Product Information
Quantum mechanics is our most successful physical theory. However, it raises conceptual issues that have perplexed physicists and philosophers of science for decades. This 2004 book develops an 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 phenomenological proposals for stochastic modifications to Schroedinger dynamics.Product Identifiers
PublisherCambridge University Press
ISBN-139780521115971
eBay Product ID (ePID)95496289
Product Key Features
Publication NameQuantum Theory as an Emergent Phenomenon: The Statistical Mechanics of Matrix Models as the Precursor of Quantum Field Theory
SubjectPhysics
Publication Year2009
TypeTextbook
FormatPaperback
LanguageEnglish
AuthorStephen L. Adler
Number of Pages240 Pages
Dimensions
Item Height244 mm
Item Weight390 g
Additional Product Features
Country/Region of ManufactureUnited Kingdom
Title_AuthorStephen L. Adler