The quantum mechanics of minds and worlds / Jeffrey Alan Barrett.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Barrett, Jeffrey Alan.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Quantum theory.

Physical measurements.

Physical Description:

xv, 267 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1999.

Summary:

Barrett presents the most comprehensive study yet of a problem that has puzzled physicists and philosophers since the 1930s. Quantum mechanics is in one sense the most successful physical theory ever, accurately predicting the behavior of the basic constituents of matter. But it has an apparent ambiguity or inconsistency at its heart; Barrett gives a clear and challenging evaluation of attempts to deal with this problem.

Contents:

1 A brief introduction 1

1.1 A textbook example: The two-slit interference experiment 2

1.2 Another textbook example: Spin properties of spin-1/2 systems 8

1.3 A more exotic example: The curious behaviour of neutral K mesons 11

1.4 The measurement problem 14

2 The standard formulation of quantum mechanics 18

2.1 The foundations of a new theory 18

2.2 The collapse of the wave function 22

2.3 Von Neumann's formulation of quantum mechanics 30

2.3.1 The standard theory 31

2.3.2 A summary of the theory 37

2.4 How the theory works 38

2.5 Two discontents 41

2.6 Von Neumann's psychophysical parallelism and Wigner's friend 47

2.7 The measurement problem (again) 54

3 The theory of the universal wave function 56

3.1 What's wrong with von Neumann's theory? 56

3.2 Other formulations of quantum mechanics and their problems 59

3.3 Everett's project 63

3.4 The fundamental relativity of states 66

3.5 The appearance of phenomena 70

3.6 The deduction of subjective appearances 75

3.7 The mechanics of macroscopic systems 83

3.8 What are branches? 86

3.9 Interpreting Everett 90

4 The bare theory and determinate experience 92

4.1 The bare theory 94

4.2 The suggestive properties 95

4.3 Imperfect measurements 107

4.4 The account of experience 110

4.5 Problems with the bare theory 114

4.5.1 Preferred basis 114

4.5.2 Empirical incoherence 116

4.5.3 No account of statistical results 117

4.5.4 No general account of determinate results 119

5 Selecting a branch 121

5.1 Bohm's theory without the trajectories 122

5.2 Bohm's theory 127

5.3 Surreal trajectories and the persistance of memory 132

5.4 The failure of covariance 140

5.5 Position as the preferred physical property 144

5.6 The limiting properties in the context of Bohm's theory 146

6 Many worlds 149

6.1 The splitting-world interpretation 149

6.2 Traditional and real problems 154

6.2.1 Too many worlds? 154

6.2.2 The feeling of splitting 158

6.2.3 Compatibility with other physical theories 159

6.2.4 What it takes to be a world 160

6.2.5 Identifying worlds 162

6.2.6 Whence probability? 163

6.2.7 The preferred-basis problem 173

6.3 Many worlds without splitting 179

7 Many minds 185

7.1 How many minds? 185

7.1.1 The single-mind theory 186

7.1.2 The many-minds theory 192

7.2 The auxillary dynamics 197

7.2.1 The transcendental approach 198

7.2.2 The Bohm-Bell-Vink dynamics 202

7.3 Lockwood's minds 206

7.4 Relative facts 211

7.5 Correlations without correlata 217

8 Many histories 221

8.1 Interference effects and the environment 222

8.2 The sense in which it is difficult to distinguish pure states from mixtures 224

8.3 Decoherence and determinate perceptions 227

8.4 Gell-Mann and Hartle's many-histories approach 232

8.5 Some problems 237

8.6 Does the environment select the right determinate quantity? 242

9 The determinate-experience problem 245

A The Hilbert-space formalism 249

B A concrete example of an EPR experiment in the context of the Bare theory 252.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [255]-262) and index.

ISBN:

019823838X

OCLC:

41173744