Particles and Paradoxes

Particles and Paradoxes

Author: Peter Gibbins

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1987-09-25

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 9780521336918

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Quantum theory is our deepest theory of the nature of matter. It is a theory that, notoriously, produces results which challenge the laws of classical logic and suggests that the physical world is illogical. This book gives a critical review of work on the foundations of quantum mechanics at a level accessible to non-experts. Assuming his readers have some background in mathematics and physics, Peter Gibbins focuses on the questions of whether the results of quantum theory require us to abandon classical logic and whether quantum logic can resolve the paradoxes produced by quantum mechanics. He argues that quantum logic does not dispose of the problems faced by classical logic, that no reasonable interpretation of quantum mechanics in terms of 'hidden variables' can be found, and that after all these years quantum mechanics remains a mystery to us. Particles and Paradoxes provides a much-needed and valuable introduction to the philosophy of quantum mechanics and, at the same time, an example of just what it is to do the philosophy of physics.


Book Synopsis Particles and Paradoxes by : Peter Gibbins

Download or read book Particles and Paradoxes written by Peter Gibbins and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1987-09-25 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Quantum theory is our deepest theory of the nature of matter. It is a theory that, notoriously, produces results which challenge the laws of classical logic and suggests that the physical world is illogical. This book gives a critical review of work on the foundations of quantum mechanics at a level accessible to non-experts. Assuming his readers have some background in mathematics and physics, Peter Gibbins focuses on the questions of whether the results of quantum theory require us to abandon classical logic and whether quantum logic can resolve the paradoxes produced by quantum mechanics. He argues that quantum logic does not dispose of the problems faced by classical logic, that no reasonable interpretation of quantum mechanics in terms of 'hidden variables' can be found, and that after all these years quantum mechanics remains a mystery to us. Particles and Paradoxes provides a much-needed and valuable introduction to the philosophy of quantum mechanics and, at the same time, an example of just what it is to do the philosophy of physics.


Particles and Paradoxes: the Limits of Quantum Logic

Particles and Paradoxes: the Limits of Quantum Logic

Author: Gibbins Peter

Publisher:

Published: 1987

Total Pages: 181

ISBN-13:

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Book Synopsis Particles and Paradoxes: the Limits of Quantum Logic by : Gibbins Peter

Download or read book Particles and Paradoxes: the Limits of Quantum Logic written by Gibbins Peter and published by . This book was released on 1987 with total page 181 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:


Quantum Paradoxes

Quantum Paradoxes

Author: Yakir Aharonov

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2008-09-26

Total Pages: 299

ISBN-13: 3527619127

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A Guide through the Mysteries of Quantum Physics! Yakir Aharonov is one of the pioneers in measuring theory, the nature of quantum correlations, superselection rules, and geometric phases and has been awarded numerous scientific honors. The author has contributed monumental concepts to theoretical physics, especially the Aharonov-Bohm effect and the Aharonov-Casher effect. Together with Daniel Rohrlich, Israel, he has written a pioneering work on the remaining mysteries of quantum mechanics. From the perspective of a preeminent researcher in the fundamental aspects of quantum mechanics, the text combines mathematical rigor with penetrating and concise language. More than 200 exercises introduce readers to the concepts and implications of quantum mechanics that have arisen from the experimental results of the recent two decades. With students as well as researchers in mind, the authors give an insight into that part of the field, which led Feynman to declare that "nobody understands quantum mechanics". * Free solutions manual available for lecturers at www.wiley-vch.de/supplements/


Book Synopsis Quantum Paradoxes by : Yakir Aharonov

Download or read book Quantum Paradoxes written by Yakir Aharonov and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2008-09-26 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Guide through the Mysteries of Quantum Physics! Yakir Aharonov is one of the pioneers in measuring theory, the nature of quantum correlations, superselection rules, and geometric phases and has been awarded numerous scientific honors. The author has contributed monumental concepts to theoretical physics, especially the Aharonov-Bohm effect and the Aharonov-Casher effect. Together with Daniel Rohrlich, Israel, he has written a pioneering work on the remaining mysteries of quantum mechanics. From the perspective of a preeminent researcher in the fundamental aspects of quantum mechanics, the text combines mathematical rigor with penetrating and concise language. More than 200 exercises introduce readers to the concepts and implications of quantum mechanics that have arisen from the experimental results of the recent two decades. With students as well as researchers in mind, the authors give an insight into that part of the field, which led Feynman to declare that "nobody understands quantum mechanics". * Free solutions manual available for lecturers at www.wiley-vch.de/supplements/


The Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen Paradox in Atomic, Nuclear, and Particle Physics

The Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen Paradox in Atomic, Nuclear, and Particle Physics

Author: Alexander Afriat

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-11-11

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 1489902546

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"Paradox" conjures up arrows and tortoises. But it has a speculative, gedanken ring: no one would dream of really conjuring up Achilles to confirm that he catches the tortoise. The paradox of Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen, however, is capable of empirical test. Attempted experimental resolutions have involved photons, but these are not detected often enough to settle the matter. Kaons are easier to detect and will soon be used to discriminate between quantum mechanics and local realism. The existence ofan objective physical reality,which had disappeared behind the impressive formalism of quantum mechanics, was originally intended to be the central issue of the paradox; locality, like the mathematics used, was just assumed to hold. Quantum mechanics, with its incompatible measurements, was born rather by chance in an atmosphere of great positivistic zeal, in which only the obviously measurable had scientific respectability. Speculation about occult "unobservable" quantities was viewed as vacuous metaphysics, which should surely form no part of a mature scientific attitude. Soon the "unmeasurable, " once only disreputable, vanished altogether. One had first been told not to worry about it; then, as dogma got more carefully defined, one was assured that the unobserved was just not there. This made it easier not to think about it and to avoid hazardous metaphysical temptation.


Book Synopsis The Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen Paradox in Atomic, Nuclear, and Particle Physics by : Alexander Afriat

Download or read book The Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen Paradox in Atomic, Nuclear, and Particle Physics written by Alexander Afriat and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-11-11 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Paradox" conjures up arrows and tortoises. But it has a speculative, gedanken ring: no one would dream of really conjuring up Achilles to confirm that he catches the tortoise. The paradox of Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen, however, is capable of empirical test. Attempted experimental resolutions have involved photons, but these are not detected often enough to settle the matter. Kaons are easier to detect and will soon be used to discriminate between quantum mechanics and local realism. The existence ofan objective physical reality,which had disappeared behind the impressive formalism of quantum mechanics, was originally intended to be the central issue of the paradox; locality, like the mathematics used, was just assumed to hold. Quantum mechanics, with its incompatible measurements, was born rather by chance in an atmosphere of great positivistic zeal, in which only the obviously measurable had scientific respectability. Speculation about occult "unobservable" quantities was viewed as vacuous metaphysics, which should surely form no part of a mature scientific attitude. Soon the "unmeasurable, " once only disreputable, vanished altogether. One had first been told not to worry about it; then, as dogma got more carefully defined, one was assured that the unobserved was just not there. This made it easier not to think about it and to avoid hazardous metaphysical temptation.


Paradox

Paradox

Author: Jim Al-Khalili

Publisher: Crown

Published: 2012-10-23

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 0307986799

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A fun and fascinating look at great scientific paradoxes. Throughout history, scientists have come up with theories and ideas that just don't seem to make sense. These we call paradoxes. The paradoxes Al-Khalili offers are drawn chiefly from physics and astronomy and represent those that have stumped some of the finest minds. For example, how can a cat be both dead and alive at the same time? Why will Achilles never beat a tortoise in a race, no matter how fast he runs? And how can a person be ten years older than his twin? With elegant explanations that bring the reader inside the mind of those who've developed them, Al-Khalili helps us to see that, in fact, paradoxes can be solved if seen from the right angle. Just as surely as Al-Khalili narrates the enduring fascination of these classic paradoxes, he reveals their underlying logic. In doing so, he brings to life a select group of the most exciting concepts in human knowledge. Paradox is mind-expanding fun.


