Quantum Causality (eBook)

Conceptual Issues in the Causal Theory of Quantum Mechanics

Peter J. Riggs (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2009
230 Seiten
Springer Netherland (Verlag)
978-90-481-2403-9 (ISBN)

Infos

There is no sharp dividing line between the foundations of physics and philosophy of physics. This is especially true for quantum mechanics. The debate on the interpretation of quantum mechanics has raged in both the scientific and philosophical communities since the 1920s and continues to this day. (We shall understand the unqualified term ‘quantum mechanics’ to mean the mathematical formalism, i. e. laws and rules by which empirical predictions and theoretical advances are made. ) There is a popular rendering of quantum mechanics which has been publicly endorsed by some well known physicists which says that quantum mechanics is not only 1 more weird than we imagine but is weirder than we can imagine. Although it is readily granted that quantum mechanics has produced some strange and counter-intuitive results, the case will be presented in this book that quantum mechanics is not as weird as we might have been led to believe! The prevailing theory of quantum mechanics is called Orthodox Quantum Theory (also known as the Copenhagen Interpretation). Orthodox Quantum Theory endows a special status on measurement processes by requiring an intervention of an observer or an observer’s proxy (e. g. a measuring apparatus). The placement of the observer (or proxy) is somewhat arbitrary which introduces a degree of subjectivity. Orthodox Quantum Theory only predicts probabilities for measured values of physical quantities. It is essentially an instrumental theory, i. e.

Inhalt

Preface 6
Contents 8
List of Figures 11
Chapter 1 General Introduction 13
1.1 Quantum Reality 13
1.2 Causation, Causality, and Determinism 17
1.3 Introducing the Causal Theory of Quantum Mechanics 22
1.4 Assessing Rival Scientific Theories 26
1.5 Conceptual Issues, Theoretical and Conceptual Problems 27
Chapter 2 Preliminaries 31
2.1 Orthodox Quantum Theory and its Mathematical Formalism 31
2.2 Uncertainty at the Quantum Level 39
2.3 The Measurement Problem and Quantum Paradoxes 43
2.4 ‘Hidden Variable’ Theories and Impossibility Proofs 48
Chapter 3 The Causal Theory of Quantum Mechanics 57
3.1 Motivations for the Causal Theory 57
3.2 An Axiomatic Foundation 60
3.3 One Particle States 63
3.4 Statistical Predictions 71
3.5 Dynamic Theory of Measurement 74
3.6 Many Particle States and Non-Locality 79
3.7 Resolution of the Quantum Paradoxes 85
3.8 Transition to the Classical Realm 86
3.9 Quantum Equilibrium, Metaphysics, and Consistency 87
Chapter 4 Energy and the Wave Field 91
4.1 The Wave Field and the Concept of Energy 91
4.2 The Active Information Hypothesis 96
4.3 A Non-Interactive Approach to the Wave Field 100
4.4 The Physical Nature of Potential Energy 102
4.5 The Existence and Characteristics of the Wave Field 107
4.6 Non-Locality and the Wave Field 116
4.7 Can the Causal Theory be made Relativistic? 119
Chapter 5 Energy-Momentum Transfer and the Quantum Potential 121
5.1 Energy Conservation in the Causal Theory? 121
5.2 Energy-Momentum Exchange in Single Particle States 122
5.3 Wave Field Energy and its Transfer 127
5.4 Quantum Reaction? 136
5.5 The Wave Field and the Quantum Potential 138
5.6 The Wave Field and Physical Measurement 144
5.7 Tunnelling from a Quantum Well 147
5.8 The Quantum Mechanical Force 149
5.9 Empirical Consequences 154
Chapter 6 The Exclusion Principle 159
6.1 What is the Exclusion Principle? 159
6.1 What is the Exclusion Principle? 159
6.2 Quantum Mechanical Spin 169
6.3 The Exclusion Principle in the Causal Theory 178
6.4 A Basis for the Exclusion Principle 183
6.5 Modelling of Fermionic Wave Fields 188
Concluding Remarks 193
Appendices 199
Appendix A The Gaussian Wave Packet 199
Appendix B Derivatives and Integrals 206
Appendix C Hamiltonian of a Classically-free Gaussian Quantum System 207
Appendix D Energy Content of a Gaussian Wave Field 209
Appendix E Summary of Defined Principles 211
Bibliography 214
Websites 233
Index 235

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 5.6.2009
• Reihe/Serie: Studies in History and Philosophy of Science
• Reihe/Serie: Studies in History and Philosophy of Science
• Zusatzinfo: XII, 230 p.
• Verlagsort: Dordrecht
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Allgemeines / Lexika
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Erkenntnistheorie / Wissenschaftstheorie
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Physik / Astronomie ► Quantenphysik
• Themenwelt: Technik
• Schlagworte: Mechanics • Philosophy of Physics • physical theory • quantum mechanics • Quantum Theory
• ISBN-10: 90-481-2403-4 / 9048124034
• ISBN-13: 978-90-481-2403-9 / 9789048124039