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Princeton University Press eBooks

Between Quantum and Cosmos

Published Jul 4, 2017• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The forty papers collected here honor one of the great scientists of our time--John Archibald Wheeler. In this volume are gathered the six issues of the journal Foundations of Physics (February through July 1986) that celebrate his seventy-fifth birthday. Enlivened by Professor Wheeler's celebrated drawings, the book captures and illuminates his many contributions to physics, including his discovery of the scattering matrix and his elucidation, with Niels Bohr, of the mechanism of nuclear fission, his many contributions to Einstein's theory of gravity (for instance, the black hole), his deep insights into quantum theory and measurement (the elementary quantum phenomenon), and his efforts to explain the origins of the quantum postulate and quantum gravity (the meaning circuit and the Wheeler-DeWitt Equation). The majority of the papers reflect and build on Professor Wheeler's revolutionary ideas. Many scientists are convinced that his insights into the foundation of modern-day physics will induce a profound change in our perception of the universe. This book will appeal to scientists and philosophers who wish to look at one man's rendering of the "big picture" through the eyes of his colleagues. The work is prefaced by a compilation of quotes from Professor Wheeler, edited by Kip S. Thorne and Wojciech Zurek. The contributors to Between Quantum and Cosmos are M. Alexander, A. Anderson, H. H. Barschall, J. D. Bekenstein, C. H. Bennett, P. G. Bergmann, V. B. Braginsky, D. R. Brill, L. Brown, I. Ciufolini, L. Cohen, M. Demianski, D. Deutsch, B. DeWitt, C. DeWitt-Morette, R. H. Dicke, B. d'Espagnat, R. P. Feynman, J. Geheniau, U. H. Gerlach, R. Geroch, J. Glimm, J. B. Hartle, F. W. Hehl, M. Henneaux, P. A. Hogan, S. Hojman, J. Isenberg, F. Ya. Khalili, A. Kheyfets, K. V. Kuchar, R. Landauer, S. G. Low, V. N. Lukash, B. Mashhoon, R. A. Matzner, J. D. McCrea, A. Mezzacappa, W. A. Miller, Y. Ne'eman, I. D. Novikov, A. Peres, I. Prigogine, I. Robinson, L. S. Schulman, M. O. Scully, D. H. Sharp, L. C. Shepley, A. Y. Shiekh, C. Teitelboim, E. Teller, K. S. Thorne, W. G. Unruh, R. M. Wald, L. Wilets, W. K. Wootters, J. W. York, Jr., and W. H. Zurek. Originally published in 1988. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

DOI
10.1515/9781400886975

Related papers

Editors' preface

John David Barrow, P. C. W. Davies, Charles L. Harper

This book project began as part of a special program, Science and Ultimate Reality , developed in honor of the ninetieth birthday of renowned theoretical physicist John Archibald Wheeler. Having long yearned for a comprehensive, integrated understanding of the nature of the universe, Wheeler has blended scientific rigor with an unusually adventurous approach to research in physics and cosmology over a career spanning almost 70 years. Known for investigating many of the most fundamental and challenging issues in physics, Wheeler has often worked at the frontiers of knowledge where science and philosophy meet, probing the deep nature of physical reality. His vision, shaped in part by his influential mentor Niels Bohr, still flourishes today amid ongoing research activities pursued by several generations of those he has influenced over the course of much of the twentieth century. With Wheeler as its inspiration, the Science and Ultimate Reality program was developed with a focus on the future. It brought together a carefully selected group of outstanding contemporary research leaders in the physics community to explore the frontiers of knowledge in areas of interest to Wheeler and to map out major domains and possibilities for far-reaching future exploration. Its two principal components – (1) this book and (2) a previously held symposium – were developed to take Wheeler's vision forward into a new century of expanding discovery.

