Quantum Mechanics and Paradigm Shifts (original) (raw)
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QUANTUM MECHANICS: A Revisionist History
This revisionist essay aimed at educated people who have learned physics from pop TV 'science'. It was written to correct the false impression of the historical development of Quantum Theory that has unfortunately become accepted as orthodoxy and has even entered popular culture (TV and book popularizations via the ‘magic’ word “Quantum”). This essay is a highly boiled-down version of a much larger paper aimed at professionals who are quite familiar with the technical outline. The implicit message here (and made explicit in the technical paper) is that both mathematical evolution and new physics experiments both threatened the 2,500-year dominance of the trio of traditional philosophy, physics and mathematics. The mathematical revolution will be omitted here as it is much too technical for a general audience but the ‘hidden’ story of quantum physics should be understandable to anyone with a strong imagination while recognizing the persistence of traditional ‘continuous’ concepts.
Quantum Mechanics in a New Light
Foundations of Science, 2016
Although the present paper looks upon the formal apparatus of quantum mechanics as a calculus of correlations, it goes beyond a purely operationalist interpretation. Having established the consistency of the correlations with the existence of their correlata (measurement outcomes), and having justified the distinction between a domain in which outcome-indicating events occur and a domain whose properties only exist if their existence is indicated by such events, it explains the difference between the two domains as essentially the difference between the manifested world and its manifestation. A single, intrinsically undifferentiated Being manifests the macroworld by entering into reflexive spatial relations. This atemporal process implies a new kind of causality and sheds new light on the mysterious nonlocality of quantum mechanics. Unlike other realist interpretations, which proceed from an evolving-states formulation, the present interpretation proceeds from Feynman's formulation of the theory, and it introduces a new interpretive principle, replacing the collapse postulate and the eigenvalueeigenstate link of evolving-states formulations. Applied to alternatives involving distinctions between regions of space, this principle implies that the spatiotemporal differentiation of the physical world is incomplete. Applied to alternatives involving distinctions between things, it warrants the claim that, intrinsically, all fundamental particles are identical in the strong sense of numerical identical. They are the aforementioned intrinsically undifferentiated Being, which manifests the macroworld by entering into reflexive spatial relations.
The Quantum-like Face of Classical Mechanics
arXiv (Cornell University), 2018
It is first shown that when the Schrödinger equation for a wave function is written in the polar form, complete information about the system's quantum-ness is separated out in a single term Q, the so called 'quantum potential'. An operator method for classical mechanics described by a 'classical Schrödinger equation' is then presented, and its similarities and differences with quantum mechanics are pointed out. It is shown how this operator method goes beyond standard classical mechanics in predicting coherent superpositions of classical states but no interference patterns, challenging deeply held notions of classical-ness, quantum-ness and macro realism. It is also shown that measurement of a quantum system with a classical measuring apparatus described by the operator method does not have the measurement problem that is unavoidable when the measuring apparatus is quantum mechanical. The type of decoherence that occurs in such a measurement is contrasted with the conventional decoherence mechanism. The method also provides a more convenient basis to delve deeper into the area of quantum-classical correspondence and information processing than exists at present.
BEYOND THE QUANTUM PARADIGM, AN EPISTEMIOLOGICAL APPROCH
The quantum paradigm as a discreet method of describing the structure of the material world, fundamentally based on quantum mechanics, is in contradiction with the electromagnetic theory of light. Promoting a mechanical vision of subatomic phenomena has been a step backwards in knowledge by going back to a convoluted theory regarding the corpuscular character of light which was extended over the structure of the material world. The complexity of the processuality of the material world as a unity between the discreet corpuscular character and the continuous electromagnetic manifestations reveal a new theory of the physical reality, in a complex epistemic vision, in which the two ontological entities are not mutually exclusive, but rather they coexist in a unified theoretical system explained by a new electrodynamic approach of the material world which reveals a spatiotemporal universe is both knowable and predictable.
Springer/Nature, 2023
Over the last ten years, elements of the formalism of quantum mechanics have been successfully applied beyond physics in areas such as psychology (especially cognition), economics and finance (especially in the formalization of so-called ‘decision making’), political science, and molecular biology. An important stream of work along these lines, commonly under the heading of quantum-like modeling, has been published in well regarded scientific journals, and major publishers have devoted entire books to the topic. This Festschrift honors a key figure in this field of research: Andrei Khrennikov, who made momentous contributions to it and to quantum foundations themselves. While honoring these contributions, and in order to do so, this Festschrift orients its reader toward the future rather than focusing on the past: it addresses future challenges and establishes the way forward in both domains, quantum-like modeling and quantum foundations. A while ago, in response to the developments of using the quantum formalism outside of quantum mechanics, the eminent quantum physicist Anton Zeilinger said, ‘Why should it be precisely the quantum mechanics formalism? Maybe its generalization would be more adequate…’ This volume responds to this statement by both showing the reasons for the continuing importance of quantum formalism and yet also considering pathways to such generalizations. Khrennikov’s work has been indispensable in establishing the great promise of quantum and quantum-like thinking in shaping the future of scientific research across the disciplines.
The direct empirical basis of quantum mechanics and the modernperspective
In order to comprehend the quantum mechanical formalism, the postulates of the theory are discussed vis-a-vis the direct empirical basis of the description for the microscopic world. A characterization of quantum mechanics and its conceptual divergence from classical mechanics is articulated. Some open problems and contentious issues ranging from the uncertainty relations, time in quantum mechanics, to the measurement problem and the problem of classical limit are elaborated. With the rapid advancement of technology, former gedanken experiments are now being turned into real ones, it may also help one to ask even deeper questions as the contemporary interests have transcended the original concerns of the founders of quantum mechanics. An overview of the current state of affairs is presented.
Statement of the principles of quantum mechanics in the course of general physics
Russian Physics Journal, 2011
Interpretation of quantum physics and its principles is a problem that has yet to be solved to the end in spite of the fact that quantum physics formulated more than 80 years ago successfully explains the microcosm phenomena. Today there are several competing interpretations, including the Copenhagen interpretation in different forms, the Everett many-worlds interpretation, the Gell-Mann and Hartle many-histories interpretation, and the nonlocal hidden variables theory. From the above-listed interpretations, the most advanced quantum theory that does not require changes of the mathematical apparatus is the Copenhagen interpretation. All other interpretations (with possible exception of the many-worlds interpretation) call for changes in the quantum theory formalism.