Understanding Quantum Mechanics

by Roland Omnès

Overview

Here Roland Omnès offers a clear, up-to-date guide to the conceptual framework of quantum mechanics. In an area that has provoked much philosophical debate, Omnès has achieved high recognition for his Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics (Princeton 1994), a book for specialists. Now the author has transformed his own theory into a short and readable text that enables beginning students and experienced physicists, mathematicians, and philosophers to form a comprehensive picture of the field while learning about the most recent advances.


This new book presents a more streamlined version of the Copenhagen interpretation, showing its logical consistency and completeness. The problem of measurement is a major area of inquiry, with the author surveying its history from Planck to Heisenberg before describing the consistent-histories interpretation. He draws upon the most recent research on the decoherence effect (related to the modern resolution of the famous Schrödinger's cat problem) and an exact formulation of the correspondence between quantum and particle physics (implying a derivation of classical determinism from quantum probabilism).


Interpretation is organized with the help of a universal and sound language using so-called consistent histories. As a language and a method, it can now be shown to be free of ambiguity and it makes interpretation much clearer and closer to common sense.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691004358
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	03/28/1999
Pages:	328
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Roland Omnès is Professor of Physics at the University of Paris XI. His books include Quantum Philosophy: Understanding and Interpreting Contemporary Science (see p. 22 in this catalog), The Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics (Princeton), L'Univers et ses Metamorphoses, and Introduction to Particle Physics.

Table of Contents

Preface
Pt. 1	The Genesis of Quantum Mechanics	1
Ch. 1	The Discovery of Planck's Constant	3
Ch. 2	The Bohr Atom	11
Ch. 3	Matrix Mechanics	22
Ch. 4	Wave Mechanics	30
Pt. 2	A Short History of Interpretation	37
Ch. 5	The Copenhagen Interpretation	41
Ch. 6	Interpretation after Copenhagen	55
Ch. 7	The Present State of Interpretation	69
Pt. 3	Reconstructing Interpretation	87
Ch. 8	Principles	90
Ch. 9	Quantum Properties	103
Ch. 10	Classical Properties	110
Ch. 11	Classical Dynamics	124
Ch. 12	Histories	134
Ch. 13	The State of a System	144
Ch. 14	Consistent Histories	157
Ch. 15	Complementarity	169
Ch. 16	Recovering Common Sense	183
Ch. 17	The Decoherence Effect	196
Ch. 18	Theory of Decoherence	208
Ch. 19	Decoherence and Measurements	221
Ch. 20	Fundamental Questions	235
Ch. 21	Measurements	257
Ch. 22	Experiments	267
Notes and Comments	285
References	295
Index	303

Editorial Reviews

Omn<`e>s (physics, U. of Paris XI) offers beginning students and other bewildered readers with some science background, an explanation of the interpretation of quantum mechanics. He argues that the interpretations are now totally consistent and logical with the development of the concept of decoherence and the full insertion of classical physics into the framework of quantum physics. He intends this account to augment a core textbook on the discipline. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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