Cambridge University Press eBooks•Apr 22, 2004•0 citations

Quantum Theory and Measurement

The forty-nine papers collected here illuminate the meaning of quantum theory as it is disclosed in the measurement process. Together with an introduction and a supplemental annotated bibliography, they discuss issues that make quantum theory, overarching principle of twentieth-century physics, appear to many to prefigure a new revolution in science. Originally published in 1983. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Princeton University Press eBooks•Dec 31, 1983•1,359 citations

The lesson of quantum theory : Niels Bohr Centenary Symposium, October 3-7, 1985

Jorrit de Boer, Erik Dal, Ole Ulfbeck +1 more

Part I. Niels Bohr. Communications delivered to the Royal Danish Academy of sciences and letters, October 3, 1985 (edited by E. Dal). Niels Bohr and The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters (B. Strmgren). Epistemological considerations (H.B.G. Casimir). Part II. The Lesson of Quantum Theory. Proceedings of the Niels Bohr centenary symposium, October 4-7, 1985 (edited by J. de Boer and O. Ulfbeck). The Lesson of Quantum Theory. Measurement in quantum theory and the problem of complex systems (P.W. Anderson). Quantum mechanics at the macroscopic level (A.J. Leggett). Strange quantum numbers in condensed matter and field theory (J.R. Schrieffer). The study of the nucleus as a theme in contemporary physics (B.R. Mottelson). ``Complementarity'' between energy and temperature (J. Lindhard). Radiation by uniformly moving sources (V.L. Ginzburg). Does elementary particle physics have a future? (S.L. Glashow). Observability of quarks (J.D. Bojrken). The transformation of elementary particle physics into many-body physics (L. Van Hove). Physics in terms of difference equations (T.D. Lee). Some lessons of renormalization theory (A.S. Wightman). Particles, fields and now strings (S. Weinberg). Collective and planetary motion in atoms (R.S. Berry). Unity of Knowledge. The origin and evolution of large-scale structure in the universe (W.L.W. Sargent). Molecular replication and the origins of life (L.E. Orgel). Physics, biological computation and complementarity (J.J. Hopfield). Complementarity in linguistic observation, description and explanation (W.U. Dressler). Niels Bohr. Great connections come alive: Bohr, Ehrenfest and Einstein (M.J. Klein). Niels Bohr and nuclear weapons (M. Gowing). Niels Bohr: The man and his legacy (J.A. Wheeler). Mellem Spog og Alvor: Personal recollections about Niels Bohr (H.B.G. Casimir). Part III. Jest and Earnest. AAddresses presented at the evening gathering in Ny Carlsberg Glyptoteket, October 7, 1985. (edited by J. de Boer and O. Ulfbeck). Parentesen (A. Aaboe). Truth and clarity (R. Peierls). Niels Bohr, the quantum and the world (V.F. Weisskopf).

•Jan 1, 1986•4 citations

Why the quantum? “It” from “bit”? A participatory universe? Three far-reaching challenges from John Archibald Wheeler and their relation to experiment

Anton Zeilinger

Introduction First a word of thanks. When I first came across the papers of John Archibald Wheeler on the foundations of quantum mechanics, most of them reprinted in Wheeler and Zurek (1983), I could not believe what I read. Finally here was a colleague of worldwide reputation, given his many contributions to theoretical physics, who was not afraid to discuss openly the conceptual problems of quantum mechanics. The outstanding feature of Professor Wheeler's viewpoint is his realization that the implications of quantum mechanics are so far-reaching that they require a completely novel approach in our view of reality and in the way we see our role in the universe. This distinguishes him from many others who in one way or another tried to save pre-quantum viewpoints, particularly the obviously wrong notion of a reality independent of us. Particularly remarkable is Professor Wheeler's austerity in thinking. He tries to use as few concepts as possible and to build on this the whole of physics. A fascinating case in point is the title of one of his papers “Law without law,” the attempt to arrive at the laws of nature without assuming any law a priori. For me personally his work on fundamental issues in quantum mechanics has been particularly inspiring. The questions he raises are exceptionally far-reaching and some of his concepts in the foundations of physics are so radical that calling them revolutionary would not do them justice.

