The Conceptual Foundations of Quantum Mechanics PDF Download

Author: Jeffrey A. Barrett
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0198844689
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
"The book starts with a description of classical mechanics then discusses the quantum phenomena that require us to give up our commonsense classical intuitions. We consider the physical and conceptual arguments that led to the standard von Neumann-Dirac formulation of quantum mechanics and how the standard theory explains quantum phenomena. This includes a discussion of how the theory's two dynamical laws work with the standard interpretation of states to explain determinate measurement records, quantum statistics, interference effects, entanglement, decoherence, and quantum nonlocality. A careful understanding of how the standard theory works ultimately leads to the quantum measurement problem. We consider how the measurement problem threatens the logical consistency of the standard theory then turn to a discussion of the main proposals for resolving it. This includes collapse formulations of quantum mechanics like Wigner's extension of the standard theory and the GRW approach and no-collapse formulations like pure wave mechanics, the various many-worlds theories, and Bohmian mechanics. In discussing alternative formulations of quantum mechanics we pay particular attention to the explanatory role played by each theory's empirical ontology and associated metaphysical commitments and the conceptual trade-offs between theoretical options"--

Author: Dipankar Home
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9780306456602
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Book Description
This fascinating work goes beyond the standard interpretation of quantum theory to explore its fundamental concepts. Author Dipankar Home examines such alternative schemes as the Bohmian approach, the decoherence models, and the dynamical models of wave function collapse. Home carefully explains how a number of the anomalies in quantum theory have become amenable to precise quantitative formulations Throughout the chapters, the emphasis is on conceptual aspects of quantum theory and the implications of recent investigations into these questions.

Author: Tian Yu Cao
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521602723
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 424

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Book Description
Multi-author volume on the history and philosophy of physics.

Author: Bernard D'espagnat
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 0429981074
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description
Conceptual Foundations of Quantum Mechanics provides a detailed view of the conceptual foundations and problems of quantum physics, and a clear and comprehensive account of the fundamental physical implications of the quantum formalism. This book deals with nonseparability, hidden variable theories, measurement theories and several related problems. Mathematical arguments are presented with an emphasis on simple but adequately representative cases. The conclusion incorporates a description of a set of relationships and concepts that could compose a legitimate view of the world.

Author: Travis Norsen
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319658670
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
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.

Author: James T. Cushing
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 9780226132020
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 344

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Book Description
Why does one theory "succeed" while another, possibly clearer interpretation, fails? By exploring two observationally equivalent yet conceptually incompatible views of quantum mechanics, James T. Cushing shows how historical contingency can be crucial to determining a theory's construction and its position among competing views. Since the late 1920s, the theory formulated by Niels Bohr and his colleagues at Copenhagen has been the dominant interpretation of quantum mechanics. Yet an alternative interpretation, rooted in the work of Louis de Broglie in the early 1920s and reformulated and extended by David Bohm in the 1950s, equally well explains the observational data. Through a detailed historical and sociological study of the physicists who developed different theories of quantum mechanics, the debates within and between opposing camps, and the receptions given to each theory, Cushing shows that despite the preeminence of the Copenhagen view, the Bohm interpretation cannot be ignored. Cushing contends that the Copenhagen interpretation became widely accepted not because it is a better explanation of subatomic phenomena than is Bohm's, but because it happened to appear first. Focusing on the philosophical, social, and cultural forces that shaped one of the most important developments in modern physics, this provocative book examines the role that timing can play in the establishment of theory and explanation.

Author: Paul Ehrenfest
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 0486163148
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 128

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Book Description
Classic 1912 article reformulated the foundations of the statistical approach in mechanics. Largely still valid, the treatment covers older formulation of statistico-mechanical investigations, modern formulation of kineto-statistics of the gas model, and more. 1959 edition.

Author: Anthony Duncan
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191642207
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
The book attempts to provide an introduction to quantum field theory emphasizing conceptual issues frequently neglected in more "utilitarian" treatments of the subject. The book is divided into four parts, entitled respectively "Origins", "Dynamics", "Symmetries", and "Scales". The emphasis is conceptual - the aim is to build the theory up systematically from some clearly stated foundational concepts - and therefore to a large extent anti-historical, but two historical Chapters ("Origins") are included to situate quantum field theory in the larger context of modern physical theories. The three remaining sections of the book follow a step by step reconstruction of this framework beginning with just a few basic assumptions: relativistic invariance, the basic principles of quantum mechanics, and the prohibition of physical action at a distance embodied in the clustering principle. The "Dynamics" section of the book lays out the basic structure of quantum field theory arising from the sequential insertion of quantum-mechanical, relativistic and locality constraints. The central role of symmetries in relativistic quantum field theories is explored in the third section of the book, while in the final section, entitled "Scales", we explore in detail the feature of quantum field theories most critical for their enormous phenomenological success - the scale separation property embodied by the renormalization group properties of a theory defined by an effective local Lagrangian.

Author: Belal E. Baaquie
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 146146224X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
The Theoretical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics addresses fundamental issues that are not discussed in most books on quantum mechanics. This book focuses on analyzing the underlying principles of quantum mechanics and explaining the conceptual and theoretical underpinning of quantum mechanics. In particular, the concepts of quantum indeterminacy, quantum measurement and quantum superposition are analyzed to clarify the concepts that are implicit in the formulation of quantum mechanics. The Schrodinger equation is never solved in the book. Rather, the discussion on the fundamentals of quantum mechanics is treated in a rigorous manner based on the mathematics of quantum mechanics. The new concept of the interplay of empirical and trans-empirical constructs in quantum mechanics is introduced to clarify the foundations of quantum mechanics and to explain the counter-intuitive construction of nature in quantum mechanics. The Theoretical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics is aimed at the advanced undergraduate and assumes introductory knowledge of quantum mechanics. Its objective is to provide a solid foundation for the reader to reach a deeper understanding of the principles of quantum mechanics.

Author: Klaas Landsman
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781013278365
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 880

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Book Description
This book studies the foundations of quantum theory through its relationship to classical physics. This idea goes back to the Copenhagen Interpretation (in the original version due to Bohr and Heisenberg), which the author relates to the mathematical formalism of operator algebras originally created by von Neumann. The book therefore includes comprehensive appendices on functional analysis and C*-algebras, as well as a briefer one on logic, category theory, and topos theory. Matters of foundational as well as mathematical interest that are covered in detail include symmetry (and its "spontaneous" breaking), the measurement problem, the Kochen-Specker, Free Will, and Bell Theorems, the Kadison-Singer conjecture, quantization, indistinguishable particles, the quantum theory of large systems, and quantum logic, the latter in connection with the topos approach to quantum theory. This work was published by Saint Philip Street Press pursuant to a Creative Commons license permitting commercial use. All rights not granted by the work's license are retained by the author or authors.