Quantum Theory as an Emergent Phenomenon - The Statistical Mechanics of Matrix Models as the Precursor of Quantum Field Theory (Hardcover, New)

Quantum mechanics is our most successful physical theory. However, it raises conceptual issues that have perplexed physicists and philosophers of science for decades. This book develops a new approach, based on the proposal that quantum theory is not a complete, final theory, but is in fact an emergent phenomenon arising from a deeper level of dynamics. The dynamics at this deeper level are taken to be an extension of classical dynamics to non-commuting matrix variables, with cyclic permutation inside a trace used as the basic calculational tool. With plausible assumptions, quantum theory is shown to emerge as the statistical thermodynamics of this underlying theory, with the canonical commutation/anticommutation relations derived from a generalized equipartition theorem. Brownian motion corrections to this thermodynamics are argued to lead to state vector reduction and to the probabilistic interpretation of quantum theory, making contact with recent phenomenological proposals for stochastic modifications to Schrodinger dynamics.

General

Imprint:	Cambridge UniversityPress
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Release date:	August 2004
First published:	2004
Authors:	Stephen L. Adler
Dimensions:	244 x 170 x 14mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Hardcover
Pages:	238
Edition:	New
ISBN-13:	978-0-521-83194-9
Categories:	Books > Science & Mathematics > Science: general issues > Philosophy of science Books > Science & Mathematics > Physics > Quantum physics (quantum mechanics) > General Promotions
LSN:	0-521-83194-6
Barcode:	9780521831949

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