Are Hilbert Spaces Unphysical? Hardly, My Dear!

Gabriele Carcassi, Francisco Calderón, C. Aidala

N. David Mermin

On 18 September 1996 I received email that began Dear Dr. Mermin, I encountered your “Ithaca Interpretation” paper this morning on the quant-ph archive … and, I must say, I've been walking around with a nice feeling since. There are some things in it that I like very much! Although I didn't really know my correspondent, it was clear from what followed that he had thought hard – probably harder than I had – about many of the matters I was trying to address. His scholarship and intelligence were so evident that I started walking around with a nice feeling myself at having received unsolicited praise from so thoughtful a source. Little did I know that those heartwarming words of appreciation were just bait to lure me into a long critical exchange which, to my pleasure and enlightenment, has been going on ever since. A part of my subsequent education (there have also been several invariably instructive and delightful real-life meetings) can be found in Chapter 18 below. If Chris Fuchs (rhymes with “books”) did not exist then God would have been remiss in not inventing him. Foundations of quantum mechanics is a unique blend of poetry and analysis. Without the poetic vision the analysis tends to chase its own tail into more and more convoluted realms of intricate triviality. Without the analysis the poetry easily degenerates into self-indulgent doggerel.

Imran Khan

This dissertation describes some of the efforts involved in developing a systematic understanding of Quantum many-atom systems with real atomic interactions.Specifically, we develop and a apply a non-perturbative Quantum theory of many-Dedicated to my dear wife, Aasma, and my new family; uncle Khalid, auntie Rashda, brother Rehan and sister Henna, whose love and encouragement in my final year has been invaluable.

Andrew G. White

Paul Busch, PEKKA J. LAHTI, Juha-Pekka Pellonpää +1 more