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Birkhäuser Basel eBooks

The Background to Quantum Theory

Joseph Agassi

Published Jan 1, 1993• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

I do not know how to proceed from here, and I have given serious thought to the possibility that I leave matters at that and call it a day. And so, if you now call it a day and discontinue reading, I will not take it amiss. The point is that the story from now on requires more thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, electrodynamics and calculus than I am willing to take for granted. So, from now on all I can offer is a gross sketch, an outline with not enough detail for critical reading.

DOI
10.1007/978-3-0348-7216-4_6

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I do not know how to proceed from here, and I have given serious thought to the possibility that I leave matters at that and call it a day. And so, if you now call it a day and discontinue reading, I will not take it amiss. The point is that the story from now on requires more thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, electrodynamics and calculus than I am willing to take for granted. So, from now on all I can offer is a gross sketch, an outline with not enough detail for critical reading.
It is argued that our universe happens to be in a state of statistical equilibrium at the hidden-variable level, such that nonlocality is masked by quantum noise. To account for this 'quantum equilibrium', we outline a subquantum statistical mechanics in configuration space, and an H-theorem analogous to the classical coarse-graining H-theorem. Foundational issues in statistical mechanics are addressed, and an alternative explanation based on 'typicality' is criticised. An estimate is given for the relaxation timescale, and an illustrative numerical simulation is provided. Assuming the universe began in quantum non-equilibrium, we sketch a scenario in which relaxation is suppressed at very early times by the rapid expansion of space, raising the possibility that deviations from quantum theory could survive to the present day for relic cosmological particles that decoupled sufficiently early. It is concluded that quantum noise is a remnant of the big bang and, like the microwave background, should be probed experimentally. Possible tests with relic particles are briefly discussed.
Introduction When I was a student I had much difficulty with quantum mechanics. It was comforting to find that even Einstein had had such difficulties for a long time. Indeed they had led him to the heretical conclusion that something was missing in the theory: ‘I am, in fact, rather firmly convinced that the essentially statistical character of contemporary quantum theory is solely to be ascribed to the fact that this (theory) operates with an incomplete description of physical systems.’ More explicitly, in ‘a complete physical description, the statistical quantum theory would … take an approximately analogous position to the statistical mechanics within the framework of classical mechanics …’. Einstein did not seem to know that this possibility, of peaceful coexistence between quantum statistical predictions and a more complete theoretical description, had been disposed of with great rigour by J. von Neumann. I myself did not know von Neumann's demonstration at first hand, for at that time it was available only in German, which I could not read. However I knew of it from the beautiful book by Born, Natural Philosophy of Cause and Chance , which was in fact one of the highlights of my physics education. Discussing how physics might develop Born wrote: ‘I expect … that we shall have to sacrifice some current ideas and to use still more abstract methods. However these are only opinions.
After the development of a self-consistent quantum formalism nearly a century ago there began a quest for how to interpret the theoretical constructs of the formalism. In fact, the pursuit of new interpretations of quantum mechanics persists to this day. Most of these endeavors assume the validity of standard quantum formalism and proceed to ponder the ontic nature of wave functions, operators, and the Schödinger equation. The present essay takes a different approach, more epistemological than ontological. I endeavor to give a heuristic account of how empirical principles lead us to a quantum mechanical description of the world. An outcome of this approach is the suggestion that the notion of discrete quanta leads to the wave nature and statistical behavior of matter rather than the other way around. Finally, the hope is to offer some solace to those older of us who still worry about such things and also to provide the neophyte student of quantum mechanics with physical insight into the mathematically abstract and often baffling aspects of the theory.