Quantum Reprogramming: Ensembles and Single Systems: A Two-Tier Approach to Quantum Mechanics

di E.J. Post (Autore)

Springer, 2010

Many, perhaps most textbooks of quantum mechanics present a Copenhagen, single system angle; fewer present the subject matter as an instrument for treating ensembles, but the two methods have been silently coexisting since the mid-Thirties. This lingering dichotomy of purpose for a major physical discipline has much shrouded further insights into the foundations of quantum theory. Quantum Reprogramming resolves this long-standing dichotomy by examining the mutual relation between single systems and ensembles, assigning each its own tools for treating the subject at hand: i.e., Schrödinger-Dirac methods for ensembles versus period integrals for single systems. A unified treatment of integer and fractional quantum Hall effects and a finite description of the electron's anomalies are mentioned as measures of justification for the chosen procedure of resolving an old-time dichotomy. The methods of presentation are, in part, elementary, with repetitive references needed to delineate differences with respect to standard methods. The parts on period integrals are developed with a perspective on elementary methods in physics, thus leading up to some standard results of de Rham theory and algebraic topology. Audience: Students of physics, mathematics, philosophers as well as outsiders with a general interest in the conceptual development of physics will find useful reading in these pages, which will stimulate further inquiry and study.

• Autore: E.J. Post
• Editore: Springer
• Collana: Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science
• Anno: 2010
• Rilegatura: Paperback / softback
• Pagine: 322 p.
• Dimensioni: 235 x 155 mm
• EAN: 9789048145751

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