The Principles of Quantum Theory, From Planck's Quanta to the Higgs Boson: The Nature of Quantum Reality and the Spirit of Copenhagen

by Arkady Plotnitsky

The book considers foundational thinking in quantum theory, focusing on the role the fundamental principles and principle thinking there, including thinking that leads to the invention of new principles, which is, the book contends, one of the ultimate achievements of theoretical thinking in physics and beyond. The focus on principles, prominent during the rise and in the immediate aftermath of quantum theory, has been uncommon in more recent discussions and debates concerning it. The book argues, however, that exploring the fundamental principles and principle thinking is exceptionally helpful in addressing the key issues at stake in quantum foundations and the seemingly interminable debates concerning them. Principle thinking led to major breakthroughs throughout the history of quantum theory, beginning with the old quantum theory and quantum mechanics, the first definitive quantum theory, which it remains within its proper (nonrelativistic) scope. It has, the book also argues, been equally important in quantum field theory, which has been the frontier of quantum theory for quite a while now, and more recently, in quantum information theory, where principle thinking was given new prominence. The approach allows the book to develop a new understanding of both the history and philosophy of quantum theory, from Planck’s quantum to the Higgs boson, and beyond, and of the thinking the key founding figures, such as Einstein, Bohr, Heisenberg, Schrödinger, and Dirac, as well as some among more recent theorists. The book also extensively considers the nature of quantum probability, and contains a new interpretation of quantum mechanics, “the statistical Copenhagen interpretation.” Overall, the book’s argument is guided by what Heisenberg called “the spirit of Copenhagen,” which is defined by three great divorces from the preceding foundational thinking in physics―reality from realism, probability from causality, and locality from relativity―and defined the fundamental principles of quantum theory accordingly.

Genres: Physics

347 pages, Hardcover

Published October 5, 2016

Reviews

[Jonathan Hockey · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is a very good natural philosophical style summary of much of the core development of quantum theory in this book, which I found to be very useful. I also found the RWR approach, reality without realism, to be an interesting counterpoint to my own perspectives, (and it is also a counterpoint to the ideas of someone such as Penrose who would emphasise Platonism, realism, and an approach of getting the quantum from general relativity, rather than the other way round, also I don't believe Penrose is particularly sympathetic to the informational approach).

Personally though, I don't think this approach really tells us very much beyond the fact that he wants to focus on the informational and operational angle, and ignore reality where it goes beyond information that we can gather about things. It is a fair enough pragmatic stance, but I don't think it gives us the kind of reality we need for a foundational physical theory to have the force that it should. Basically the whole point seems to be to embrace the incomplete Copenhagen interpretation as being somehow complete and end the discussion there.

I don't think it is enough, but I am personally still very interested in the boundaries of the informational approach, because where it reaches its limit is where I think we can discover something new. The whole celular automata stuff is something I will need to pursue and read more on somewhere else, perhaps Gerard T'hooft or some other person can provide a focused account of this aspect of the theory. Whether we can ever truly get It from Bit, I remain slightly unconvinced because a lot of it revolves around moving one step down the chain of interpretation to the representation of the thing, and pretending that the representation is the thing, which I think is always a dangerous move, due to the hypostatisation involved.