Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Birkhäuser Boston eBooks

Speculations

David Wick

Published Jan 1, 1995• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

Can we guess the shape of theories yet to come? History dampens our expectations, with quantum mechanics itself throwing the coldest water. But indulging in some harmless speculations can be entertaining and may help clarify some issues. Before the free-associating begins, however, there are some needed preliminaries, which will make this chapter a bit of a hodge-podge. First, a tighter focus on material from previous chapters about determinism and locality will be useful. Then we require a few additional points about quantum mechanics which did not fit conveniently into the historical narrative. Finally we come to the shameless speculating. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

DOI
10.1007/978-1-4612-5361-7_20

Related papers

The Transition Region as Predicted by Quantum Mechanics

Theo van Holten

In the present chapter the connection between quantum mechanics and classical physics is treated, as derived in established quantum theory. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Atlantis Press eBooks•Dec 9, 2016•0 citations

Alleys to Be Further Investigated and Open Questions

Gerard ’t Hooft

A number of fundamental questions of theoretical physics are directly related to the question of interpreting quantum mechanics. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Fundamental theories of physics•Jan 1, 2016•0 citations

Historical perspective

Franck Laloë

The founding fathers of quantum mechanics had already perceived the essence of the difficulties of quantum mechanics; today, after almost a century, the discussions are still lively and, if some very interesting new aspects have emerged, at a deeper level the questions have not changed so much. What is more recent, nevertheless, is a general change of attitude among physicists: until about 1970 or 1980, most physicists thought that the essential questions had been settled, and that “Bohr was right and proved his opponents to be wrong”. This was probably a consequence of the famous discussions between Bohr, Einstein, Schrödinger, Heisenberg, Pauli, de Broglie, and others (in particular at the Solvay meetings [1–3], where Bohr's point of view had successfully resisted Einstein's extremely clever attacks). The majority of physicists did not know the details of the arguments. They nevertheless thought that the standard “Copenhagen interpretation” had clearly emerged from the infancy of quantum mechanics as the only sensible attitude for good scientists. This interpretation includes the idea that modern physics must contain indeterminacy as an essential ingredient: it is fundamentally impossible to predict the outcome of single microscopical events; it is impossible to go beyond the formalism of the wave function (or its generalization, the state vector ∣ψ) and complete it.

Cambridge University Press eBooks•Aug 30, 2012•1 citation

Quantum Statics

A. O. Pittenger

To begin to describe quantum algorithms, we need an understanding of the physical phenomena that motivate quantum mechanics, a simple mathematical model of a potential quantum storage device and the notation to describe and manipulate such a model. In this chapter we present the context in which we will work, motivate the need for quantum mechanics and provide a quick introduction to the essential mathematical tools and notation to be used throughout the book. As part of the price of brevity, we will work with a static model of quantum mechanics and will defer additional mathematical definitions until they are needed. The reader who is already familiar with this material can easily skip to Chapter 2, giving only a cursory glance at Chapter 1 to identify any idiosyncratic notation. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Birkhäuser Boston eBooks•Jan 1, 2001•0 citations

A Chapter Full of Speculations: Bohr’s Atom, Schrödinger’s Cat, “Spooky” Interactions, and the Double-Slit

Theo van Holten

It may well be that you feel a bit disappointed at this point. You probably had heard about the utter magic of quantum theory, where particles may be in different places at the same time, where cats (Schrödinger’s cat) may be dead and alive at the same time, and where particles have a telepathic knowledge of the fate of remote particles.This chapter tells more about this “big magic”. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

Atlantis Press eBooks•Dec 9, 2016•0 citations

Overview

Richard A. Healey

No interpretation of quantum mechanics can be wholly comprehended or validated before carefully investigating all of its details. I begin such an investigation of the present interpretation in the next chapter. But some of these details will prove rather intricate. The reader may need help in seeing the forest formed by the trees, and the skeptical reader may require encouragement before he or she agrees to enter its thickets. In this first chapter I therefore present a preliminary account of the basic ideas of the interpretation to be given, which may serve as a guide to what is to follow. Just as parts of a travel guide may seem puzzling before one actually visits the region described, so also parts of this chapter will likely seem much clearer when they are reread in the light of the rest of the book. There is another reason for beginning with a general overview. The present interpretation arose as what seemed to be the most promising way of implementing a certain general approach to quantum theory. But, though I am confident of the worth of this approach, the present interpretation may well come to be regarded as only a fruitful first attempt at its detailed implementation, requiring more or less extensive technical revision if it is to prove ultimately satisfactory. If so, this overview may continue to be useful as a guide to an interpretation whose technical framework differs more or less radically from that underlying the present interpretation.

