Times Arrows And Quantum Measurement

Author : Lawrence S. Schulman
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780521567756
Total Pages : 370 pages
Book Rating : 4.50/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Time's Arrows and Quantum Measurement written by Lawrence S. Schulman and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1997-07-31 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An introduction to the arrow of time and a new, related, theory of quantum measurement.

Author : Huw Price
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0198026137
Total Pages : 321 pages
Book Rating : 4.36/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Time's Arrow and Archimedes' Point written by Huw Price and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1997-12-04 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why is the future so different from the past? Why does the past affect the future and not the other way around? What does quantum mechanics really tell us about the world? In this important and accessible book, Huw Price throws fascinating new light on some of the great mysteries of modern physics, and connects them in a wholly original way. Price begins with the mystery of the arrow of time. Why, for example, does disorder always increase, as required by the second law of thermodynamics? Price shows that, for over a century, most physicists have thought about these problems the wrong way. Misled by the human perspective from within time, which distorts and exaggerates the differences between past and future, they have fallen victim to what Price calls the "double standard fallacy": proposed explanations of the difference between the past and the future turn out to rely on a difference which has been slipped in at the beginning, when the physicists themselves treat the past and future in different ways. To avoid this fallacy, Price argues, we need to overcome our natural tendency to think about the past and the future differently. We need to imagine a point outside time -- an Archimedean "view from nowhen" -- from which to observe time in an unbiased way. Offering a lively criticism of many major modern physicists, including Richard Feynman and Stephen Hawking, Price shows that this fallacy remains common in physics today -- for example, when contemporary cosmologists theorize about the eventual fate of the universe. The "big bang" theory normally assumes that the beginning and end of the universe will be very different. But if we are to avoid the double standard fallacy, we need to consider time symmetrically, and take seriously the possibility that the arrow of time may reverse when the universe recollapses into a "big crunch." Price then turns to the greatest mystery of modern physics, the meaning of quantum theory. He argues that in missing the Archimedean viewpoint, modern physics has missed a radical and attractive solution to many of the apparent paradoxes of quantum physics. Many consequences of quantum theory appear counterintuitive, such as Schrodinger's Cat, whose condition seems undetermined until observed, and Bell's Theorem, which suggests a spooky "nonlocality," where events happening simultaneously in different places seem to affect each other directly. Price shows that these paradoxes can be avoided by allowing that at the quantum level the future does, indeed, affect the past. This demystifies nonlocality, and supports Einstein's unpopular intuition that quantum theory describes an objective world, existing independently of human observers: the Cat is alive or dead, even when nobody looks. So interpreted, Price argues, quantum mechanics is simply the kind of theory we ought to have expected in microphysics -- from the symmetric standpoint. Time's Arrow and Archimedes' Point presents an innovative and controversial view of time and contemporary physics. In this exciting book, Price urges physicists, philosophers, and anyone who has ever pondered the mysteries of time to look at the world from the fresh perspective of Archimedes' Point and gain a deeper understanding of ourselves, the universe around us, and our own place in time.

Author : Steven F. Savitt
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780521599450
Total Pages : 348 pages
Book Rating : 4.58/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Time's Arrows Today written by Steven F. Savitt and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1997-06-13 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While experience tells us that time flows from the past to the present and into the future, a number of philosophical and physical objections exist to this commonsense view of dynamic time. In an attempt to make sense of this conundrum, philosophers and physicists are forced to confront fascinating questions, such as: Can effects precede causes? Can one travel in time? Can the expansion of the Universe or the process of measurement in quantum mechanics define a direction in time? In this book, researchers from both physics and philosophy attempt to answer these issues in an interesting, yet rigorous way. This fascinating book will be of interest to physicists and philosophers of science and educated general readers interested in the direction of time.

Author : Daniela Mugnai
Publisher : CNR Edizioni
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.91/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Time's Arrows, Quantum Measurement, and Superluminal Behavior written by Daniela Mugnai and published by CNR Edizioni. This book was released on 2001 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : J. J. Halliwell
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780521568371
Total Pages : 540 pages
Book Rating : 4.74/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Physical Origins of Time Asymmetry written by J. J. Halliwell and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1996-03-21 with total page 540 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We say that the processes going on in the world about us are asymmetric in time or display an arrow of time. Yet this manifest fact of our experience is particularly difficult to explain in terms of the fundamental laws of physics. This volume reconciles these profoundly conflicting facts.

Author : Roger Highfield
Publisher : Random House
ISBN 13 : 0753551799
Total Pages : 567 pages
Book Rating : 4.90/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Arrow Of Time written by Roger Highfield and published by Random House. This book was released on 2015-06-30 with total page 567 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In our century, the subject of time has become an area of serious inquiry for science. Theories that contain time as a simple quantity form the basis of our understanding of many scientific disciplines, yet the debate rages on: why does there seem to be a direction to time, an arrow of time pointing from past to future? In this authoritative and accessible Sunday Times bestseller, physical chemist Dr Peter Coveney and award-winning science journalist Dr Roger Highfield demonstrate that the common sense view of time agrees with the most advanced scientific theory. Time does in fact move like an arrow, shooting forward into what is genuinely unknown, leaving the past immutably behind. The authors make their case by exploring three centuries of science, offering bold reinterpretations of Newton’s mechanics, Einstein’s special and general theories of relativity, quantum mechanics, and advancing the insights of chaos theory. In their voyage through science the authors link apparently irreconcilable subjects, from Einstein’s obsession with causality to chaos theory, from Marvell’s winged chariot to that Monday morning feeling. Finally, drawing together the various interpretations of time, they describe a novel way to give it a sense of direction. And they call for a new fundamental theory to take account of the Arrow of Time. Foreword by Ilya Prigogine, Nobel laureate.

