Quantum Theory and Beyond Essays and Discussions Arising from a Colloquium [Paperback]

This book deals with the issues and paradoxes of quantum theory.Quantum theory attempts to describe the discrete or atomic nature of matter and the physical world. This book contains the edited papers presented at a small informal colloquium held in Cambridge to discuss the need for fundamental revision in quantum theory.Quantum theory attempts to describe the discrete or atomic nature of matter and the physical world. This book contains the edited papers presented at a small informal colloquium held in Cambridge to discuss the need for fundamental revision in quantum theory.Quantum theory attempts to describe the discrete or atomic nature of matter and the physical world. Certain paradoxes connected with the use of our familiar ideas of the theory have led some physicists to suggest that a revision of quantum theory at its most fundamental level is now inevitable, while others think that the wide range of experimental success of the theory make such changes literally unthinkable. This book contains the edited papers presented at a small informal colloquium held in Cambridge in 1968 to discuss the need for fundamental revision in quantum theory. Most schools of thought on the foundations of the theory were represented, and to direct discussion some participants proposed actual changes. A principal aim was to pinpoint the source of difficulty in current ideas of the time or, failing that, to present alongside each other the various viewpoints about them.List of participants; Preface; Part I. Introduction: 1. The function of the colloquium - editorial; 2. The conceptual problem of quantum theory from the experimentalist's point of view O. R. Frisch; Part II. Niels Bohr and Complementarity: The Place of the Classical Language: 3. The Copenhagen interpretation C. F. von Weizs?cker; 4. On Bohr's views concerning the quantum theory D. Bohm; Part III. The Measurement Problem: 5. Quantal observation in statistical interpretation H. J. Groenewold; 6. Macroscopic physics, qual2