Book Synopsis Paradox by : Jim Al-Khalili

Download or read book Paradox written by Jim Al-Khalili and published by Crown. This book was released on 2012-10-23 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fun and fascinating look at great scientific paradoxes. Throughout history, scientists have come up with theories and ideas that just don't seem to make sense. These we call paradoxes. The paradoxes Al-Khalili offers are drawn chiefly from physics and astronomy and represent those that have stumped some of the finest minds. For example, how can a cat be both dead and alive at the same time? Why will Achilles never beat a tortoise in a race, no matter how fast he runs? And how can a person be ten years older than his twin? With elegant explanations that bring the reader inside the mind of those who've developed them, Al-Khalili helps us to see that, in fact, paradoxes can be solved if seen from the right angle. Just as surely as Al-Khalili narrates the enduring fascination of these classic paradoxes, he reveals their underlying logic. In doing so, he brings to life a select group of the most exciting concepts in human knowledge. Paradox is mind-expanding fun.


Paradoxes in the Theory of Relativity

Paradoxes in the Theory of Relativity

Author: Yakov Terletskii

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-06-29

Total Pages: 128

ISBN-13: 1489926747

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That Einstein's insight was profound goes without saying. A strildng indication of its depth is the abundance of unexpected riches that others have found in his work - riches reserved for those daring to give serious attention to implications that at first sight seem unphysical. A famous instance is that of the de Broglie waves. If, in ac cordance with Fermat's principle, a photon followed the path of least time, de Broglie felt that the photon should have some phys ical means of exploring alternative paths to determine which of them would in fact require the least time. For this and other rea sons, he assumed that the photon had a nonvanishing rest mass, and, in accordance with Einstein's E = h v, he endowed the photon with a spread-out pulsation of the form A Sin(27TEt/h) in the photon's rest frame. According to the theory of relativity such a pulsation, every where simultaneous in a given frame, seemed absurd as a physical entity. Nevertheless de Broglie took it seriously, applied a Lorentz transformation in the orthodox relativistic tradition, and found that the simultaneous pulsation was transformed into a wave whose phase velocity was finite but greater than c while its group velocity was that of the particle. By thus pursuing Einsteinian concepts into thickets that others had not dared to penetrate, de Broglie laid the brilliant foundations of wave mechanics.


Book Synopsis Paradoxes in the Theory of Relativity by : Yakov Terletskii

Download or read book Paradoxes in the Theory of Relativity written by Yakov Terletskii and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-06-29 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: That Einstein's insight was profound goes without saying. A strildng indication of its depth is the abundance of unexpected riches that others have found in his work - riches reserved for those daring to give serious attention to implications that at first sight seem unphysical. A famous instance is that of the de Broglie waves. If, in ac cordance with Fermat's principle, a photon followed the path of least time, de Broglie felt that the photon should have some phys ical means of exploring alternative paths to determine which of them would in fact require the least time. For this and other rea sons, he assumed that the photon had a nonvanishing rest mass, and, in accordance with Einstein's E = h v, he endowed the photon with a spread-out pulsation of the form A Sin(27TEt/h) in the photon's rest frame. According to the theory of relativity such a pulsation, every where simultaneous in a given frame, seemed absurd as a physical entity. Nevertheless de Broglie took it seriously, applied a Lorentz transformation in the orthodox relativistic tradition, and found that the simultaneous pulsation was transformed into a wave whose phase velocity was finite but greater than c while its group velocity was that of the particle. By thus pursuing Einsteinian concepts into thickets that others had not dared to penetrate, de Broglie laid the brilliant foundations of wave mechanics.


Quantum Paradoxes and Physical Reality

Quantum Paradoxes and Physical Reality

Author: F. Selleri

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 383

ISBN-13: 9400918623

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Although the debate about the true nature of the quantum behavior of atomic systems has never ceased, there are two periods during which it has been particularly intense: the years that saw the founding of quantum mechanics and, increasingly, these modern times. In 1954 Max Born, on accepting the Nobel Prize for his 'fundamental researches in quantum mechanics', recalled the depth of the disagreements that divided celebrated quantum theorists of those days into two camps: . . . when I say that physicists had accepted the way of thinking developed by us at that time, r am not quite correct: there are a few most noteworthy exceptions - namely, among those very workers who have contributed most to the building up of quantum theory. Planck himself belonged to the sceptics until his death. Einstein, de Broglie, and Schriidinger have not ceased to emphasize the unsatisfactory features of quantum mechanics . . . . This dramatic disagreement centered around some of the most funda mental questions in all of science: Do atomic objects exist il1dependently of human observations and, if so, is it possible for man to understand correctly their behavior? By and large, it can be said that the Copenhagen and Gottingen schools - led by Bohr, Heisenberg, and Born, in particula- gave more or less openly pessimistic answers to these questions.


