Elegance and Enigma

This book examines quantum mechanics, one of humanity's most remarkable intellectual achievements, through interviews with seventeen leading scientists and philosophers. They illuminate the discipline, offering valuable insight on its past, present and future.

Quantum mechanics is one of mankind's most remarkable intellectual achievements. Stunningly successful and elegant, it challenges our deepest intuitions about the world. In this book, seventeen physicists and philosophers, all deeply concerned with understanding quantum mechanics, reply to Schlosshauer's penetrating questions about the central issues. They grant us an intimate look at their radically different ways of making sense of the theory's strangeness. What is quantum mechanics about? What is it telling us about nature? Can quantum information or new experiments help lift the fog? And where are we headed next? Everyone interested in the contemporary but often longstanding conundrums of quantum theory, whether lay reader or expert, will find much food for thought in these pages. A wealth of personal reflections and anecdotes guarantee an engaging read. Participants: Guido Bacciagaluppi, Caslav Brukner, Jeffrey Bub, Arthur Fine, Christopher Fuchs, GianCarlo Ghirardi, Shelly Goldstein, Daniel Greenberger, Lucien Hardy, Anthony Leggett, Tim Maudlin, David Mermin, Lee Smolin, Antony Valentini, David Wallace, Anton Zeilinger, and Wojciech Zurek.

Unique compilation of the often conflicting (world)views of foremost physicists and philosophers Presents the various mind-bending interpretations of nature's strangest laws Level accessible to non-specialists Protagonists and their opinions are marshaled and commented by a skilful editor, himself a major contributor to the field of quantum theory Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

Autorentext

Maximilian Schlosshauer is a senior research fellow at the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information in Vienna. He was inspired to study physics - and in particular quantum physics - after reading Heisenberg's "Physics and Philosophy" and Schrödinger's "Nature and the Greeks" as a high-school student. Having earned a Ph.D. from the University of Washington for work on the foundations of quantum mechanics, he continued his research as a postdoctoral fellow at the universities of Queensland and Melbourne, Australia, and at the Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen. Max is the author of "Decoherence and the Quantum-to-Classical Transition" (Springer, 2007). He is passionate about words and music.

Klappentext

Quantum mechanics is one of mankind's most remarkable intellectual achievements. Stunningly successful and elegant, it challenges our deepest intuitions about the world. In this book, seventeen physicists and philosophers, all deeply concerned with understanding quantum mechanics, reply to Schlosshauer's penetrating questions about the central issues. They grant us an intimate look at their radically different ways of making sense of the theory's strangeness. What is quantum mechanics about? What is it telling us about nature? Can quantum information or new experiments help lift the fog? And where are we headed next? Everyone interested in the contemporary but often longstanding conundrums of quantum theory, whether lay reader or expert, will find much food for thought in these pages. A wealth of personal reflections and anecdotes guarantee an engaging read.

Participants: Guido Bacciagaluppi, Caslav Brukner, Jeffrey Bub, Arthur Fine, Christopher Fuchs, GianCarlo Ghirardi, Shelly Goldstein, Daniel Greenberger, Lucien Hardy, Anthony Leggett, Tim Maudlin, David Mermin, Lee Smolin, Antony Valentini, David Wallace, Anton Zeilinger, and Wojciech Zurek.

Inhalt
First Encounters.- Big Issues.- My Favorite Interpretation.- Quantum States.- Randomness.- Quantum Probabilities.- The Measurement Problem.- Bell's Inequalities.- Quantum Information.- Reconstructions.- The Experiment of My Dreams.- Switching Sides.- Beliefs and Values.- The Role of Philosophy.- Unification.- The Next Big Bang.- Dear Oracle.- Epilogue.- Glossary.- Index.