《Quantum Interpretations》经典教育文学读本.pdfVIP

Quantum Interpretations A. R. P. Rau Abstract Difficulties and discomfort with the interpretation of quantum mechanics are due to differences in language between it and classical physics. Analogies to The Special Theory of Relativity, which also required changes in the basic worldview and language of non-relativistic classical mechanics, may help in absorbing the changes called for by quantum physics. There is no need to invoke extravagances such as the many worlds interpretation or specify a central role for consciousness or neural microstructures. The simple, but basic, acceptance that what is meant by the state of a physical system is different in quantum physics from what it is in classical physics goes a long way in explaining its seeming peculiarities. ˙˙ Key Words: quantum paradoxes, Schrodinger cat, many worlds interpretation, state of a physical system, alternative representations, transformation theory, quasi-classical concepts, elements of physical reality, decoherence, entanglement, Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen puzzle. 1. INTRODUCTION: GALILEAN RELATIVITY AND CLASSICAL REALITY The state of a physical system in Newtonian mechanics is specified by the positions and velocities of its constituent masses. Newton and Galileo were already familiar with the “Galilean” Principle of Relativity, that the absolute values of these quantities are not significant, and will change from observer to observer whose own frames usually set the zero of the position and momentum scales. The laws of mechanics are invariant under such changes for all inertial frames, that is, for all observers moving with uniform velocities (including, but not exclusively, zero as in pre-Galilean conception) with respect to one another. All this is familiar even to non-physicists and high school students who have no trouble accepting that spectators in the stands will ascribe d