Cambridge University Press eBooks•Nov 24, 1989•0 citations
Can we guess the shape of theories yet to come? History dampens our expectations, with quantum mechanics itself throwing the coldest water. But indulging in some harmless speculations can be entertaining and may help clarify some issues. Before the free-associating begins, however, there are some needed preliminaries, which will make this chapter a bit of a hodge-podge. First, a tighter focus on material from previous chapters about determinism and locality will be useful. Then we require a few additional points about quantum mechanics which did not fit conveniently into the historical narrative. Finally we come to the shameless speculating. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
The founding fathers of quantum mechanics had already perceived the essence of the difficulties of quantum mechanics; today, after almost a century, the discussions are still lively and, if some very interesting new aspects have emerged, at a deeper level the questions have not changed so much. What is more recent, nevertheless, is a general change of attitude among physicists: until about 1970 or 1980, most physicists thought that the essential questions had been settled, and that “Bohr was right and proved his opponents to be wrong”. This was probably a consequence of the famous discussions between Bohr, Einstein, Schrödinger, Heisenberg, Pauli, de Broglie, and others (in particular at the Solvay meetings [1–3], where Bohr's point of view had successfully resisted Einstein's extremely clever attacks). The majority of physicists did not know the details of the arguments. They nevertheless thought that the standard “Copenhagen interpretation” had clearly emerged from the infancy of quantum mechanics as the only sensible attitude for good scientists. This interpretation includes the idea that modern physics must contain indeterminacy as an essential ingredient: it is fundamentally impossible to predict the outcome of single microscopical events; it is impossible to go beyond the formalism of the wave function (or its generalization, the state vector ∣ψ) and complete it.
To begin to describe quantum algorithms, we need an understanding of the physical phenomena that motivate quantum mechanics, a simple mathematical model of a potential quantum storage device and the notation to describe and manipulate such a model. In this chapter we present the context in which we will work, motivate the need for quantum mechanics and provide a quick introduction to the essential mathematical tools and notation to be used throughout the book. As part of the price of brevity, we will work with a static model of quantum mechanics and will defer additional mathematical definitions until they are needed. The reader who is already familiar with this material can easily skip to Chapter 2, giving only a cursory glance at Chapter 1 to identify any idiosyncratic notation. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
It may well be that you feel a bit disappointed at this point. You probably had heard about the utter magic of quantum theory, where particles may be in different places at the same time, where cats (Schrödinger’s cat) may be dead and alive at the same time, and where particles have a telepathic knowledge of the fate of remote particles.This chapter tells more about this “big magic”. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
No interpretation of quantum mechanics can be wholly comprehended or validated before carefully investigating all of its details. I begin such an investigation of the present interpretation in the next chapter. But some of these details will prove rather intricate. The reader may need help in seeing the forest formed by the trees, and the skeptical reader may require encouragement before he or she agrees to enter its thickets. In this first chapter I therefore present a preliminary account of the basic ideas of the interpretation to be given, which may serve as a guide to what is to follow. Just as parts of a travel guide may seem puzzling before one actually visits the region described, so also parts of this chapter will likely seem much clearer when they are reread in the light of the rest of the book. There is another reason for beginning with a general overview. The present interpretation arose as what seemed to be the most promising way of implementing a certain general approach to quantum theory. But, though I am confident of the worth of this approach, the present interpretation may well come to be regarded as only a fruitful first attempt at its detailed implementation, requiring more or less extensive technical revision if it is to prove ultimately satisfactory. If so, this overview may continue to be useful as a guide to an interpretation whose technical framework differs more or less radically from that underlying the present interpretation.