John Bell and the Identical Twins

I present a biographical profile of John S. Bell based upon extensive interviews I had with him. I present Bell‘s views on the quantum theory along with a simple explanation of his identity. Jeremy Bernstein is Professor Emeritus of Physics at the Stevens Institute of Technology and a former staff writer for The New Yorker.     

浅析量子力学中的不确定性原理

德国物理学家海森伯在1927年提出的不确定性原理,包括两力学量间的不确定性原理和能量与时间的不确定性原理,它的提出意味着量子力学不仅有了完整的数学形式,而且有了合理的理论解释.本文尝试通过对不确定性原理的创立背景、过程、应用等来对这一原理做简要介绍,特别强调了科学讨论在科学发展中的作用.     

Copenhagen quantum mechanics

In our quantum mechanics courses, measurement is usually taught in passing, as an ad-hoc procedure involving the ugly collapse of the wave function. No wonder we search for more satisfying alternatives to the Copenhagen interpretation. But this overlooks the fact that the approach fits very well with modern measurement theory with its notions of the conditioned state and quantum trajectory. In addition, what we know of as the Copenhagen interpretation is a later 1950s development and some of the earlier pioneers like Bohr did not talk of wave function collapse. In fact, if one takes these earlier ideas and mixes them with later insights of decoherence, a much more satisfying version of Copenhagen quantum mechanics emerges, one for which the collapse of the wave function is seen to be a harmless book keeping device. Along the way, we explain why chaotic systems lead to wave functions that spread out quickly on macroscopic scales implying that Schrödinger cat states are the norm rather than curiosities generated in physicists’ laboratories. We then describe how the conditioned state of a quantum system depends crucially on how the system is monitored illustrating this with the example of a decaying atom monitored with a time of arrival photon detector, leading to Bohr’s quantum jumps. On the other hand, other kinds of detection lead to much smoother behaviour, providing yet another example of complementarity. Finally we explain how classical behaviour emerges, including classical mechanics but also thermodynamics.     

POPPER'S EXPERIMENT, UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE, SIGNAL LOCALITY AND MOMENTUM CONSERVATION

An experiment proposed earlier by Karl Popper in his critique of the Copenhagen interpretation was realized recently by Kim and Shih. We show that the Copenhagen interpretation is consistent with the results, contrary to Popper's expectation. We examine the role of signal locality and momentum conservation in Popper's experiment and in the realization by Kim and Shih.     

Niels Bohr’s Generalization of Classical Mechanics

We clarify Bohrs interpretation of quantum mechanics by demonstrating the central role played by his thesis that quantum theory is a rational generalization of classical mechanics. This thesis is essential for an adequate understanding of his insistence on the indispensability of classical concepts, his account of how the quantum formalism gets its meaning, and his belief that hidden variable interpretations are impossible.     

Causal stochastic interpretation of quantum statistics

The differences between Einstein and Bohr on the interpretation of quantum mechanics revolved around the question of completeness of the Copenhagen Interpretation. This fundamental problem is examined here in the light of recent neutron interference experiments which allow for novel experimental situations. Exploiting the possibility of neutron spin flip in these experiments, the inadequacy of the Copenhagen interpretation to fully understand the experimental results is brought out. Instead a causal interpretation of quantum mechanics is advocated, in which the neutron, as a particle, does always have a definite space time trajectory but also involves a wave which creates a potential affecting the particle neutron. The reestablishment of definite particle trajectories in the microscopic domain obliges us to reexamine the statistical treatment of ‘identical’ particles, as well as the problem of negative energies and probabilities in relativistic quantum mechanics.     

量子力学诠释问题

量子力学的建立不仅奠定了当代科学的基础,而且在推动当代技术革命方面取得了惊人的成功。然而,对于量子力学诠释(interpretation of quantum mechanics)——理解波函数如何刻画微观世界,人们迄今为止并未形成共识。量子力学发展的这种二元状态不仅带来了认识论方面的误导,而且依据备受争议的哥本哈根诠释建立起来的量子技术会有许多根本性问题。
量子力学的哥本哈根诠释存在二元结构的问题：微观世界的运动用量子力学描述,是一个幺正演化,而观察或测量却依赖于量子系统外部的经典世界(仪器、观察者、环境),表现出来的波包塌缩是非幺正的。为此,包括爱因斯坦、薛定谔、温伯格等在内的一些著名学者对哥本哈根诠释提出了尖锐的批评。80年过去了,为克服量子力学的哥本哈根诠释二元论困境,人们提出各种各样的量子力学诠释,包括多世界诠释、量子退相干诠释、自洽历史诠释以及量子达尔文主义等。文章将简要介绍和评述这些量子力学诠释的基本思想、它们之间的逻辑关系及其实验检验的可能性。进一步澄清量子力学诠释中的基本概念,可以避免量子观念滥用导致的意识论上的问题和量子技术发展误入歧途。     

The Drawing or Why History Is Not Mathematics

The mystery of whether or not Werner Heisenberg gave Niels Bohr a drawing that Bohr came to believe was that of a German nuclear weapon, is discussed and resolved.