Cambridge University Press eBooks•Apr 22, 2004•58 citations

100 Years of Planck's Quantum

Ian Duck, E. C. G. Sudarshan

This invaluable book takes the reader from Planck's discovery of the quantum in 1900 to the most recent interpretations and applications of nonrelativistic quantum mechanics. The introduction of the quantum idea leads off the prehistory of quantum mechanics, featuring Planck, Einstein, Bohr, Compton, and de Broglie's immortal contributions. Their original discovery papers are featured with explanatory notes and developments in Part 1. The invention of matrix mechanics and quantum mechanics by Heisenberg, Born, Jordan, Dirac, and Schrödinger is presented next, in Part 2. Following that, in Part 3, are the Einstein–Bohr debates on the interpretation of quantum mechanics culminating in Bell's inequality and Aspect's experiment demonstrating the actuality of the long range quantum correlations to which Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen took great exception. Resolutions of quantum paradoxes and the current state of such debates are summarized. Part 4 presents a selection of the most dramatic modern developments, both theoretical and experimental. These include Feynman path integrals, the modern interpretation based on decoherence, quantum optics experiments leading to teleportation, DeWitt's wave function of the universe, and a brief introduction to the end-of-the-millennium prospects of quantum computation. A concluding chapter presents the authors' conjectures for the next 100 years of the quantum. This book is ideally suited to anyone with a junior level background in modern physics and quantum mechanics, and a cultural interest in the original sources of the greatest ideas of the greatest founders of this subject as derived from their first discovery papers. These papers have led, in giant strides across the whole of the twentieth century, to the revolutionary experimental advances of the last decade. The book makes accessible - physically and intellectually - both the deepest roots and the highest branches of nonrelativistic quantum physics

WORLD SCIENTIFIC eBooks•May 1, 2000•11 citations

Niels Bohr: Physics and the World

Herman Feshbach, Tetsuo Matsui, Alexandra Oleson

Containing the proceedings of the symposium held by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Niels Bohr, this collection was first published in 1988. More than any other individual, Bohr was responsible for the development of quantum mechanics and for many of its applications in the pursuit of fundamental understanding of physical reality. In addition to his unique role in the discovery and elucidation of quantum theory, Bohr led the study of the fission of nuclei and was greatly concerned with the impact of the existence of the atomic bomb in the post-World War II era. This unique volume provides a panoramic view of modern physics, some of the philosophical issues associated with quantum theory, the impact of this momentous scientific development on the political circumstance of the Cold War Era and the qualities of a superlative scientist.