Book Synopsis Quantum Paradoxes and Physical Reality by : F. Selleri

Download or read book Quantum Paradoxes and Physical Reality written by F. Selleri and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 383 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although the debate about the true nature of the quantum behavior of atomic systems has never ceased, there are two periods during which it has been particularly intense: the years that saw the founding of quantum mechanics and, increasingly, these modern times. In 1954 Max Born, on accepting the Nobel Prize for his 'fundamental researches in quantum mechanics', recalled the depth of the disagreements that divided celebrated quantum theorists of those days into two camps: . . . when I say that physicists had accepted the way of thinking developed by us at that time, r am not quite correct: there are a few most noteworthy exceptions - namely, among those very workers who have contributed most to the building up of quantum theory. Planck himself belonged to the sceptics until his death. Einstein, de Broglie, and Schriidinger have not ceased to emphasize the unsatisfactory features of quantum mechanics . . . . This dramatic disagreement centered around some of the most funda mental questions in all of science: Do atomic objects exist il1dependently of human observations and, if so, is it possible for man to understand correctly their behavior? By and large, it can be said that the Copenhagen and Gottingen schools - led by Bohr, Heisenberg, and Born, in particula- gave more or less openly pessimistic answers to these questions.


Quantum Causality Threshold and Paradoxes

Quantum Causality Threshold and Paradoxes

Author: Florentin Smarandache

Publisher: Infinite Study

Published:

Total Pages: 15

ISBN-13:

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In this paper we consider two entangled particles and study all the possibilities: when both are immobile, or one of them is immobile, or both are moving in different directions, or one of them is moving in a different direction.


Book Synopsis Quantum Causality Threshold and Paradoxes by : Florentin Smarandache

Download or read book Quantum Causality Threshold and Paradoxes written by Florentin Smarandache and published by Infinite Study. This book was released on with total page 15 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this paper we consider two entangled particles and study all the possibilities: when both are immobile, or one of them is immobile, or both are moving in different directions, or one of them is moving in a different direction.


Good and Real

Good and Real

Author: Gary L. Drescher

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 365

ISBN-13: 0262042339

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Examining a series of provocative paradoxes about consciousness, choice, ethics, and other topics, Good and Real tries to reconcile a purely mechanical view of the universe with key aspects of our subjective impressions of our own existence. In Good and Real, Gary Drescher examines a series of provocative paradoxes about consciousness, choice, ethics, quantum mechanics, and other topics, in an effort to reconcile a purely mechanical view of the universe with key aspects of our subjective impressions of our own existence. Many scientists suspect that the universe can ultimately be described by a simple (perhaps even deterministic) formalism; all that is real unfolds mechanically according to that formalism. But how, then, is it possible for us to be conscious, or to make genuine choices? And how can there be an ethical dimension to such choices? Drescher sketches computational models of consciousness, choice, and subjunctive reasoning--what would happen if this or that were to occur? --to show how such phenomena are compatible with a mechanical, even deterministic universe. Analyses of Newcomb's Problem (a paradox about choice) and the Prisoner's Dilemma (a paradox about self-interest vs. altruism, arguably reducible to Newcomb's Problem) help bring the problems and proposed solutions into focus. Regarding quantum mechanics, Drescher builds on Everett's relative-state formulation--but presenting a simplified formalism, accessible to laypersons--to argue that, contrary to some popular impressions, quantum mechanics is compatible with an objective, deterministic physical reality, and that there is no special connection between quantum phenomena and consciousness. In each of several disparate but intertwined topics ranging from physics to ethics, Drescher argues that a missing technical linchpin can make the quest for objectivity seem impossible, until the elusive technical fix is at hand.


