Quantum Physics Without Quantum Philosophy

✍ Scribed by Detlef Dürr, Sheldon Goldstein, Nino Zanghì

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 2013
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 304
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

It has often been claimed that without drastic conceptual innovations a genuine explanation of quantum interference effects and quantum randomness is impossible. This book concerns Bohmian mechanics, a simple particle theory that is a counterexample to such claims. The gentle introduction and other contributions collected here show how the phenomena of non-relativistic quantum mechanics, from Heisenberg's uncertainty principle to non-commuting observables, emerge from the Bohmian motion of particles, the natural particle motion associated with Schrödinger's equation. This book will be of value to all students and researchers in physics with an interest in the meaning of quantum theory as well as to philosophers of science.

✦ Table of Contents

Part III: Quantum Relativity......Page 1
Title Page......Page 5
Foreword......Page 7
Authors' Preface......Page 13
Contents......Page 15
1.1 The Title......Page 21
1.2 What is Wrong with Quantum Mechanics?......Page 23
1.3 History......Page 25
1.4 Impossibility......Page 27
1.6 Roads to Bohmian Mechanics......Page 29
1.7 Questions......Page 31
1.8 The Book......Page 34
References......Page 39
2.1 Introduction......Page 43
2.2 Reality and the Role of the Wave Function......Page 46
2.3 Bohmian Mechanics......Page 49
2.4 The Problem of Quantum Equilibrium......Page 54
2.5 The Effective Wave Function......Page 57
2.6 The Fundamental Conditional Probability Formula......Page 64
2.7 Empirical Distributions......Page 66
2.8 Multitime Experiments: the Problem......Page 70
2.9 Random Systems......Page 71
2.10 Multitime Distributions......Page 74
2.11 Absolute Uncertainty......Page 77
2.12 Knowledge and Nonequilibrium......Page 79
2.13 Quantum Equilibrium and Thermodynamic (non)Equilibrium......Page 80
2.14 Global Equilibrium Beneath Nonequilibrium......Page 83
2.15 Appendix: Random Points......Page 85
References......Page 94
3.1 Introduction......Page 99
3.2 Bohmian Experiments......Page 103
3.3 The Quantum Formalism......Page 119
3.4 The Extended Quantum Formalism......Page 134
3.5 The General Emergence of Operators......Page 142
3.6 Density Matrices......Page 152
3.7 Genuine Measurements......Page 157
3.8 Hidden Variables......Page 164
3.9 Against Naive Realism About Operators......Page 177
References......Page 179
4 Quantum Philosophy: The Flight from Reason in Science......Page 183
References......Page 187
5.1 Introduction......Page 191
5.2 Motion in an External Potential......Page 192
5.3 The Classical Limit in Bohmian Mechanics......Page 193
5.4 Wave Packets......Page 195
5.5 Local Plane Waves......Page 196
5.6 General Wave Functions......Page 197
5.7 Limitations of the Model: Interference and the Role of the Environment......Page 199
5.8 Towards a Mathematical Conjecture......Page 200
References......Page 202
6.1 Introduction......Page 203
6.2 Standard Scattering Theory......Page 204
6.3 Near Field Scattering......Page 207
6.4 Bohmian Mechanics......Page 209
References......Page 211
7.1 Introduction......Page 213
7.2 Bohmian Analysis of Weak Measurement of Velocity......Page 216
7.3 A More Careful Analysis......Page 219
7.4 Bohmian Mechanics and the Crucial Condition......Page 220
7.5 The Impossibility of Measuring the Velocity in Bohmian Mechanics......Page 221
7.6 Conclusion......Page 222
References......Page 223
8.1 Introduction......Page 225
8.2 Bohmian Mechanics in Riemannian Manifolds......Page 226
8.3 Scalar Wave Functions on the Covering Space......Page 229
8.4 Vector-Valued Wave Functions on the Covering Space......Page 233
8.5 Conclusions......Page 238
References......Page 239
9.1 Introduction......Page 243
9.2 The Hypersurface Bohm-Dirac Model......Page 247
9.3 Statistical Analysis of the HBD Model......Page 251
9.4 Perspective......Page 257
References......Page 258
10.1 Introduction......Page 259
10.2 Configuration Space......Page 260
10.3 The Laws of Motion......Page 262
10.4 Field Operators......Page 264
10.5 Conclusions......Page 265
References......Page 266
11.1 Introduction......Page 267
11.2 The Conceptual Problems of Quantum Gravity......Page 268
11.3 The Basic Problem of Orthodox Quantum Theory......Page 272
11.4 Bohmian Quantum Gravity......Page 273
11.5 A Universal Bohmian Theory......Page 276
References......Page 280
12.1 Questions About the Wave Function......Page 283
12.2 The Wave Function of a Subsystem......Page 284
12.3 The Wave Function as Nomological......Page 286
12.4 The Status of the Wave Function in Quantum Theory......Page 296
References......Page 297
Index......Page 299

✦ Subjects

Физика;Квантовая физика;