such experiments seem to demonstrate an incompatibility of quantum mechanics with the usual rules of logic. Alternatively, one of the hidden assumptions in the thought experiments must be wrong. For instance, the argument is invalidated if macroscopic observers cannot be considered as physical systems described by the rules of quantum theory. Here we prove that there is a way to apply the rules of quantum mechanics to macroscopic observers while avoiding contradictory accounts of measurement by the observers. The key to this is the random noise that is ever present in nature and that represents the uncontrollable part of interaction between measured system and the surroundings in classical and quantum physics. By exploring the effect of the noise on microscopic and macroscopic bodies, we demonstrate that accounts of Wigner, the friend and other agents all become consistent. Our result suggests that the existing attempts to modify the Schrodinger equation to account for measurement results may be misguided. More broadly, the proposed mechanism for modeling measurements underlies the phenomenon of decoherence and is shown to be sufficient to explain the transition to Newtonian physics in quantum theory.

Scientific Realism and the Quantum

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Field Theory ◽  
Quantum Field Theory ◽  
Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Quantum Theory ◽  
Scientific Realism ◽  
Quantum Physics ◽  
Quantum Field ◽  
Third Way ◽  
The World ◽  
Modern Physics

Scientific realism has traditionally maintained that our best scientific theories can be regarded as more or less true and as representing the world as it is (more or less). However, one of our very best current theories—quantum mechanics—has famously resisted such a realist construal, threatening to undermine the realist stance altogether. The chapters in this volume carefully examine this tension and the reasons behind it, including the underdetermination generated by the multiplicity of formulations and interpretations of quantum physics, each presenting a different way the world could be. Authors in this volume offer a range of alternative ways forward: some suggest new articulations of realism, limiting our commitments in one way or another; others attempt to articulate a ‘third way’ between traditional forms of realism and antirealism, or are critical of such attempts. Still others argue that quantum theory itself should be reconceptualised, or at least alternative formulations should be considered in the hope of evading the problems faced by realism. And some examine the nature of these issues when moving beyond quantum mechanics to quantum field theory. Taken together they offer an exciting new set of perspectives on one of the most fundamental questions in the philosophy of modern physics: how can one be a realist about quantum theory, and what does this realism amount to?

scholarly journals Darwinism in disguise? A comparison between Bohr's view on quantum mechanics and QBism

2016 ◽  
Vol 374 (2068) ◽  
pp. 20150236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Faye
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Quantum Physics ◽  
Copenhagen Interpretation ◽  
Pragmatic Approach ◽  
Evolution Of Language ◽  
Physical Phenomena ◽  
Recent Interpretation ◽  
As If

The Copenhagen interpretation is first and foremost associated with Niels Bohr's philosophy of quantum mechanics. In this paper, I attempt to lay out what I see as Bohr's pragmatic approach to science in general and to quantum physics in particular. A part of this approach is his claim that the classical concepts are indispensable for our understanding of all physical phenomena, and it seems as if the claim is grounded in his reflection upon how the evolution of language is adapted to experience. Another, recent interpretation, QBism, has also found support in Darwin's theory. It may therefore not be surprising that sometimes QBism is said to be of the same breed as the Copenhagen interpretation. By comparing the two interpretations, I conclude, nevertheless, that there are important differences.

scholarly journals General Quantum Theory: II ----Measuring & Identical Theorems, Origins & Classifications of Entanglements and Solution to Crisis of Wave Collapse

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Huang ◽  
Yong-Chang Huang ◽  
Yi-You Nie
Keyword(s):  
Wave Function ◽  
Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Quantum Theory ◽  
Statistical Mechanics ◽  
Particle System ◽  
Square Root ◽  
Classical Statistical Mechanics ◽  
Wave Particle Duality ◽  
Wave Collapse ◽  
Modern Physics

