Open Questions in Quantum Physics: Invited Papers on the Foundations of Microphysics

ISBN-13: 9789027718532 / Angielski / Twarda / 1984 / 428 str.

G. Tarozzi; Alwyn Van Der Merwe; A. Van Der Merwe

Opis

Due to its extraordinary predictive power and the great generality of its mathematical structure, quantum theory is able, at least in principle, to describe all the microscopic and macroscopic properties of the physical world, from the subatomic to the cosmological level. Nevertheless, ever since the Copen hagen and Gottingen schools in 1927 gave it the definitive formu lation, now commonly known as the orthodox interpretation, the theory has suffered from very serious logical and epistemologi cal problems. These shortcomings were immediately pointed out by some of the principal founders themselves of quantum theory, to wit, Planck, Einstein, Ehrenfest, Schrodinger, and de Broglie, and by the philosopher Karl Popper, who assumed a position of radical criticism with regard to the standard formulation of the theory. The aim of the participants in the workshop on Open Questions in Quantum Physics, which was held in Bari (Italy), in the Department of Physics of the University, during May 1983 and whose Proceedings are collected in the present volume, accord ingly was to discuss the formal, the physical and the epistemo logical difficulties of quantum theory in the light of recent crucial developments and to propose some possible resolutions of three basic conceptual dilemmas, which are posed respectively: (a) the physical developments of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen argument and Bell's theorem, i. e."

Recenzje

`Even a physicist or philosopher of physics who does not subscribe to the realistic interpretation of quantum mechanics will find the book stimulating, informative and, perhaps to his surprise, also enjoyable.'
Foundations of Physics

Spis treści

1. Quantum Mechanics, Reality and Separability: Physical Developments of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Argument.- Realism in Quantum Mechanics and a New Version of the EPR Experiment.- Discussion: M. Cini, F. De Martini, K. Kraus, T.W. Marshall, K.R. Popper, H. Rauch, M.C. Robinson, F. Selleri, J. Six, G. Tarozzi, J.-P. Vigier..- The Physical Origin of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Paradox.- Does the Bell Inequality Hold for All Local Theories?.- Is it Possible to Save Causality and Locality in Quantum Mechanics?.- Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Experiments and Macroscopic Locality.- On the Compatibility of Local Realism with Atomic Cascade Experiments.- Is the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Paradox Demanded by Quantum Mechanics?.- Infinite Wave Resolution of the EPR Paradox.- On Non Local Influences.- Einstein Locality for Individual Systems and for Statistical Ensembles.- Can Nondetected Photons Simulate Nonlocal Effects in Two-Photon Polarization Correlation Experiments?.- 2. The Stochastic Interpretation of Quantum Processes.- Quantum Theory of Measurement without Wave Packet Collapse.- A Causal Fluidodynamical Model for the Relativistic Quantum Mechanics.- On the Nonlinear Schrödinger Equation.- Recent Developments in de Broglie Nonlinear Wave Mechanics.- The Role of the Quantum Potential in Determining Particle Trajectories and the Resolution of the Measurement Problem.- When is Statistical Theory Causal?.- Radiation Damping and Nonlinearity in the Pilot Wave Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics.- Stochastic Electrodynamics and the Bell Inequalities.- Nonlocal Quantum-Potential Interpretation of Relativistic Actions at a Distance in Many-Body Problems.- 3. The Realistic Interpretation of the Wave Function: Experimental Tests on the Wave-Particle Dualism.- Third Kind Measurements and Wave-Particle Dualism.- Quantum Effects in the Interference of Light.- Tests of Quantum Mechanics by Neutron Interferometry.- A Unified Experiment for Testing both the Interpretation and the Reduction Postulate of the Quantum Mechanical Wave Function.- Epilogue.- Evolutionary Epistemology.