Symbols, Pictures, and Quantum Reality

Wolfram Schommers, Bernard d’Espagnat

Faruk Alpay

Building upon the Φ ∞ framework introduced in Φ ∞ I: Stabilization of Quantum Structure, this paper demonstrates how classical reality emerges as the entropy-frozen limit of symbolic recursive deformation. I establish the precise mathematical conditions under which symbolic curvature κ(x) = ∂ 2 H/∂ϕ 2 converges to classical geometric curvature, symbolic time t O (n) reduces to Newtonian and relativistic time, and non-commuting symbolic operators collapse into classical observables. The central result is that classical physics represents the κ → 0 limit of recursive stabilization, where the master equation H ϕ Ψ = 0 enforces a unique, deterministic reality through entropy minimization at the universal fixed point Φ ∞ .

Gershon Kurizki, Goren Gordon

Henry has successfully tested the Split button of his quantum suit that enables a quantum object to be in several places at the same time. This bizarre phenomenon is explained by the superposition principle, which reflects Henry’s wavelike properties. Yet Henry remains a single entity as he splits into two superposed versions. In order to understand such behavior, the emergence of the relevant concepts, from classical wave theory, through the quanta hypothesis and the subsequent development of QM, are reviewed. The possibility of such momentous changes in human thinking as the QM scientific revolution is disconcerting if one seeks the truth of the world through physics. A retrospective of the views on the rapport of physics with reality and its roots in mythical or symbolic pictures of the world suggests that the QM revolution eludes straightforward explanation. The QM superposition principle is mathematically formulated in the appendix to this chapter.

Round Table, Hervé Zwirn C

Subhash C. Kak

Classical reality is described in terms of objects and things and their mutual relationships. On the other hand, in the case of quantum reality, the collapse of the state in an interaction assigns a unique position to the observer. These two disparate views are based on different logics of representation. In this paper, we first summarize the early evolution of these ideas and then go beyond the implicit dependence of the quantum theory framework on the mathematical apparatus of calculus and vector spaces, by delving one layer deeper to an information-theoretic understanding of symbol representation. We examine some epistemic implications of the fact that, mathematically, e-symbol representation is optimal and 3 symbols are more efficient that 2 symbols, and this optimality leads to the idea that space itself is e-dimensional, and not 3-dimensional. We also discuss the principle of veiled nonlocality as a way to understand the split between the observer and the physical process.