Quantum Structural Studies

The structural aspects of composite quantum systems in the foundation, interpretation and application of quantum theory is an increasingly prominent topic of physics research. As an emerging field, it seeks to understand the origins of the classical world of experience from the quantum level. Quantum Structural Studies presents conceptual fundamentals and mathematical methods for investigating the structuring of quantum systems into subsystems. Split into four sections, the topics covered include the historical and philosophical aspects of quantum structures, specific interpretive approaches and ontologies, and alternative methodological approaches to quantum mechanics. Questions addressed are: Can the classically relevant degrees of freedom (such as the center of mass) be considered physically realistic, and if so, in what sense?In what sense might various emergent structures be relevant for the transition from the quantum description to the classical?Do suggested new approaches describe phenomenology and proposals for new experiments? Specialists, graduate students and researchers seeking an introduction to the field of emergent structures and new directions for research and experimentation can use this book to find up-to-date representative texts and reviews.

"The structural aspects of composite quantum systems in the foundation, interpretation and application of quantum theory is an increasingly prominent topic of physics research. As an emerging field, it seeks to understand the origins of the classical world of experience from the quantum level. Quantum Structural Studies presents conceptual fundamentals and mathematical methods for investigating the structuring of quantum systems into subsystems. Split into four sections, the topics covered include the historical and philosophical aspects of quantum structures, specific interpretive approaches and ontologies, and alternative methodological approaches to quantum mechanics. Questions addressed are: Can the classically relevant degrees of freedom (such as the center of mass) be considered physically realistic, and if so, in what sense? In what sense might various emergent structures be relevant for the transition from the quantum description to the classical? Do suggested new approaches describe phenomenology and proposals for new experiments? Specialists, graduate students and researchers seeking an introduction to the field of emergent structures and new directions for research and experimentation can use this book to find up-to-date representative texts and reviews."--Publisher's website

Quantum gravity is the name given to a theory that unites general relativity - Einstein's theory of gravitation and spacetime - with quantum field theory, our framework for describing non-gravitational forces. The Structural Foundations of Quantum Gravity brings together philosophers and physicists to discuss a range of conceptual issues that surface in the effort to unite these theories, focusing in particular on the ontological nature of the spacetime that results. Although there has been a great deal written about quantum gravity from the perspective of physicists and mathematicians, very little attention has been paid to the philosophical aspects. This volume closes that gap, with essays written by some of the leading researchers in the field. Individual papers defend or attack a structuralist perspective on the fundamental ontologies of our physical theories, which offers the possibility of shedding new light on a number of foundational problems. It is a book that will be of interest not only to physicists and philosophers of physics but to anyone concerned with foundational issues and curious to explore new directions in our understanding of spacetime and quantum physics.

Traditional approaches to cognitive psychology correspond with a classical view of logic and probability theory. More specifically, one typically assumes that cognitive processes of human thought are founded on the Boolean structures of classical logic, while the probabilistic aspects of these processes are based on the Kolmogorovian structures of classical probability theory. However, growing experimental evidence indicates that the models founded on classical structures systematically fail when human decisions are at stake. These experimental deviations from classical behavior have been called `paradoxes’, `fallacies’, `effects’ or `contradictions’, depending on the specific situation where they appear. But, they involve a broad spectrum of cognitive and social science domains, ranging from conceptual combination to decision making under uncertainty, behavioral economics, and linguistics. This situation has constituted a serious drawback to the development of various disciplines, like cognitive science, linguistics, artificial intelligence, economic modeling and behavioral finance. A different approach to cognitive psychology, initiated two decades ago, has meanwhile matured into a new domain of research, called ‘quantum cognition’. Its main feature is the use of the mathematical formalism of quantum theory as modeling tool for these cognitive situations where traditional classically based approaches fail. Quantum cognition has recently attracted the interest of important journals and editing houses, academic and funding institutions, popular science and media. Specifically, within a quantum cognition approach, one assumes that human decisions do not necessarily obey the rules of Boolean logic and Kolmogorovian probability, and can on the contrary be modeled by the quantum-mechanical formalism. Different concrete quantum-theoretic models have meanwhile been developed that successfully represent the cognitive situations that are classically problematical, by explaining observed deviations from classicality in terms of genuine quantum effects, such as `contextuality’, `emergence’, `interference’, `superposition’, `entanglement’ and `indistinguishability’. In addition, the validity of these quantum models is convincingly confirmed by new experimental tests. We also stress that, since the use of a quantum-theoretic framework is mainly for modeling purposes, the identification of quantum structures in cognitive processes does not presuppose (without being incompatible with it) the existence of microscopic quantum processes in the human brain. In this Research Topic, we review the major achievements that have been obtained in quantum cognition, by providing an accurate picture of the state-of-the-art of this emerging discipline. Our overview does not pretend to be either complete or exhaustive. But, we aim to introduce psychologists and social scientists to this challenging new research area, encouraging them, at the same time, to consider its promising results. It is our opinion that, if continuous progress in this domain can be realized, quantum cognition can constitute an important breakthrough in cognitive psychology, and potentially open the way towards a new scientific paradigm in social science.

Since its inception in the famous 1936 paper by Birkhoff and von Neumann entitled “The logic of quantum mechanics quantum logic, i.e. the logical investigation of quantum mechanics, has undergone an enormous development. Various schools of thought and approaches have emerged and there are a variety of technical results. Quantum logic is a heterogeneous field of research ranging from investigations which may be termed logical in the traditional sense to studies focusing on structures which are on the border between algebra and logic. For the latter structures the term quantum structures is appropriate. The chapters of this Handbook, which are authored by the most eminent scholars in the field, constitute a comprehensive presentation of the main schools, approaches and results in the field of quantum logic and quantum structures. Much of the material presented is of recent origin representing the frontier of the subject. The present volume focuses on quantum structures. Among the structures studied extensively in this volume are, just to name a few, Hilbert lattices, D-posets, effect algebras MV algebras, partially ordered Abelian groups and those structures underlying quantum probability. - Written by eminent scholars in the field of logic - A comprehensive presentation of the theory, approaches and results in the field of quantum logic - Volume focuses on quantum structures

Quantum Structures and the Nature of Reality is a collection of papers written for an interdisciplinary audience about the quantum structure research within the International Quantum Structures Association. The advent of quantum mechanics has changed our scientific worldview in a fundamental way. Many popular and semi-popular books have been published about the paradoxical aspects of quantum mechanics. Usually, however, these reflections find their origin in the standard views on quantum mechanics, most of all the wave-particle duality picture. Contrary to relativity theory, where the meaning of its revolutionary ideas was linked from the start with deep structural changes in the geometrical nature of our world, the deep structural changes about the nature of our reality that are indicated by quantum mechanics cannot be traced within the standard formulation. The study of the structure of quantum theory, its logical content, its axiomatic foundation, has been motivated primarily by the search for their structural changes. Due to the high mathematical sophistication of this quantum structure research, no books have been published which try to explain the recent results for an interdisciplinary audience. This book tries to fill this gap by collecting contributions from some of the main researchers in the field. They reveal the steps that have been taken towards a deeper structural understanding of quantum theory.

This volume contains papers presented at the Twelfth International Conference on Structural Studies, Repairs and Maintenance of Heritage Architecture. The conference provides an ideal forum for professionals in the area to discuss problems and solutions, and exchange opinions and experiences.

The present volume is a collection of review articles highlighting the fundamental advances made in this area by the internationally acclaimed research groups , most of them being pioneers themselves and coming together for the first time.