Fundamental Problems in Quantum Physics

372 Pages·1995·23.396 MB·English

by  Emilio Santos (auth.), Miguel Ferrero, Alwyn van der Merwe (eds.)

Fundamental Problems in Quantum Physics
Fundamental Theories of Physics
An International Book Series on The Fundamental Theories 0/ Physics:
Their Clarification, Development and Application
Editor: ALWYN VAN DER MERWE
University o/Denver, U.S.A.
Editorial Advisory Board:
L. P. HORWI1Z, Tel-Aviv University, Israel
BRIAN D. JOSEPHSON, University o/Cambridge, U.K.
CLIVE KILMISTER, University 0/ London, U.K.
GUNTER LUDWIG, Philipps-Universitiit, Marburg, Germany
A. PERES, Israel Institute o/Technology, Israel
NATIIAN ROSEN, Israel Institute o/Technology, Israel
MENDEL SACHS, State University o/New York at Buffalo, U.S.A.
ABDUS SALAM. International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy
HANS-JURGEN TREDER. Zentralinstitut fUr Astrophysik der Akademie der
Wissenschaften, Germany
Volume 73
Fundamental Problems
in Quantum Physics
edited by
Miguel Ferrero
University o/Oviedo.
Oviedo. Spain
and
Alwyn van der Merwe
University o/Denver.
Denver. Colorado. U.S.A.
~.
"
SPRINGER-SCIENCE+B USINESS MEDIA, B.V.
A C.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-90-481-4608-6 ISBN 978-94-015-8529-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-94-015-8529-3
Printed on acid-free paper
All Rights Reserved
© 1995 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 1995
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1995
No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and
retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner.
CONTENTS
1. The Subject of Our Discussions
Emilio Santos
2. Measurement of the Schrodinger Wave of a Single Particle 7
Yakir Aharonov and Lev Vaidman
3. The Emergence of Classical Properties From Quantum
Mechanics: New Problems From Old 15
Leslie E. Ballentine
4. Deformations of Space-Time Symmetries and Fundamental Scales 29
A. Ballesteros, F. J. Herranz, M. A. del Olmo, and M. Santander
5. Aspects of Quantum Reality 35
S. Bergia
6. Kochen-Specker Diagram of the Peres-Mermin Example 43
Adan Cabello
7. Zeropoint Waves and Quantum Particles 47
A. M. Cetto and L. de la Peiia
8. Results of Atom Interferometry Experiments with Potassium 57
John F. Clauser
9. On the Uncertainty Relations 73
J. R. Croca
10. Continuously Diagonalized Density Operator of Open Systems 83
Lajos Diosi
11. The Hazy Spacetime of the Karolyhazy Model of
Quantum Mechanics 89
A. Frenkel
12. Can the Experiments Based on Parametric-Down Conversion
Disprove Einstein Locality? 103
Augusto Garuccio
13. Quantum-Mechanical IIistories and the Uncertainty Principle 113
J. J. Halliwell
VI
14. Experiments with Coherent Electron Wave Packets 123
Franz /lasselbach
15. The Ontological Interpretation of Quantum Field Theory
Applied in a Cosmological Context 141
B. J. Hiley and A. II. Aziz Muft
16. State Vector Reduction via Spacetime Imprecision 157
F. Karolyhcizy
17. Analyses of Classical and Thermodynamic limits of
Quantum Mechanics and Quantum Measurements on
the Basis of Nonstandard Analysis 169
Tsunehiro Kobayashi
18. A Realistic Interpretation of Lattice Gauge Theories 177
Miguel Lorente
19. Is there a Bridge Connecting Stochastic and Quantum
Electrodynamics? 187
Trevor W. Marshall
20. Action-Angle Variables Inherent in Quantum Dynamics 199
Jesu.'1 Martinez-Linares
21. A Philosopher Struggles to Understand Quantum Theory:
Particle Creation and Wavepacket Reduction 205
Nicholas Maxwell
22. Consistent Histories and the Interpretation of
Quantum Mechanics 215
Roland Omnes
23. Is Quantum Mechanics a Limit Cycle Theory? 225
L. de la Pciia and A. M. Cetto
24. Realization and Characterization of Quantum Nondemolition
Measurements in Optics 237
J. Ph. Poizat, J. F. Roch and P. Gmugicr
25. Fuzzy Sets and Infinite-Valued Lukasiewicz Logic in Foundations
of Quantum Mechanic.s 257
Jaroslaw Pykacz
26. A Model of Topological Quantization of the
Electromagnetic Field 267
Antonio F. Raiiacla
vii
27. Postselection and Squeezing in Neutron Interferometry
and EPR-Experiments 279
H. Rauch
28. Macroscopic Decoherence and Classical Stochastic Gravity 291
Jose L. Sanchez-Gomez
29. Dynamics and Measurement of the Absolute Phase in Macroscopic
Quantum Systems 299
Fernando Sols and Roger A. Hegstrom
30. Realistic Quantum Theory and Relativity 311
Euan J. Squires
31. On the Empirical Law of Epistemology: Physics as an
Artifact of Mathematics 321
Nikos A. Tambakis
32. Search of a First Principle for Quantum Physics 329
Alberto Clemente de La Torr"C
33. Decoherence in an Isolated Macroscopic Quantum System:
A Parameter-Free Model Involving Gravity 341
Jesus Ulltm'be
34. Nonlocal Measurements and Teleportation of Quantum States 347
Lev Vaidma1l
35. Quantum Noise in Optical Photon Detectors 357
Antonio Vidiella-Barranco and Emilio Santos
36. Extensions of Bell Theorem: Experiment Involving Independent
Sources in "Event-Ready" Configuration 363
M. Zukowski, A. Zeilinger', M. A. /lome, and A. Ekert
Author Index 375
PREFACE
On the occasion of a visit to Egypt, Thales of Miletus, one of the Seven
Wise Men of antiquity, was asked by the Pharaoh to estimate the height of
the pyramid he had just constructed as his own tomb. Thales put a stick
in the ground and measured the length of the shadow cast by the sun.
Then, he measured the pyramid's shadow length, did some calculations,
and finally, to the Pharaoh's astonishment, he told him the exact height of
his pyramid.
What is surprising in this story, to the point that even today it can
produce great astonishment if we meditate about it, is that Thales was
able to work out, precisely, the value of something he could not measure
directly: the pyramid's height. Is the human mind capable of knowing
aspects and properties of the real world? Does it make sense to talk about
material objects beyond our experimental operations, whose properties can
be determined by the methods used in the sciences? Or, on the contrary,
must we limit ourselves to speak about real objects only when they are
measured?
Thales' achievement clearly exceeded that of the Pharaoh. Does that
mean that Thales' thought process is more real than the pyramid? Can
we go even further and become so amazed at our own intelligence as to
attribute to it a deeper reality than the material object which provided the
original stimulus?
Our astonishment at Thales' intellect is paralleled today by our aston
ishment at the power of quantum theory. The sheer accumulation of its
exact predictions must surely make it the most successful theory in the
history of humankind. In addition, it has stimulated an amazing series of
technological developments.
And yet ... the intellect remains unsatisfied. For many physicists the
theory contains, at least, strong conceptual difficulties. For others the ap
parent conclusions of the theory, about the reality of our physical world
and the ways in which we discover that reality, remain philosophically un
acceptable. A number of questions arise. Should we, perhaps, look for
an interpretation of the formalism of quantum theory that adapts bet
ter to our usual mode of understanding? Is there an alternate theory, of
which quantum theory is an approximation, which restores the principles
of locality and realism, questioned in quantum theory'! Is there any es
sential element missing in it? Or should we, on the contrary, abandon
our outdated epistemology and try to explain instead, on the basis of a
ix
x
new quantum epistemology, how the classical world in which we live can
emerge from a more fundamental quantum law? Or should we perhaps,
leave out philosophical arguments altogether, and confine ourselves to the
safe formal domain where just the calculus in itself is everything?
All of these possibilities were discussed, both from the theoretical and
experimental points of view, at the International Symposium on Funda
mental Problems in Quantum Physics, held in Oviedo (Spain) in the sum
mer of 1993 in the pleasant surroundings of the Hotel de la Reconquista.
The papers presented at this Symposium are collected in the present book.
We would like to express our gratitude to the contributors and to all
the Institutions and Authorities that aided the Organizing Committee, in
particular:
- Commission of the European Communities, DG XII (Brussels)
- Ministerio de Educacion y Ciencia, DGICYT (Madrid)
- Presidente del Principado de Asturias
- Consejeria de Educacion, Cultura, Deportes y Juventud del Principado
de Asturias
- Fundacion Principe de Asturias
- Vicerrectorado de Iuvestigacion de la Universidad de Oviedo
- Vic.errectorado de Investigac.ioll de la Universidad Autonoma de Madrid
- Vicerrectorado de Investigac.ion de la Universidad de Cantabria (San-
tander)
- Vicerrectorado de Estudiantes de la Universidad de Oviedo
- Direccion General de Turismo del Principado de Asturias
Last but not least, we would like to express our thanks to Professors A.
F. Raiiada, J. L. Sanc.hez-Gomez, and E. Santos as well as to Dr. Susana
F. Huelga and Ms. Ana Maria Espino for their organizational activity,
without which the symposium would not have been such a success.
The Editors