This paper derives measurement and identical principles, then makes the two principles into measurement and identical theorems of quantum mechanics, plus the three theorems derived earlier, we deduce the axiom system of current quantum mechanics, the general quantum theory no axiom presumptions not only solves the crisis to understand in current quantum mechanics, but also obtains new discoveries, e.g., discovers the velocities of quantum collapse and entanglement are instantaneously infinitely large. We deduce the general Schrȍdinger equation of any n particles from two aspects, and the wave function not only has particle properties of the complex square root state vector of the classical probability density of any n particles, but also has the plane wave properties of any n particles. Thus, the current crisis of the dispute about the origin of wave- particle duality of any n microscopic particles is solved. We display the classical locality and quantum non-locality for any n particle system, show entanglement origins, and discover not only any n-particle wave function system has the original, superposition and across entanglements, but also the entanglements are of interactions preserving conservation or correlation, three kinds of entanglements directly give lots of entanglement sources. This paper discovers, one of two pillars of modern physics, quantum mechanics of any n particle system is a generalization ( mechanics ) theory of the complex square root ( of real density function ) of classical statistical mechanics, any n particle system’s quantum mechanics of being just a generalization theory of the complex square root of classical statistical mechanics is both a revolutionary discovery and key new physics, which are influencing people’s philosophical thinking for modern physics, solve all the crisises in current quantum theories, quantum information and so on, and make quantum theory have scientific solid foundations checked, no basic axiom presumption and no all quantum strange incomprehensible properties, because classical statistical mechanics and its complex square root have scientific solid foundations checked. Thus, all current studies on various entanglements and their uses to quantum computer, quantum information and so on must be further updated and classified by the new entanglements. This and our early papers derive quantum physics, solve all crisises of basses of quantum mechanics, e.g., wave-particle duality & the first quantization origins, quantum nonlocality, entanglement origins & classifications, wave collapse and so on.Key words: quantum mechanics, operator, basic presumptions, wave-particle duality, principle of measurement, identical principle, superposition principle of states, entanglement origin, quantum communication, wave collapse, classical statistical mechanics, classical mechanics

Surrealism and Quantum Mechanics: Dispersal and Fragmentation in Art, Life, and Physics

2004 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 557-577 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gavin Parkinson
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Mechanics ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Quantum Physics ◽  
Second Generation ◽  
World War ◽  
Modern Physics ◽  
Abstract Language ◽  
Discursive Field

ArgumentBy the time the members of the Surrealist group had fled Paris and dispersed at the beginning of World War II, they had taken account of quantum mechanics and were seeking various ways of assimilating its findings into Surrealist theory. This can be detected in writings issuing from the Surrealist milieu as early as the late 1920s. However, while writers and thinkers outside the field of physics swiftly expressed their awareness of the epistemological crisis brought about by quantum mechanics, Surrealism's artists began to conscript the concepts and imagery of modern physics into their work only at the end of the 1930s. Focusing on two “second generation” Surrealist painters, the Chilean Roberto Matta and the Viennese Wolfgang Paalen, this article discusses the peculiar difficulties faced by artists in finding a language for the “new reality” revealed by the physicists, and argues that the relocation of Surrealism in a discursive field which includes quantum physics discloses the rationale behind its artists' shift to a semi-abstract language.

scholarly journals The Arithmetic of Uncertainty unifies Quantum Formalism and Relativistic Spacetime

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Skilling ◽  
Kevin Knuth
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Quantum Theory ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
One Dimension ◽  
Lorentz Transformations ◽  
Mathematical Structures ◽  
Modern Physics ◽  
Relativistic Spacetime ◽  
The Universe ◽  
Dimensions Of Space

The theories of quantum mechanics and relativity dramatically altered our understanding of the universe ushering in the era of modern physics. Quantum theory deals with objects probabilistically at small scales, whereas relativity deals classically with motion in space and time. We show here that the mathematical structures of quantum theory and of relativity follow together from pure thought, defined and uniquely constrained by the same elementary ``combining and sequencing'' symmetries that underlie standard arithmetic and probability. The key is uncertainty, which inevitably accompanies observation of quantity and imposes the use of pairs of numbers. The symmetries then lead directly to the use of complex \sqrt{-1} arithmetic, the standard calculus of quantum mechanics, and the Lorentz transformations of relativistic spacetime. One dimension of time and three dimensions of space are thus derived as the profound and inevitable framework of physics.

