The quote is quite fitting "If wishes were horses, beggars would ride." If you want to grasp the uniqueness of quantum mechanics, this cynical saying provides the most profound illustration by being sometimes disproved by this theory. True, quantum mechanics (QM) is unique also due to the uncertainty principle which challenges classical determinism; to Schrödinger's
The quote is quite fitting "If wishes were horses, beggars would ride." If you want to grasp the uniqueness of quantum mechanics, this cynical saying provides the most profound illustration by being sometimes disproved by this theory. True, quantum mechanics (QM) is unique also due to the uncertainty principle which challenges classical determinism; to Schrödinger's
[I] think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics. Richard Feynman, The Character of Physical Law Quantum mechanics [is] that mysterious, confusing discipline, which none of us really understands but which we know how to use. It works perfectly, as far as we can tell, in describing physical reality, but it is a ‘counter-intuitive discipline’… Murray Gell-Mann, Questions for the Future [The quantum] postulate implies a renunciation as regards the causal space-time co-ordination of atomic processes. Niels Bohr, Atomic Theory and the Description of Nature It should be emphasized, however, that the probability function does not in itself represent a course of events in the course of time. It represents a tendency for events and our knowledge of events. The probability function can be connected with reality only if one essential condition is fulfilled: if a new measurement is made to determine a certain property of the system. [T]he idea of an objective real world whose smallest parts exist objectively in the same sense as stones or trees exist, independently of whether or not we observe them…is impossible … Werner Heisenberg, Physics and Philosophy [In] quantum theory it is the principle of causality , or more accurately that of determinism , which must be dropped and replaced by something else.… We now have a new form of the law of causality.… It is as follows: if in a certain process the initial conditions are determined as accurately as the uncertainty relations permit, then the probabilities of all possible subsequent states are governed by exact laws. Max Born, The Restless Universe
Objectives: This review advocates absolute determinism in our universe and reinterprets Quantum mechanics while doing so. Then it discusses some of its consequences across fields. Method: This study starts by proposing the absolute postulate of the universe and derives absolute determinism using concepts from both the classical and quantum mechanics. Then it advocates that though the universe is deterministic, it is unpredictable. Statistical outcomes of a classical experiment and probabilistic outcomes of a quantum experiment are not due to the indeterministic nature of the experiment but due to theoretical limit of calculation/ practical limit of measurement. The study then proposes that the "free will is an illusion". As the paths of the particles are determined, the paths and interactions of neurons and neurotransmitters are determined and thus the thoughts and actions are determined. Thus, free will is an illusion. Then it focuses on some consequences like the outcome of a radioactivity experiment, resolution of Schrodinger’s Cat Paradox and that of EPR Paradox. The study also touches upon chaos theory, Big Bang theory and consciousness. Findings: Based on Bohmian Mechanics, Superdeterminism and Cellular Automata Interpretation, this study proposes a new interpretation of quantum mechanics. Using absolute determinism, it also argues that free will is an illusion and support it with Benjamin Libet’s experimental findings in neuroscience and fMRI scans done later. The study discusses deterministic but unpredictable identification of the particle that will disintegrate next among N particles collected in a block. It also attempts resolution of Schrodinger’s Cat Paradox and that of EPR Paradox. Towards the end, the study explores chaos theory, Big Bang theory and consciousness. Novelty: In the new deterministic interpretation of QM, a distinction is made between what is real in the universe and what is measurable or calculable. For example, it reiterates that a particle’s position and momentum are fixed even if they can’t be measured or calculated precisely and simultaneously (a re-interpretation of HUP). In other words, the study implies that the famous quote of Albert Einstein – “God Does Not Play Dice With The Universe” holds true in the realm of quantum mechanics also as it already does in classical mechanics. Keywords: Universe, Determinism, Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, Quantum Mechanics, Laplace Demon, Free Will, Benjamin Libet, Consciousness, Theory of Everything
Over the past three decades or so, experiments of the type called Gedanken have become real. Recall the Schrödinger quote from Chapter 8: “… we never experiment with just one electron or atom or (small) molecule.” This is no longer true. We can do experiments involving single atoms or molecules and even on single photons, and thus it becomes possible to demonstrate that the “ridiculous consequences” alluded to by Schrödinger are, in fact, quite real. We have already discussed some examples of single-photon experiments in Chapter 6, and in Chapter 10 we shall discuss experiments performed with single atoms and single trapped ions. In the present chapter, we shall elaborate further on experimental tests of fundamentals of quantum mechanics involving a small number of photons. By fundamental tests we mean tests of quantum mechanics against the predictions of local realistic theories (i.e. hidden variable theories). Specifically, we discuss optical experiments demonstrating violations of Bell's inequalities, violations originally discussed by Bell in the context of two spin-one-half particles. Such violations, if observed experimentally, falsify local realistic hidden-variable theories. Locality refers to the notion, familiar in classical physics, that there cannot be a causal relationship between events with space-like separations. That is, the events cannot be connected by any signal moving at, or less than, the speed of light; i.e. the events are outside the light-cone. But in quantum mechanics, it appears that nonlocal effects, effects seemly violating the classical notion of locality in a certain restricted sense, are possible.
In this short paper a new thought experiment has been introduced to illustrate the famous Heisenberg's uncertainty principle based on Otto-Wiener's experiment (1890) associated with standing light waves. This illustration is quite easy as well as far more realizing than all other thought experiments generally found in textbooks. In this work seeding of quantum nature of light has been done with the Otto-Wiener's experiment. May be this new thought experiment will help the students to understand the Heisenberg's principle in a better way and also enhance their interest of learning quantum mechanics from the beginning of their course.
Abstract There is widespread agreement that quantum mechanics has something radical to teach us about causation. But opinions differ on what this is. Physicists have often taken the central lesson to be that many physical events occur spontaneously, so that a principle of causality is violated whenever an atom emits light, or a uranium nucleus decays, even though nothing that happened beforehand made this inevitable. Feynman urged philosophers to acknowledge that this implication of quantum mechanics undermines the view that causal determinism forms a precondition of scientific inquiry. But while some physicists have denied the implication, most philosophers since Reichenbach have accepted it with alacrity, and sought to develop accounts of causation equally applicable in an indeterministic or a deterministic world.