Interpreting the Quantum World
Editorial Reviews
Review
'In his powerful new book Bub clearly lays out the measurement problem faced by Dirac and von Neuman's interpretation of quantum mechanics ... The book's first three chapters should be required reading for anyone wishing to get up to speed on contemporary discussions of the conceptual foundations of quantum mechanics.' Physics Today
'I have become deeply impressed by the philosophical value and scope of the approach to understanding quantum theory that Bub has carved out. It is an approach that I am convinced will have a major impact on the philosophy of quantum theory for at least the next decade.' Excerpt from Rob Clifton's letter to the 1998 Lakatos Award Committee
' ... there is much to learn from Bub's book, and I recommend it without hesitation to all those who are interested in the foundations of quantum theory.' Studies in the History and Philosophy of Modern Physics
Book Description
This is a book about the interpretation of quantum mechanics, in particular how to resolve the measurement problem introduced by the orthodox interpretation of the theory. The heart of the book is a new result that shows how to construct all possible "no collapse" interpretations, subject to certain natural constraints and the limitations imposed by the hidden variable theorems. From this perspective one sees precisely where things have gone awry and what the options are. Various interpretations, including Bohm's causal interpretation, Bohr's complementarity interpretation, and the modal interpretation are shown to be special cases of this result, for different choices of a "preferred" observable. A feature of the book is a novel treatment of the main hidden variable theorems, and an extended critique of contemporary "decoherence" theories of measurement. The discussion is self-contained and organized so that the technical portions may be skipped without losing the argument.
Interpreting the Quantum World,Jeffrey Bub,Cambridge University Press,052165386X,Physics,Quantum Theory,Science,Science/Mathematics,Quantum physics (quantum mechanics),Science / Quantum Theory
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