Quantum Theory without Reduction PDF
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Quantum Theory without Reduction Quantum Theory without Reduction Edited by Marcello Cini Universita di Roma and Jean-Marc Levy-Leblond Universite de Nice Adam Hilger, Bristol and New York © IOP Publishing Ltd 1990 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Multiple copying is only permitted under the terms of the agreement between the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals and the Copyright Licensing Agency. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Quantum theory without reduction. 1. Quantum theory I. Cini, Marcello II. Levy-Leblond, Jean-Marc 530.12 ISBN 0-7503-0031-0 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data are available Published under the Adam Hilger imprint by IOP Publishing Ltd Techno House, Redcliffe Way, Bristol BS1 6NX, England 335 East 45th Street, New York, NY 10017-3483, USA Contents Preface vii List of Contributors ix Where is the Problem? 1 J-M Levy-Leblond Experiment and Quantum Measurement Theory 9 A Zeilinger A Consistent Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics 27 R Omnes The Measurement Process in the Individual Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics 49 H Primas Principle of Stationarity in the Action Functional and the Theory of Measurement 69 R Fukuda Quantum (Statistical) Mechanics, Measurement and Information 89 R Balian State Vector Collapse as a Classical Statistical Effect of Measurement 103 M Cini and M Serva Consecutive Quantum Measurements 122 A Peres No-collapse Versions of Quantum Mechanics 140 Y Ben-Dov An Attempt to Understand the Many-worlds Interpretation of Quantum Theory 151 E J Squires Uncertainty and Measurement 161 P T Landsberg Preface Quantum theory offers a strange, and perhaps unique, case in the history of science: it has a well-established body of knowledge, a huge bulk of experimental evidence, a growing amount of technical applications—while no consensus upon its conceptual basis has been reached. . . . Although research on the foundations of quantum theory has gained a new respectability and may have claimed some beautiful results in recent decades, the debate still goes on—in particular about the heated issue of measurement theory and, specifically, on the ‘reduction of the state vector’. Among various channels of thought, one seems to attract an increasing number of followers, despite the fact that it has not yet expressed itself in a consistent and explicit manner. We speak of those among us who assume the reduction of the state vector to be a false problem; our point of view is that quantum theory is a consistent and complete theory without this assumption, which, far from being a basic axiom, is an ad hoc recipe—admittedly a useful and working one—the validity of which may and must be established. Feeling that the time is ripe for a general presentation of this point of view, we have collected in this volume various specific contributions having the common goal of building what we feel to be a long overdue vision of quantum theory, which puts into a new light many of its long standing problems. As the reader will notice, here are different approaches to the same goal, namely, building a consistent understanding of quantum theory without assuming a priori the reduction postulate: studying the measuring apparatus as such by emphasizing its macroscopic nature; stressing the statistical aspects of a realistic analysis of the classical limit; proposing some specific and concrete models of measurements as a quantum physical process; or emphasiz ing the logical pitfalls of the orthodox views and building a new logical formulation of quantum theory. We believe that the various papers gathered here converge to bring an old debate into a new perspective, and hope that they will stimulate further work, leading perhaps to a more satisfying consensus about quantum theory. The basis for gathering and editing the present volume has been provided by an International Colloquium held at the University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’ in April 1989. The organization of this meeting would not have been possible without the generous financial support of the following institutions: Universita di Roma ‘La Sapienza’ e Facolta di Scienze MFN dell’Universita di Roma ‘La Sapienza’, Italy. Instituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Italy. Comitato per la Fisica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Italy. Ministere des Affaires Etrangeres; Direction de la Cooperation Scientifique, Technique et du Developpement, France. January 1990 Marcello Cini Universita di Roma Jean-Marc Levy-Leblond Universite de Nice List of Contributors J-M Levy-Leblond Laboratoire de Physique Theorique, Universite de Nice, Faculte des Sciences, Parc Valrose, 06034 Nice Cedex, France A Zeilinger Atominstitut, Schuettel Str. 115, A-1020 Wien, Austria R Omnes Laboratoire de Physique Theorique et Hautes Energies, Universite Paris-Sud, Bat. 211, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France H Primas Laboratorium fur Physikalisches Chemie, ETH-Zentrum, CH-8092 Zurich, Switzerland R Fukuda Dept, of Physics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University, Hiyoshi 3-14-1, Yokohama 233, Japan R Balian Service de Physique Theorique, C.E.A. Saclay, 91191 Gif-sur- Yvette Cedex, France M Cini Dipartimento di Fisica, Universitd di Roma ‘La Sapienza\ P.le A. Moro 2, 00185 Roma, Italy M Serva Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita di Roma ‘La Sapienza’, P.le A. Moro 2, 00185 Roma, Italy A Peres Department of Physics, Israel Inst, of Technology Technion, 32000 Haifa, Israel Y Ben-Dov The Institute for History and Philosophy of Science, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, 69978 Tel Aviv, Israel E J Squires Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Durham, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, UK P T Landsberg Faculty of Mathematical Studies, University of Southampton, Southampton, S09 5NH, UK
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