Author : Huw Price
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780199839322
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.28/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Time's Arrow and Archimedes' Point written by Huw Price and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1997-12-04 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why is the future so different from the past? Why does the past affect the future and not the other way around? What does quantum mechanics really tell us about the world? In this important and accessible book, Huw Price throws fascinating new light on some of the great mysteries of modern physics, and connects them in a wholly original way. Price begins with the mystery of the arrow of time. Why, for example, does disorder always increase, as required by the second law of thermodynamics? Price shows that, for over a century, most physicists have thought about these problems the wrong way. Misled by the human perspective from within time, which distorts and exaggerates the differences between past and future, they have fallen victim to what Price calls the "double standard fallacy": proposed explanations of the difference between the past and the future turn out to rely on a difference which has been slipped in at the beginning, when the physicists themselves treat the past and future in different ways. To avoid this fallacy, Price argues, we need to overcome our natural tendency to think about the past and the future differently. We need to imagine a point outside time -- an Archimedean "view from nowhen" -- from which to observe time in an unbiased way. Offering a lively criticism of many major modern physicists, including Richard Feynman and Stephen Hawking, Price shows that this fallacy remains common in physics today -- for example, when contemporary cosmologists theorize about the eventual fate of the universe. The "big bang" theory normally assumes that the beginning and end of the universe will be very different. But if we are to avoid the double standard fallacy, we need to consider time symmetrically, and take seriously the possibility that the arrow of time may reverse when the universe recollapses into a "big crunch." Price then turns to the greatest mystery of modern physics, the meaning of quantum theory. He argues that in missing the Archimedean viewpoint, modern physics has missed a radical and attractive solution to many of the apparent paradoxes of quantum physics. Many consequences of quantum theory appear counterintuitive, such as Schrodinger's Cat, whose condition seems undetermined until observed, and Bell's Theorem, which suggests a spooky "nonlocality," where events happening simultaneously in different places seem to affect each other directly. Price shows that these paradoxes can be avoided by allowing that at the quantum level the future does, indeed, affect the past. This demystifies nonlocality, and supports Einstein's unpopular intuition that quantum theory describes an objective world, existing independently of human observers: the Cat is alive or dead, even when nobody looks. So interpreted, Price argues, quantum mechanics is simply the kind of theory we ought to have expected in microphysics -- from the symmetric standpoint. Time's Arrow and Archimedes' Point presents an innovative and controversial view of time and contemporary physics. In this exciting book, Price urges physicists, philosophers, and anyone who has ever pondered the mysteries of time to look at the world from the fresh perspective of Archimedes' Point and gain a deeper understanding of ourselves, the universe around us, and our own place in time.

Author : Michael C. Mackey
Publisher : Courier Corporation
ISBN 13 : 0486152251
Total Pages : 192 pages
Book Rating : 4.57/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Time's Arrow written by Michael C. Mackey and published by Courier Corporation. This book was released on 2011-11-30 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Exploration of Second Law of Thermodynamics details fundamental dynamic properties behind the construction of statistical mechanics. Geared toward physicists and applied mathematicians; suitable for advanced undergraduate, graduate courses. 1992 edition.

Author : P Busch
Publisher : World Scientific
ISBN 13 : 9814552615
Total Pages : 504 pages
Book Rating : 4.15/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Symposium On The Foundations Of Modern Physics 1993 - Quantum Measurement, Irreversibility And The Physics Of Information written by P Busch and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 1994-02-08 with total page 504 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Symposium on the Foundations of Modern Physics 1993 is the fourth in a series of conferences held in Joensuu, Finland, in the years 1985, 1987 and 1990 and is devoted to offering discussions on foundational problems of quantum mechanics and other fundamental physical theories, taking into account new experimental developments. The surveying of the progress with respect to fundamental questions of the quantum theory of measurement forms the guiding line of thought of the present Symposium, the main themes discussed being: the interrelation of quantum measurement and irreversibility; the physics of information (concerned with questions of information processing and quantum noise); quantum interference and mesoscopic quantum effects (searching for the micro-macro borderline); and the quantum-classical relationship (the need for classical pointer and their realisation).

Author : Laura Mersini-Houghton
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 3642232590
Total Pages : 223 pages
Book Rating : 4.96/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Arrows of Time written by Laura Mersini-Houghton and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-05-30 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The concept of time has fascinated humanity throughout recorded history, and it remains one of the biggest mysteries in science and philosophy. Time is clearly one of the fundamental building blocks of the universe and thus a deeper understanding of nature at a fundamental level also demands a comprehension of time. Furthermore, the origins of the universe are closely intertwined with the puzzle of time: Did time emerge at the Big Bang? Why does the arrow of time ‘conspire’ with the order of the initial state of the universe? This book addresses many of the most important questions about time: What is time, and is it fundamental or emergent? Why is there such an arrow of time, closely related to the initial state of the universe, and why do the cosmic, thermodynamic and other arrows agree? These issues are discussed here by leading experts, and each offers a new perspective on the debate. Their contributions delve into the most difficult research topic in physics, also describing the latest cutting edge research on the subject. The book also offers readers a comparison between the different outlooks of philosophy, physics and cosmology on the puzzle of time. This volume is intended to be useful for research purposes, but most chapters are also accessible to a more general audience of scientifically educated readers looking for deeper insights.