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For more than a century, quantum mechanics has served as a very powerful theory that has expanded physics and technology far beyond their classical limits, yet it has also produced some of the most difficult paradoxes known to the human mind. This book represents the combined efforts of sixteen of today's most eminent theoretical physicists to lay out future directions for quantum physics. The authors include Yakir Aharonov, Anton Zeilinger; the Nobel laureates Anthony Leggett and Geradus 't Hooft; Basil Hiley, Lee Smolin and Henry Stapp. Following a foreword by Roger Penrose, the individual chapters address questions such as quantum non-locality, the measurement problem, quantum insights into relativity, cosmology and thermodynamics, and the possible bearing of quantum phenomena on biology and consciousness.
List of contents
What Is the Measurement Problem Anyway? Introductory Reflections on Quantum Puzzles.- Radically Quantum: Liberation and Purification from Classical Prejudice.- Quantum Physics as a Science of Information.- Quantum Theory Looks at Time Travel.- What Connects Different Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics?.- Is Quantum Mechanics the Whole Truth?.- Roundtable Discussion I: Physical Theories, Present and Future.- Determinism Beneath Quantum Mechanics.- Relational Quantum Mechanics.- Matrix Models as Non-Local Hidden Variables Theories.- Towards a General Operational and Realistic Framework for Quantum Mechanics and Relativity Theory.- What is Probability?.- On Hamilton-Jacobi Theory as a Classical Root of Quantum Theory.- Roundtable Discussion II: Quantum Mechanics and its Limits.- New Insight into Quantum Entanglement Using Weak Values.- Non-Commutative Quantum Geometry: A Reappraisal of the Bohm Approach to Quantum Theory.- Quantum Phenomena Within a New Theory of Time.- Event-Based Quantum Theory.- Quantum Phenomena of Biological Systems as Documented by Biophotonics.- Quantum Theory of the Human Person.- Roundtable Discussion III: Information and Observation.
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From the reviews:
"The book comprises eighteen purpose-written chapters and three others featuring verbatim reports of discussions between workshop participants. ... It all makes for an interesting read - much of it quite demanding, and repaying a reader's commitment to further reflection. ... I commend this volume as a thought-provoking and largely entertaining read." (D. L. Andrews, Contemporary Physics, Vol. 47 (1), 2006)
"Quantum Mechanics appears to be at a turning point. ... to read this cooperative work is a 'must' for all the people interested by the strange nature of quantum matters. ... most of the great names of the field do contribute to this interesting volume. There is also an open door to the field of biophysics and to the understanding of the connection of our minds to our bodies. Eventually, the three roundtable discussions ... ideally complement the contributed papers." (Jean-Marie André, Physicalia Magazine, Vol. 30 (1), 2008)
"It provides a valuable perspective on how the current leaders in the field think and gives a sense of what heuristics motivate them ... . useful to someone beginning graduate studies in the foundations of quantum mechanics: as something to dip into to help orient them; to suggest promising avenues for cutting-edge research; and to give a vivid sense of the shape of the field. ... It's a volume that all workers on the foundations of physics will be pleased to have on their shelves." (Christopher Timpson, Metascience, Vol. 16, 2007)
