Quantum Mechanical Initial Conditions And Gravity Copenhagen S Illusions

Since the late 1920s, the theory formulated by Niels Bohr and his colleagues at Copenhagen has been the dominant interpretation of quantum mechanics. Yet an alternative interpretation, rooted in the work of Luis de Broglie and reformulated and extended by David Bohm and his colleagues in the 1950s, explains the experimental data equally well. Through a detailed historical and sociological study of debates within and between opposing camps, and the reception given each theory, Cushing showed that despite the pre-eminence of the Copenhagen view, the Bohms interpretation cannot be ignored. Copenhagen interpretation became widely accepted not because it is a better explanation ("how") of atomic phenomena than Bohms but because it happened to appear first. In this monograph the author shows that Bohm's point of view is more productive. The properties of solitary objects, which he discusses contradict the Copenhagen's Illusions, but the results are or proved or provable experimentally.

Since their discovery a mere thirty years ago, solitons have been invoked to explain such diverse phenomena as: The long lived 'giant red spot' in the highly turbulent Jovian atmosphere. The famous Fermi-Pasta-Ulam paradox wherein a nonlinearly coupled lattice of particles does not display the expected equipartition of energy among available modes: ion-acoustic waves in a plasma; energy storage and transfer in proteins via the Davydov soliton; and, the propagation of short laser pulses in optical fibres over long distances with negligible shape change. This volume presents important research from around the globe.

Reviews, news articles, interviews and essays capturing 100 years of art, architecture, literature, music, dance, theater, film and television.

Presents extended reviews of noteworthy books, short reviews, essays and articles on topics and trends in publishing, literature, culture and the arts. Includes lists of best sellers (hardcover and paperback).

Quantum physics is believed to be the fundamental theory underlying our understanding of the physical universe. However, it is based on concepts and principles that have always been difficult to understand and controversial in their interpretation. This book aims to explain these issues using a minimum of technical language and mathematics. After a brief introduction to the ideas of quantum physics, the problems of interpretation are identified and explained. The rest of the book surveys, describes and criticises a range of suggestions that have been made with the aim of resolving these problems; these include the traditional, or 'Copenhagen' interpretation, the possible role of the conscious mind in measurement, and the postulate of parallel universes. This new edition has been revised throughout to take into account developments in this field over the past fifteen years, including the idea of 'consistent histories' to which a completely new chapter is devoted.

In this "provocative" book (New York Times), a contrarian physicist argues that her field's modern obsession with beauty has given us wonderful math but bad science. Whether pondering black holes or predicting discoveries at CERN, physicists believe the best theories are beautiful, natural, and elegant, and this standard separates popular theories from disposable ones. This is why, Sabine Hossenfelder argues, we have not seen a major breakthrough in the foundations of physics for more than four decades. The belief in beauty has become so dogmatic that it now conflicts with scientific objectivity: observation has been unable to confirm mindboggling theories, like supersymmetry or grand unification, invented by physicists based on aesthetic criteria. Worse, these "too good to not be true" theories are actually untestable and they have left the field in a cul-de-sac. To escape, physicists must rethink their methods. Only by embracing reality as it is can science discover the truth.

Was the first book to examine the exciting area of overlap between philosophy and quantum mechanics with chapters by leading experts from around the world.