Routledge eBooks•May 9, 2014•12 citations
The forty papers collected here honor one of the great scientists of our time--John Archibald Wheeler. In this volume are gathered the six issues of the journal Foundations of Physics (February through July 1986) that celebrate his seventy-fifth birthday. Enlivened by Professor Wheeler's celebrated drawings, the book captures and illuminates his many contributions to physics, including his discovery of the scattering matrix and his elucidation, with Niels Bohr, of the mechanism of nuclear fission, his many contributions to Einstein's theory of gravity (for instance, the black hole), his deep insights into quantum theory and measurement (the elementary quantum phenomenon), and his efforts to explain the origins of the quantum postulate and quantum gravity (the meaning circuit and the Wheeler-DeWitt Equation). The majority of the papers reflect and build on Professor Wheeler's revolutionary ideas. Many scientists are convinced that his insights into the foundation of modern-day physics will induce a profound change in our perception of the universe. This book will appeal to scientists and philosophers who wish to look at one man's rendering of the "big picture" through the eyes of his colleagues. The work is prefaced by a compilation of quotes from Professor Wheeler, edited by Kip S. Thorne and Wojciech Zurek. The contributors to Between Quantum and Cosmos are M. Alexander, A. Anderson, H. H. Barschall, J. D. Bekenstein, C. H. Bennett, P. G. Bergmann, V. B. Braginsky, D. R. Brill, L. Brown, I. Ciufolini, L. Cohen, M. Demianski, D. Deutsch, B. DeWitt, C. DeWitt-Morette, R. H. Dicke, B. d'Espagnat, R. P. Feynman, J. Geheniau, U. H. Gerlach, R. Geroch, J. Glimm, J. B. Hartle, F. W. Hehl, M. Henneaux, P. A. Hogan, S. Hojman, J. Isenberg, F. Ya. Khalili, A. Kheyfets, K. V. Kuchar, R. Landauer, S. G. Low, V. N. Lukash, B. Mashhoon, R. A. Matzner, J. D. McCrea, A. Mezzacappa, W. A. Miller, Y. Ne'eman, I. D. Novikov, A. Peres, I. Prigogine, I. Robinson, L. S. Schulman, M. O. Scully, D. H. Sharp, L. C. Shepley, A. Y. Shiekh, C. Teitelboim, E. Teller, K. S. Thorne, W. G. Unruh, R. M. Wald, L. Wilets, W. K. Wootters, J. W. York, Jr., and W. H. Zurek. Originally published in 1988. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
This book project began as part of a special program, Science and Ultimate Reality , developed in honor of the ninetieth birthday of renowned theoretical physicist John Archibald Wheeler. Having long yearned for a comprehensive, integrated understanding of the nature of the universe, Wheeler has blended scientific rigor with an unusually adventurous approach to research in physics and cosmology over a career spanning almost 70 years. Known for investigating many of the most fundamental and challenging issues in physics, Wheeler has often worked at the frontiers of knowledge where science and philosophy meet, probing the deep nature of physical reality. His vision, shaped in part by his influential mentor Niels Bohr, still flourishes today amid ongoing research activities pursued by several generations of those he has influenced over the course of much of the twentieth century. With Wheeler as its inspiration, the Science and Ultimate Reality program was developed with a focus on the future. It brought together a carefully selected group of outstanding contemporary research leaders in the physics community to explore the frontiers of knowledge in areas of interest to Wheeler and to map out major domains and possibilities for far-reaching future exploration. Its two principal components – (1) this book and (2) a previously held symposium – were developed to take Wheeler's vision forward into a new century of expanding discovery.
The forty-nine papers collected here illuminate the meaning of quantum theory as it is disclosed in the measurement process. Together with an introduction and a supplemental annotated bibliography, they discuss issues that make quantum theory, overarching principle of twentieth-century physics, appear to many to prefigure a new revolution in science. Originally published in 1983. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
Part I. Niels Bohr. Communications delivered to the Royal Danish Academy of sciences and letters, October 3, 1985 (edited by E. Dal). Niels Bohr and The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters (B. Strmgren). Epistemological considerations (H.B.G. Casimir). Part II. The Lesson of Quantum Theory. Proceedings of the Niels Bohr centenary symposium, October 4-7, 1985 (edited by J. de Boer and O. Ulfbeck). The Lesson of Quantum Theory. Measurement in quantum theory and the problem of complex systems (P.W. Anderson). Quantum mechanics at the macroscopic level (A.J. Leggett). Strange quantum numbers in condensed matter and field theory (J.R. Schrieffer). The study of the nucleus as a theme in contemporary physics (B.R. Mottelson). ``Complementarity'' between energy and temperature (J. Lindhard). Radiation by uniformly moving sources (V.L. Ginzburg). Does elementary particle physics have a future? (S.L. Glashow). Observability of quarks (J.D. Bojrken). The transformation of elementary particle physics into many-body physics (L. Van Hove). Physics in terms of difference equations (T.D. Lee). Some