Quantum mechanics : an empiricist view

Quantum mechanics : an empiricist view / Bas C. van Fraassen.

The author argues that quantum theory admits a plurality of interpretations, each aiding further understanding of the theory, but also advocating specifically the Copenhagen Variant of the Modal Interpretation. That variant is applied to topics like the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox and the proble...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Van Fraassen, Bas C., 1941-
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Oxford [England] : New York : Clarendon Press ; Oxford University Press, 1991.
Subjects:
Quantum theory.
Science > Philosophy.
SCIENCE > Physics > Quantum Theory.
Quantum theory
Science > Philosophy
Kwantummechanica.
Online Access:Click for online access
Table of Contents:
  • Preface
  • Summary Table of Contents
  • Contents
  • 1. What Is Science?
  • 1. Two views about science
  • 2. Theories and models
  • 3. Interpretation: science as open text
  • 4. Models and scientific practice
  • 5. More about empiricism
  • PART I. DETERMINISM AND INDETERMINISM IN CLASSICAL PERSPECTIVE
  • 2. Determinism
  • 1. How symmetry is connected to determinism
  • 2. State-space models and their laws
  • 3. Symmetry, transformation, invariance
  • 4. Symmetries of time: classical (in)determinism
  • 5. Conservation laws and covariance
  • 3. Indeterminism and Probability1. Pure indeterminism and the modalities
  • 2. Probability as measure of the possible
  • 3. Symmetry and a priori probability
  • 4. Permutation symmetry: De Finetti's representation theorem
  • 5. Ergodic theory: underlying determinism
  • 6. A classical version of Schroedinger's equation
  • 7. Holism: indeterminism in compound systems
  • PART II. HOW THE PHENOMENA DEMAND QUANTUM THEORY
  • 4. The Empirical Basis of Quantum Theory
  • 1. Threat of indeterminism
  • 2. Causality in an indeterministic world
  • 3. Deduction of Bell's Inequalities4. The experiments
  • 5. General description of causal models
  • 6. Does locality really play a role?
  • 5. New Probability Models and their Logic
  • 1. When are values indeterminate?
  • 2. General and geometric probability models
  • 3. Accardi's inequalities
  • 4. The end of counterfactual definiteness
  • 5. Models of measurement: a trilemma for interpretation
  • 6. Introduction to quantum logic
  • 7. Is quantum logic important?
  • PART III. MATHEMATICAL FOUNDATIONS
  • 6. The Basic Theory of Quantum Mechanics
  • 1. Pure states and observables2. Pure states, observables, and vectors
  • 3. Observables and operators
  • 4. Mixed states and operators
  • 5. Gleason's theorem and its implications
  • 6. Symmetries and motion: Schroedinger's equation
  • 7. Symmetries and conservation laws
  • 8. The radical effect of superselection rules
  • 7. Composite Systems, Interaction, and Measurement
  • 1. Composition
  • 2. Reduction
  • 3. Interaction and the ignorance interpretation of mixtures
  • 4. The quantum-mechanical theory of measurement
  • 5. Preparation of state
  • PART IV. QUESTIONS OF INTERPRETATION8. Critique of the Standard Interpretation
  • 1. What is an interpretation?
  • 2. Two forms of indeterminism
  • 3. What happens in measurement? von Neumann's answer
  • 4. Von Neumann's first defence: consistency of measurement
  • 5. Von Neumann's second defence: repeatable measurement
  • 6. R.I.G. Hughes's argument from conditional probability
  • 7. Two cat paradoxes and the macro world
  • 8. Macroscopic character and superselection rules
  • 9. Modal Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics
  • 1. The modal interpretation

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