Book Synopsis Good and Real by : Gary L. Drescher

Download or read book Good and Real written by Gary L. Drescher and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 365 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examining a series of provocative paradoxes about consciousness, choice, ethics, and other topics, Good and Real tries to reconcile a purely mechanical view of the universe with key aspects of our subjective impressions of our own existence. In Good and Real, Gary Drescher examines a series of provocative paradoxes about consciousness, choice, ethics, quantum mechanics, and other topics, in an effort to reconcile a purely mechanical view of the universe with key aspects of our subjective impressions of our own existence. Many scientists suspect that the universe can ultimately be described by a simple (perhaps even deterministic) formalism; all that is real unfolds mechanically according to that formalism. But how, then, is it possible for us to be conscious, or to make genuine choices? And how can there be an ethical dimension to such choices? Drescher sketches computational models of consciousness, choice, and subjunctive reasoning--what would happen if this or that were to occur? --to show how such phenomena are compatible with a mechanical, even deterministic universe. Analyses of Newcomb's Problem (a paradox about choice) and the Prisoner's Dilemma (a paradox about self-interest vs. altruism, arguably reducible to Newcomb's Problem) help bring the problems and proposed solutions into focus. Regarding quantum mechanics, Drescher builds on Everett's relative-state formulation--but presenting a simplified formalism, accessible to laypersons--to argue that, contrary to some popular impressions, quantum mechanics is compatible with an objective, deterministic physical reality, and that there is no special connection between quantum phenomena and consciousness. In each of several disparate but intertwined topics ranging from physics to ethics, Drescher argues that a missing technical linchpin can make the quest for objectivity seem impossible, until the elusive technical fix is at hand.


Oppositions and Paradoxes

Oppositions and Paradoxes

Author: John L. Bell

Publisher: Broadview Press

Published: 2016-04-18

Total Pages: 218

ISBN-13: 1554813026

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Since antiquity, opposed concepts such as the One and the Many, the Finite and the Infinite, and the Absolute and the Relative, have been a driving force in philosophical, scientific, and mathematical thought. Yet they have also given rise to perplexing problems and conceptual paradoxes which continue to haunt scientists and philosophers. In Oppositions and Paradoxes, John L. Bell explains and investigates the paradoxes and puzzles that arise out of conceptual oppositions in physics and mathematics. In the process, Bell not only motivates abstract conceptual thinking about the paradoxes at issue, but he also offers a compelling introduction to central ideas in such otherwise-difficult topics as non-Euclidean geometry, relativity, and quantum physics. These paradoxes are often as fun as they are flabbergasting. Consider, for example, the famous Tristram Shandy paradox: an immortal man composing an autobiography so slowly as to require a year of writing to describe each day of his life — he would, if he had infinite time, presumably never complete the work, although no individual part of it would remain unwritten. Or think of an office mailbox labelled “mail for those with no mailbox”—if this is a person’s mailbox, how can they possibly have “no mailbox”? These and many other paradoxes straddle the boundary between physics and metaphysics, and demonstrate the hidden difficulty in many of our most basic concepts.


Book Synopsis Oppositions and Paradoxes by : John L. Bell

Download or read book Oppositions and Paradoxes written by John L. Bell and published by Broadview Press. This book was released on 2016-04-18 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since antiquity, opposed concepts such as the One and the Many, the Finite and the Infinite, and the Absolute and the Relative, have been a driving force in philosophical, scientific, and mathematical thought. Yet they have also given rise to perplexing problems and conceptual paradoxes which continue to haunt scientists and philosophers. In Oppositions and Paradoxes, John L. Bell explains and investigates the paradoxes and puzzles that arise out of conceptual oppositions in physics and mathematics. In the process, Bell not only motivates abstract conceptual thinking about the paradoxes at issue, but he also offers a compelling introduction to central ideas in such otherwise-difficult topics as non-Euclidean geometry, relativity, and quantum physics. These paradoxes are often as fun as they are flabbergasting. Consider, for example, the famous Tristram Shandy paradox: an immortal man composing an autobiography so slowly as to require a year of writing to describe each day of his life — he would, if he had infinite time, presumably never complete the work, although no individual part of it would remain unwritten. Or think of an office mailbox labelled “mail for those with no mailbox”—if this is a person’s mailbox, how can they possibly have “no mailbox”? These and many other paradoxes straddle the boundary between physics and metaphysics, and demonstrate the hidden difficulty in many of our most basic concepts.