lessons of renormalization theory (A.S. Wightman). Particles, fields and now strings (S. Weinberg). Collective and planetary motion in atoms (R.S. Berry). Unity of Knowledge. The origin and evolution of large-scale structure in the universe (W.L.W. Sargent). Molecular replication and the origins of life (L.E. Orgel). Physics, biological computation and complementarity (J.J. Hopfield). Complementarity in linguistic observation, description and explanation (W.U. Dressler). Niels Bohr. Great connections come alive: Bohr, Ehrenfest and Einstein (M.J. Klein). Niels Bohr and nuclear weapons (M. Gowing). Niels Bohr: The man and his legacy (J.A. Wheeler). Mellem Spog og Alvor: Personal recollections about Niels Bohr (H.B.G. Casimir). Part III. Jest and Earnest. AAddresses presented at the evening gathering in Ny Carlsberg Glyptoteket, October 7, 1985. (edited by J. de Boer and O. Ulfbeck). Parentesen (A. Aaboe). Truth and clarity (R. Peierls). Niels Bohr, the quantum and the world (V.F. Weisskopf).
Introduction First a word of thanks. When I first came across the papers of John Archibald Wheeler on the foundations of quantum mechanics, most of them reprinted in Wheeler and Zurek (1983), I could not believe what I read. Finally here was a colleague of worldwide reputation, given his many contributions to theoretical physics, who was not afraid to discuss openly the conceptual problems of quantum mechanics. The outstanding feature of Professor Wheeler's viewpoint is his realization that the implications of quantum mechanics are so far-reaching that they require a completely novel approach in our view of reality and in the way we see our role in the universe. This distinguishes him from many others who in one way or another tried to save pre-quantum viewpoints, particularly the obviously wrong notion of a reality independent of us. Particularly remarkable is Professor Wheeler's austerity in thinking. He tries to use as few concepts as possible and to build on this the whole of physics. A fascinating case in point is the title of one of his papers “Law without law,” the attempt to arrive at the laws of nature without assuming any law a priori. For me personally his work on fundamental issues in quantum mechanics has been particularly inspiring. The questions he raises are exceptionally far-reaching and some of his concepts in the foundations of physics are so radical that calling them revolutionary would not do them justice.
This invaluable book takes the reader from Planck's discovery of the quantum in 1900 to the most recent interpretations and applications of nonrelativistic quantum mechanics. The introduction of the quantum idea leads off the prehistory of quantum mechanics, featuring Planck, Einstein, Bohr, Compton, and de Broglie's immortal contributions. Their original discovery papers are featured with explanatory notes and developments in Part 1. The invention of matrix mechanics and quantum mechanics by Heisenberg, Born, Jordan, Dirac, and Schrödinger is presented next, in Part 2. Following that, in Part 3, are the Einstein–Bohr debates on the interpretation of quantum mechanics culminating in Bell's inequality and Aspect's experiment demonstrating the actuality of the long range quantum correlations to which Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen took great exception. Resolutions of quantum paradoxes and the current state of such debates are summarized. Part 4 presents a selection of the most dramatic modern developments, both theoretical and experimental. These include Feynman path integrals, the modern interpretation based on decoherence, quantum optics experiments leading to teleportation, DeWitt's wave function of the universe, and a brief introduction to the end-of-the-millennium prospects of quantum computation. A concluding chapter presents the authors' conjectures for the next 100 years of the quantum. This book is ideally suited to anyone with a junior level background in modern physics and quantum mechanics, and a cultural interest in the original sources of the greatest ideas of the greatest founders of this subject as derived from their first discovery papers. These papers have led, in giant strides across the whole of the twentieth century, to the revolutionary experimental advances of the last decade. The book makes accessible - physically and intellectually - both the deepest roots and the highest branches of nonrelativistic quantum physics
Containing the proceedings of the symposium held by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Niels Bohr, this collection was first published in 1988. More than any other individual, Bohr was responsible for the development of quantum mechanics and for many of its applications in the pursuit of fundamental understanding of physical reality. In addition to his unique role in the discovery and elucidation of quantum theory, Bohr led the study of the fission of nuclei and was greatly concerned with the impact of the existence of the atomic bomb in the post-World War II era. This unique volume provides a panoramic view of modern physics, some of the philosophical issues associated with quantum theory, the impact of this momentous scientific development on the political circumstance of the Cold War Era and the qualities of a superlative scientist.