Science and Ultimate Reality: Quantum Theory, Cosmology, and Complexity PDF
Preview Science and Ultimate Reality: Quantum Theory, Cosmology, and Complexity
SCIENCE AND ULTIMATE REALITY QuantumTheory,Cosmology,andComplexity This volume provides a fascinating preview of the future of physics, covering fundamental physics at the frontiers of research. It comprises a wide variety of contributions from leading thinkers in the field, inspired by the pioneering work ofJohnA.Wheeler.Quantumtheoryrepresentsaunifyingthemewithinthebook, alongwithtopicssuchasthenatureofphysicalreality,thearrowoftime,models oftheuniverse,superstrings,gravitationalradiation,quantumgravity,andcosmic inflation. Attempts to formulate a final unified theory of physics are discussed, along with the existence of hidden dimensions of space, spacetime singularities, hiddencosmicmatter,andthestrangeworldofquantumtechnology. John Archibald Wheeler is one of the most influential scientists of the twentieth century. His extraordinary career has spanned momentous advances in physics,fromthebirthofthenuclearagetotheconceptionofthequantumcomputer. Famousforcoiningtheterm“blackhole,”ProfessorWheelerhelpedlaythefoun- dationsfortherebirthofgravitationasamainstreambranchofscience,triggering theexplosivegrowthinastrophysicsandcosmologythatfollowed.Hisearlycontri- butionstophysicsincludetheSmatrix,thetheoryofnuclearrotation(withEdward Teller),thetheoryofnuclearfission(withNielsBohr),action-at-a-distanceelectro- dynamics (with Richard Feynman), positrons as backward-in-time electrons, the universalFermiinteraction(withJaymeTiomno),muonicatoms,andthecollective modelofthenucleus.Hisinimitablestyleofthinking,quirkywit,andloveofthe bizarrehaveinspiredgenerationsofphysicists. John Archibald Wheeler, 1987. (Photograph by Robert Matthews, courtesy of PrincetonUniversity.) SCIENCE AND ULTIMATE REALITY Quantum Theory, Cosmology, and Complexity Editedby JOHN D. BARROW UniversityofCambridge PAUL C. W. DAVIES MacquarieUniversity and CHARLES L. HARPER, Jr. JohnTempletonFoundation published by the press syndicate of the university of cambridge ThePittBuilding,TrumpingtonStreet,Cambridge,UnitedKingdom cambridge university press TheEdinburghBuilding,Cambridge,CB22RU,UK 40West20thStreet,NewYork,NY10011–4211,USA 477WilliamstownRoad,PortMelbourne,VIC3207,Australia RuizdeAlarco´n13,28014Madrid,Spain DockHouse,TheWaterfront,CapeTown8001,SouthAfrica http://www.cambridge.org (cid:1)C CambridgeUniversityPress2004 Thisbookisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements, noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithout thewrittenpermissionofCambridgeUniversityPress. Firstpublished2004 Reprinted2005(twice) PrintedintheUnitedKingdomattheUniversityPress,Cambridge TypefaceTimes11/14pt. SystemLATEX2ε [tb] AcatalogrecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationdata Scienceandultimatereality:quantumtheory,cosmology,andcomplexity/editedby JohnD.Barrow,PaulC.W.Davies,andCharlesL.Harper,Jr. p. cm. Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN052183113X 1.Quantumtheory. 2.Cosmology. 3.Wheeler,JohnArchibald,1911– I.Barrow,JohnD.,1952– II.Davies,P.C.W. III.Harper,CharlesL.,1958– QC174.12.S4 2004 530.12–dc22 2003055903 ISBN052183113Xhardback ThepublisherhasuseditsbestendeavorstoensurethattheURLsforexternalwebsitesreferredtointhisbook arecorrectandactiveatthetimeofgoingtopress.However,thepublisherhasnoresponsibilityforthewebsites andcanmakenoguaranteethatasitewillremainliveorthatthecontentisorwillremainappropriate. Contents Listofcontributors page viii Foreword xi Editors’preface xiii Preface xvii Acknowledgments xx PartI AnoverviewofthecontributionsofJohnArchibald Wheeler 1 JohnArchibaldWheelerandtheclashofideas 3 PaulC.W.Davies PartII Anhistorian’stributetoJohnArchibaldWheelerand scientificspeculationthroughtheages 2 TheheritageofHeraclitus:JohnArchibaldWheelerandtheitch tospeculate 27 JaroslavPelikan PartIII Quantumreality:theory 3 Whyisnaturedescribedbyquantumtheory? 