Barrett / Byrne The Everett Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics

Collected Works 1955-1980 with Commentary
Core Textbook
ISBN: 978-1-4008-4274-2
Verlag: De Gruyter
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 392 Seiten

No detailed description available for "The Everett Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics".

Autoren/Hrsg.

Barrett, Jeffrey A.

Byrne, Peter

Fachgebiete

• Naturwissenschaften Physik Quantenphysik Kernphysik
• Naturwissenschaften Physik Physik Allgemein Geschichte der Physik

Inhaltsverzeichnis

PREFACE xi

PART I INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER 1: General Introduction 3
Everett and His Project 3
Everett’s Target: The Measurement Problem 5

CHAPTER 2: Biographical Introduction 9
Basement Treasure 9
Life of Everett: The Short Story 10
Origins of the Theory 11
To Split or Not To Split 17
Operations Research 19
The Theory Matures 21

CHAPTER 3: Conceptual Introduction 26
The Quantum Measurement Problem 27
Everett’s Proposed Resolution 34
Interpretations of Everett 37
On the Faithful Interpretation of Everett 50

PART II THE EVOLUTION OF THE THESIS 55
CHAPTER 4: Minipaper: Objective versus Subjective Probability (1955) 57

CHAPTER 5: Minipaper: Quantitative Measure of Correlation (1955) 61
CHAPTER 6: Minipaper: Probability in Wave Mechanics (1955) 64
CHAPTER 7: Correspondence: Wheeler to Everett (1955) 71

CHAPTER 8: Long Thesis: Theory of the Universal Wave Function (1956) 72
Introduction 72
Probability, Information, and Correlation 80
Quantum Mechanics 95
Observation 117
Supplementary Topics 133
Discussion 151
Appendix I 159
Appendix II: Remarks on the Role of Theoretical Physics 168

CHAPTER 9: Short Thesis: "Relative State" Formulation of Quantum Mechanics (1957) 173
Introduction 175
Realm of Applicability of the Conventional or "External Observation"
Formulation of Quantum Mechanics 175
Quantum Mechanics Internal to an Isolated System 178
Concept of Relative State 179
Observation 183
Discussion 196

CHAPTER 10: Wheeler Article: Assessment of Everett’s “Relative State” Formulation of Quantum Theory (1957) 197

PART III THE COPENHAGEN DEBATE 203
CHAPTER 11: Correspondence: Wheeler and Everett (1956) 205
Wheeler to Everett, May 22, 1956 205
Wheeler Notes on Conversation with Petersen, May 3, 1956 207
Wheeler to Everett, May 26, 1956 211
Wheeler to Everett, September 17, 1956 212

CHAPTER 12: Correspondence: Wheeler, Everett, and Stern (1956) 214
Stern to Wheeler, May 20, 1956 215
Wheeler to Stern, May 25, 1956 219
Wheeler to Everett, May 25, 1956 223

CHAPTER 13: Correspondence: Groenewold to Everett (1957) 225
Groenewold to Everett and Wheeler, April 11, 1957 226

CHAPTER 14: Correspondence: Everett and Wiener (1957) 231
Wiener to Wheeler, April 9, 1957 231
Everett to Wiener, May 31, 1957 234

CHAPTER 15: Correspondence: Everett and Petersen (1957) 236
Petersen to Everett, April 24, 1957 236
Everett to Petersen, May 31, 1957 238

CHAPTER 16: Correspondence: Everett and DeWitt (1957) 241
DeWitt to Wheeler, May 7, 1957 242
Everett to DeWitt, May 31, 1957 252

CHAPTER 17: Correspondence: Everett and Frank (1957) 257
Everett to Frank, May 31, 1957 257
Frank to Everett, August 3, 1957 259

CHAPTER 18
Correspondence: Everett and Jaynes (1957) 261
Everett to Jaynes, June 11, 1957 262
PART IV POST-THESIS CORRESPONDENCE AND NOTES 265

CHAPTER 19: Transcript: Conference at Xavier University (1959) 267
CHAPTER 20: Notes: Everett on DeWitt (1970) 280
CHAPTER 21: Notes: Everett on Bell (1971) 283
CHAPTER 22: Correspondence: Jammer, Wheeler, and Everett (1972) 291
Jammer to Wheeler, January 11, 1972 291
Wheeler to Jammer, March 19, 1972 292
Jammer to Everett, August 28, 1973 293
Everett to Jammer, September 19, 1973 294
CHAPTER 23: Transcript: Everett and Misner (1977) 299

CHAPTER 24: Correspondence: Everett and Lévy-Leblond (1977) 311
Lévy-Leblond to Everett, August 17, 1977 311
Everett to Lévy-Leblond, November 15, 1977 313

CHAPTER 25: Correspondence: Everett and Raub (1980) 315
Everett to Raub, April 7, 1980 315

PART V APPENDIXES 317
Appendix A: Everett’s Notes on Possible Thesis Titles 319
Appendix B: Early Draft Outline for Long Thesis 321
Appendix C: Universal Wave Function Note 324
Appendix D: Handwritten Draft Introduction to the Long Thesis 326
Appendix E: Handwritten Draft Conclusion to the Long Thesis 348
Appendix F: Handwritten Revisions to the Long Thesis for Inclusion in DeWitt and Graham (1973) 355
Appendix G: Handwritten Notes on Everett’s Copy of DeWitt and Graham (1973) 364

CONCLUDING NOTES 367
BIBLIOGRAPHY 369
INDEX 375

Über Autor(innen)

Jeffrey A. Barrett is professor of logic and philosophy of science at the University of California, Irvine. Peter Byrne is an award-winning investigative reporter and science writer.