Newton To Maxwell: The Principia and British Physics

1988 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-96 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Absolute Space ◽  
Theory Of Relativity ◽  
Quantum Theories ◽  
Classical Physics ◽  
Newtonian Physics ◽  
World Picture ◽  
Space And Time ◽  
The World ◽  
Modern Physics

It is conventional to denote the physics of the period 1700-1900, from A the Principia to the advent of the relativity and quantum theories, as ‘classical’ or ‘Newtonian’ physics. These terms are not, however, very satisfactory as historical categories. The contrast between classical and ‘modern’ physics is perceived in terms that highlight the innovatory features of physics after 1900: the abandonment of the concepts of absolute space and time in Einstein’s theory of relativity, and of causality and determinism in quantum mechanics. ‘ Classical ’ physics is thus defined by ‘non-classical’ physics. The definitions and axioms of Principia , Newton’s exposition of the concepts of absolute space and time, and his statement of the Newtonian laws of motion, are rightly seen as fundamental to the 17th-century mechanization of the world picture.

5. Mysteries of the quantum

2021 ◽  
pp. 93-109
Author(s):  
David Wallace
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Quantum Theory ◽  
Physical Properties ◽  
The State ◽  
Successful Theory ◽  
Modern Physics ◽  
Faster Than Light ◽  
Non Locality

This chapter introduces the central mysteries of quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanics is an enormously successful theory that lies at the heart of modern physics, but there is no agreement on how to understand it. Simple experiments with light demonstrate why: in understanding those experiments, we have to shift inconsistently back and forth between thinking of the theory as assigning indefinite, delocalized, but known properties to a system, and assigning definite, localized, but unknown properties (this is called the ‘problem of measurement’). Furthermore, when we break a system into subsystems, the state of the system is not determined by the states of the subsystem (this is called ‘entanglement’), and simple arguments seem to tell us that the physical properties of entangled subsystems can influence one another non-locally—faster than light. These three mysteries—measurement, entanglement, non-locality—need to be addressed by any attempt to make sense of quantum theory.

Representing Physical Phenomena

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Otávio Bueno ◽  
Steven French
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Group Theory ◽  
Liquid Helium ◽  
Quantum Physics ◽  
Scientific Work ◽  
Top Down ◽  
Partial Structures ◽  
Bose Einstein ◽  
Physical Phenomena

This chapter extends the case study on quantum mechanics to include not only the ‘top-down’ application of group theory to quantum physics but also the ‘bottom-up’ construction of models of the phenomena, with the example of London’s explanation of the superfluid behaviour of liquid helium in terms of Bose–Einstein statistics. We claim that in moving from top to bottom, from the mathematics to what is observed in the laboratory, the models involved and the relations between them can again be accommodated by the partial structures approach, coupled with an appreciation of the heuristic moves involved in scientific work. Furthermore, as in the previous examples, this case fits with our inferential account of the application of mathematics, whereby immersion of the phenomena into the relevant mathematics allows for the drawing down of structure and the derivation of certain results that can then be interpreted at the phenomenological level.

scholarly journals “The Heisenberg Method”: Geometry, Algebra, and Probability in Quantum Theory

Entropy ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (9) ◽  
pp. 656 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arkady Plotnitsky
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Quantum Theory ◽  
Algebraic Method ◽  
Specific Character ◽  
Matrix Mechanics ◽  
Quantum Behavior ◽  
Quantum Phenomena ◽  
Physical Phenomena ◽  
Algebraic Scheme ◽  
Mathematics And Physics

The article reconsiders quantum theory in terms of the following principle, which can be symbolically represented as QUANTUMNESS → PROBABILITY → ALGEBRA and will be referred to as the QPA principle. The principle states that the quantumness of physical phenomena, that is, the specific character of physical phenomena known as quantum, implies that our predictions concerning them are irreducibly probabilistic, even in dealing with quantum phenomena resulting from the elementary individual quantum behavior (such as that of elementary particles), which in turn implies that our theories concerning these phenomena are fundamentally algebraic, in contrast to more geometrical classical or relativistic theories, although these theories, too, have an algebraic component to them. It follows that one needs to find an algebraic scheme able make these predictions in a given quantum regime. Heisenberg was first to accomplish this in the case of quantum mechanics, as matrix mechanics, whose matrix character testified to his algebraic method, as Einstein characterized it. The article explores the implications of the Heisenberg method and of the QPA principle for quantum theory, and for the relationships between mathematics and physics there, from a nonrealist or, in terms of this article, “reality-without-realism” or RWR perspective, defining the RWR principle, thus joined to the QPA principle.

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