45 LucienHardy 4 Thought-experimentsinhonorofJohnArchibaldWheeler 72 FreemanJ.Dyson 5 Itfromqubit 90 DavidDeutsch 6 Thewavefunction:itorbit? 103 H.DieterZeh 7 QuantumDarwinismandenvariance 121 WojciechH.Zurek 8 Usingqubitstolearnabout“it” 138 JuanPabloPaz v vi Contents 9 Quantumgravityasanordinarygaugetheory 153 JuanM.Maldacena 10 TheEverettinterpretationofquantummechanics 167 BryceS.DeWitt PartIV Quantumreality:experiment 11 Whythequantum?“It”from“bit”?Aparticipatoryuniverse? Threefar-reachingchallengesfromJohnArchibaldWheelerand theirrelationtoexperiment 201 AntonZeilinger 12 Speakableandunspeakable,pastandfuture 221 AephraimM.Steinberg 13 Conceptualtensionsbetweenquantummechanicsandgeneral relativity:arethereexperimentalconsequences? 254 RaymondY.Chiao 14 BreedingnonlocalSchro¨dingercats:athought-experimentto explorethequantum–classicalboundary 280 SergeHaroche 15 Quantumerasingthenatureofreality:or,perhaps,thereality ofnature? 306 PaulG.KwiatandBerthold-GeorgEnglert 16 Quantumfeedbackandthequantum–classicaltransition 329 HideoMabuchi 17 Whatquantumcomputersmaytellusaboutquantummechanics 345 ChristopherR.Monroe PartV Bigquestionsincosmology 18 Cosmicinflationandthearrowoftime 363 AndreasAlbrecht 19 Cosmologyandimmutability 402 JohnD.Barrow 20 Inflation,quantumcosmology,andtheanthropicprinciple 426 AndreiLinde 21 Paralleluniverses 459 MaxTegmark 22 Quantumtheoriesofgravity:resultsandprospects 492 LeeSmolin 23 Agenuinelyevolvinguniverse 528 Joa˜oMagueijo 24 Planck-scalemodelsoftheuniverse 550 FotiniMarkopoulou Contents vii 25 Implicationsofadditionalspatialdimensionsforquestionsin cosmology 564 LisaRandall PartVI Emergence,life,andrelatedtopics 26 Emergence:usfromit 577 PhilipD.Clayton 27 Truecomplexityanditsassociatedontology 607 GeorgeF.R.Ellis 28 Thethreeorigins:cosmos,life,andmind 637 MarceloGleiser 29 Autonomousagents 654 StuartKauffman 30 Toseeaworldinagrainofsand 667 Shou-ChengZhang AppendixA ScienceandUltimateRealityProgramCommittees 691 AppendixB YoungResearchersCompetitioninhonorofJohn ArchibaldWheelerforphysicsgraduatestudents, postdoctoralfellows,andyoungfaculty 694 Index 697 Contributors AndreasAlbrecht,UniversityofCalifornia,Davis,USA JohnD.Barrow,UniversityofCambridge,UK RaymondY.Chiao,UniversityofCalifornia,Berkeley,USA PhilipD.Clayton,ClaremontSchoolofTheologyandClaremontGraduate University,Claremont,California,USA PaulC.W.Davies,MacquarieUniversity,Sydney,Australia DavidDeutsch,UniversityofOxford,UK BryceS.DeWitt,UniversityofTexas,Austin,USA FreemanJ.Dyson,InstituteforAdvancedStudy,Princeton,NewJersey,USA GeorgeF.R.Ellis,UniversityofCapeTown,SouthAfrica Berthold-GeorgEnglert,NationalUniversityofSingapore,Malaysia MarceloGleiser,DartmouthCollege,Hanover,NewHampshire,USA LucienHardy,PerimeterInstituteforTheoreticalPhysicsandtheUniversity ofWaterloo,Ontario,Canada SergeHaroche,CollegeofFrance,Paris StuartKauffman,SantaFeInstitute,SantaFe,NewMexico,USA PaulG.Kwiat,UniversityofIllinois,Champaign–Urbana,USA AndreiLinde,StanfordUniversity,Stanford,California,USA HideoMabuchi,CaliforniaInstituteofTechnology,Pasadena,USA Joa˜oMagueijo,ImperialCollegeofScience,TechnologyandMedicine, London,UK JuanM.Maldacena,InstituteforAdvancedStudy,Princeton,NewJersey, USA FotiniMarkopoulou,PerimeterInstituteforTheoreticalPhysicsandthe UniversityofWaterloo,Ontario,Canada ChristopherR.Monroe,UniversityofMichigan,AnnArbor,USA JuanPabloPaz,UniversityofBuenosAires,Argentina JaroslavPelikan,YaleUniversity,NewHaven,Connecticut,USA viii Listofcontributors ix LisaRandall,HarvardUniversity,Cambridge,Massachusetts,USA LeeSmolin,PerimeterInstituteforTheoreticalPhysicsandtheUniversityof Waterloo,Ontario,Canada AephraimM.Steinberg,UniversityofToronto,Ontario,Canada MaxTegmark,UniversityofPennsylvania,Philadelphia,Pennsylvania,USA H.DieterZeh,UniversityofHeidelberg,Germany AntonZeilinger,UniversityofVienna,Austria Shou-ChengZhang,StanfordUniversity,Stanford,California,USA WojciechH.Zurek,LosAlamosNationalLaboratory,LosAlamos,New Mexico,USA
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