Meir Hemmo - Böcker

Time asymmetric phenomena are successfully predicted by statistical mechanics. Yet the foundations of this theory are surprisingly shaky. Its explanation for the ease of mixing milk with coffee is incomplete, and even implies that un-mixing them should be just as easy. In this book the authors develop a new conceptual foundation for statistical mechanics that addresses this difficulty. Explaining the notions of macrostates, probability, measurement, memory, and the arrow of time in statistical mechanics, they reach the startling conclusion that Maxwell's Demon, the famous perpetuum mobile, is consistent with the fundamental physical laws. Mathematical treatments are avoided where possible, and instead the authors use novel diagrams to illustrate the text. This is a fascinating book for graduate students and researchers interested in the foundations and philosophy of physics.

Time asymmetric phenomena are successfully predicted by statistical mechanics. Yet the foundations of this theory are surprisingly shaky. Its explanation for the ease of mixing milk with coffee is incomplete, and even implies that un-mixing them should be just as easy. In this book the authors develop a new conceptual foundation for statistical mechanics that addresses this difficulty. Explaining the notions of macrostates, probability, measurement, memory, and the arrow of time in statistical mechanics, they reach the startling conclusion that Maxwell's Demon, the famous perpetuum mobile, is consistent with the fundamental physical laws. Mathematical treatments are avoided where possible, and instead the authors use novel diagrams to illustrate the text. This is a fascinating book for graduate students and researchers interested in the foundations and philosophy of physics.

This volume provides a broad perspective on the state of the art in the philosophy and conceptual foundations of quantum mechanics. Its essays take their starting point in the work and influence of Itamar Pitowsky, who has greatly influenced our understanding of what is characteristically non-classical about quantum probabilities and quantum logic, and this serves as a vantage point from which they reflect on key ongoing debates in the field. Readers will find a definitive and multi-faceted description of the major open questions in the foundations of quantum mechanics today, including: Is quantum mechanics a new theory of (contextual) probability? Should the quantum state be interpreted objectively or subjectively? How should probability be understood in the Everett interpretation of quantum mechanics? What are the limits of the physical implementation of computation? The impact of this volume goes beyond the exposition of Pitowsky’s influence: it provides a unique collection of essays by leading thinkers containing profound reflections on the field.Chapter 1. Classical logic, classical probability, and quantum mechanics (Samson Abramsky)Chapter 2. Why Scientific Realists Should Reject the Second Dogma of Quantum Mechanic (Valia Allori)Chapter 3. Unscrambling Subjective and Epistemic Probabilities (Guido Bacciagaluppi)Chapter 4. Wigner’s Friend as a Rational Agent (Veronika Baumann, Časlav Brukner)Chapter 5. Pitowsky's Epistemic Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics and the PBR Theorem (Yemima Ben-Menahem)Chapter 6. On the Mathematical Constitution and Explanation of Physical Facts (Joseph Berkovitz)Chapter 7. Everettian probabilities, the Deutsch-Wallace theorem and the Principal Principle (Harvey R. Brown, Gal Ben Porath)Chapter 8. ‘Two Dogmas’ Redu (Jeffrey Bub)Chapter 9. Physical Computability Theses (B. Jack Copeland, Oron Shagrir)Chapter 10. Agents in Healey’s Pragmatist Quantum Theory: A Comparison with Pitowsky’s Approach to Quantum Mechanics (Mauro Dorato)Chapter 11. Quantum Mechanics As a Theory of Observables and States and, Thereby, As a Theory of Probability (John Earman, Laura Ruetsche)Chapter 12. The Measurement Problem and two Dogmas about Quantum Mechanic (Laura Felline)Chapter 13. There Is More Than One Way to Skin a Cat: Quantum Information Principles In a Finite World(Amit Hagar)Chapter 14. Is Quantum Mechanics a New Theory of Probability? (Richard Healey)Chapter 15. Quantum Mechanics as a Theory of Probability (Meir Hemmo, Orly Shenker)Chapter 16. On the Three Types of Bell's Inequalities (Gábor Hofer-Szabó)Chapter 17. On the Descriptive Power of Probability Logic (Ehud Hrushovski)Chapter 18. The Argument against Quantum Computers (Gil Kalai)Chapter 19. Why a Relativistic Quantum Mechanical World Must be Indeterministic (Avi Levy, Meir Hemmo)Chapter 20. Subjectivists about Quantum Probabilities Should be Realists about Quantum States (Wayne C. Myrvold)Chapter 21. The Relativistic Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Argument (Michael Redhead)Chapter 22. What price statistical independence? How Einstein missed the photon.(Simon Saunders)Chapter 23. How (Maximally) Contextual is Quantum Mechanics? (Andrew W. Simmons)Chapter 24. Roots and (Re)Sources of Value (In)Definiteness Versus Contextuality (Karl Svozil) Chapter 25: Schrödinger’s Reaction to the EPR Paper (Jos Uffink)Chapter 26. Derivations of the Born Rule (Lev Vaidman)Chapter 27. Dynamical States and the Conventionality of (Non-) Classicality (Alexander Wilce).

Agents in Healey’s Pragmatist Quantum Theory: A Comparison with Pitowsky’s Approach to Quantum Mechanics (Mauro Dorato)Chapter 11. Quantum Mechanics As a Theory of Observables and States and, Thereby, As a Theory of Probability (John Earman, Laura Ruetsche)Chapter 12.

It is of interest to philosophers of science, philosophers of mind and biology interested in the notion of levels, but also to psychologists, cognitive scientists and neuroscientists investigating such issues as the precise relation of the mental to the underlying neural structures and the appropriate approach to study it.

This book offers a unique perspective on one of the deepest questions about the world we live in: is reality multi-leveled, or can everything be reduced to some fundamental ‘flat’ level?  This deep philosophical issue has widespread implications in philosophy, since it is fundamental to how we understand the world and the basic entities in it. Both the notion of ‘levels’ within science and their ontological implications are issues that are underexplored in the philosophical literature. The volume reconsiders the view that reality contains many levels and opens new ways to understand the ontological status of the special sciences. The book focuses on major open questions that arise at the foundations of cognitive science, cognitive psychology, brain science and other special sciences, in particular with respect to the physical foundations of these sciences. For example: Is the mental computational? Do brains compute? How can the special sciences be autonomous from physics, grounded in, or based on, physics and at the same time irreducible to physics?  The book is an important read for scientists and philosophers alike. It is of interest to philosophers of science, philosophers of mind and biology interested in the notion of levels, but also to psychologists, cognitive scientists and neuroscientists investigating such issues as the precise relation of the mental to the underlying neural structures and the appropriate approach to study it.

What is the role and meaning of probability in physical theory, in particular in two of the most successful theories of our age, quantum physics and statistical mechanics? Laws once conceived as universal and deterministic, such as Newton‘s laws of motion, or the second law of thermodynamics, are replaced in these theories by inherently probabilistic laws. This collection of essays by some of the world‘s foremost experts presents an in-depth analysis of the meaning of probability in contemporary physics. Among the questions addressed are: How are probabilities defined? Are they objective or subjective? What is their  explanatory value? What are the differences between quantum and classical probabilities? The result is an informative and thought-provoking book for the scientifically inquisitive.