Quantum Theory as an Emergent Phenomenon

Stephen Adler

240 pages, parution le 02/09/2004

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Résumé

Quantum mechanics is our most successful physical theory. However, it raises conceptual issues that have perplexed physicists and philosophers of science for decades. This book develops a new approach, based on the proposal that quantum theory is not a complete, final theory, but is in fact an emergent phenomenon arising from a deeper level of dynamics. The dynamics at this deeper level are taken to be an extension of classical dynamics to non-commuting matrix variables, with cyclic permutation inside a trace used as the basic calculational tool. With plausible assumptions, quantum theory is shown to emerge as the statistical thermodynamics of this underlying theory, with the canonical commutation/anticommutation relations derived from a generalized equipartition theorem. Brownian motion corrections to this thermodynamics are argued to lead to state vector reduction and to the probabilistic interpretation of quantum theory, making contact with recent phenomenological proposals for stochastic modifications to Schrödinger dynamics.

Sommaire

Trace dynamics: the classical Lagrangian and Hamiltonian dynamics of matrix models
Additional generic conserved quantities
Trace dynamics models with global supersymmetry
Statistical mechanics of matrix models
The emergence of quantum .eld dynamics
Brownian motion corrections to Schrödinger dynamics and the emergence of the probability interpretation
Discussion and outlook

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	PAPIER
Éditeur(s)	Cambridge University Press
Auteur(s)	Stephen Adler
Parution	02/09/2004
Nb. de pages	240
Format	18 x 25,5
Couverture	Relié
Poids	650g
Intérieur	Noir et Blanc
EAN13	9780521831949
ISBN13	978-0-521-83194-9