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Fascinating discoveries have been made in recent years in the fields of the infinitely large and the infinitely small, and unexpected connections have emerged between these previously independent domains. Quantum physics, which challenges the way we conceive the reality around us, contributes to our attempt at understanding the greatest mysteries of cosmology on the scale of the Universe as a whole.

Recent astronomical observations, made with increasingly powerful instruments, have led us to understand that only 5% of what constitutes the Universe is known to us. Understanding the remaining 95% leads us to use quantum physics, which seems to indicate that the world around us is not as real as it intuitively appears to be.

Quantum Physics and Cosmology presents, in as accessible a manner as possible, the state of the art in these various scientific fields.

In this largely nontechnical book, eminent physicists and philosophers address the philosophical impact of recent advances in quantum physics. These are shown to shed new light on profound questions about realism, determinism, causality or locality. The participants contribute in the spirit of an open and honest discussion, reminiscent of the time when science and philosophy were inseparable. After the editors’ introduction, the next chapter reveals the strangeness of quantum mechanics and the subsequent discussions examine our notion of reality. The spotlight is then turned to the topic of decoherence. Bohm’s theory is critically examined in two chapters, and the relational interpretation of quantum mechanics is likewise described and discussed. The penultimate chapter presents a proposal for resolving the measurement problem, and finally thetopic of loop quantum gravity is presented by one of its founding fathers, Carlo Rovelli.

The original presentations and discussions on which this volume is based took place under the auspices of the French “Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques”. The book will appeal to everybody interested in knowing how our description of the world is impacted by the results of the most powerful and successful theory that physicists have ever built.