Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Quantum Physics: From Illusion to Reality
    Quantum Physics: From Illusion to Reality
    Quantum Physics: From Illusion to Reality
    Ebook63 pages55 minutes

    Quantum Physics: From Illusion to Reality

    By Random Press

    5/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    The double-slit experiment has been widely discussed since the founding of quantum mechanics. Nearly all textbooks on quantum mechanics use the experiment to illustrate the wave-particle duality of light and matter. According to Richard Feynman, the double-slit experiment contains the only mystery of quantum mechanics. After we have unveiled the mystery, we will be able to understand quantum mechanics.

    What is the mystery then? The mystery lies in the explanation of the counterintuitive experiment result. What does it imply for the nature of reality? How on earth does a single electron pass through two slits at the same time? Exactly what is an electron? There are already many possible pictures of quantum reality. From pilot wave and Brownian motion to many worlds and dynamical collapse, every interpretation claims that it gives the right answer. But which one is right? Or none of them is right? Obviously there is only one real picture of quantum reality. Can we find it now?

    It has been widely thought that the mystery of quantum mechanics can only be disclosed by future precise experiments. However, this may be not the case. This little book will show that a penetrating analysis can already lead us to the way out of the maze of quantum interpretations. In the end, the real picture of quantum reality will naturally appear, and it can also be understood by general readers. To our great surprise, quantum mechanics already tells the secret. It is that a single electron passes through both slits at the same time in a discontinuous and random way.

    Book & Thoughts Reviews:

    This is an ambitious work that reflects admirable grip, and distinctive take, on much of the contemporary philosophy of quantum mechanics literature.
    ---- Reviewer of Philosophy of Science

    The idea of using discontinuous motion as a realist interpretation of quantum mechanics is original.
    ---- Reviewer of Foundations of Physics

    Its very existence is at any rate, an excellent illustration of the extent to which physical data force us to depart from commonsense ideas when we try to depict reality "as it really is".
    ---- Bernard d'Espagnat, theoretical physicist, philosopher of science, Templeton Prize 2009 Laureate, author of Conceptual Foundations of Quantum Mechanics and On Physics and Philosophy

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRandom Press
    Release dateSep 17, 2012
    ISBN9781301636402
    Quantum Physics: From Illusion to Reality
    Author

    Random Press

    Shan Gao received his Ph.D. in Philosophy of Physics from University of Sydney in 2013. He is a theoretical physicist and philosopher of physics, whose major interests are foundations of quantum mechanics, philosophy of physics, history of modern physics, and philosophy of mind. His original ideas, including random discontinuous motion, quantum superluminal communication and quantum panpsychism, have been published in professional journals such as International Journal of Theoretical Physics, Foundations of Physics, Minds and Machines, Journal of Consciousness Studies, and so on. He is the author of God Does Play Dice with the Universe, Quantum Physics: From Illusion to Reality, Understanding Quantum Physics: An Advanced Guide for the Perplexed and several other books. His first popular science book Quantum (in Chinese) is very successful, and it has sold more than ten thousands copies in China during the last few years. For more details please visit http://gucas.academia.edu/ShanGao.

    Related to Quantum Physics

    Related ebooks

    Physics For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The THEORY of EVERYTHING

      Jun 20, 2019

      The THEORY of EVERYTHING
      6 min read

    • Article

      Quantum Mechanics 101

      Dec 5, 2019

      Quantum Mechanics 101
      7 min read

    • Article

      Is Quantum Physics Linked To Consciousness?

      Jan 16, 2021

      WHILE most of us have only heard about quantum physics by watching the Big Bang Theory, a week doing nuclear physics in matric led to a fascination for quantum physics – and whether it plays a role in the workings of the brain – for UKZN PhD student

      3 min read

    • Article

      Beauty Is Physics’ Secret Weapon: A Nobel laureate maps his path to discovery.

      Jan 14, 2016

      We recognize beauty when we see it, right? Michelangelo’s David, Machu Picchu, an ocean sunrise. Could we say the same about the cosmos itself? Frank Wilczek, a professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, thinks we can. And sho

      13 min read

    • Article

      Why The Flow Of Time Is An Illusion

      Apr 25, 2019

      In his book Our Mathematical Universe: My Quest for the Ultimate Nature of Reality, Max Tegmark writes that “time is not an illusion, but the flow of time is.” In this month’s issue of Nautilus, which looks at the concept of flow through various port

      6 min read

    • Article

      Actually, There Is a Time Like the Present

      Nov 30, 2017

      We’ve all heard it before: There’s no time like the present. Broadly speaking, of course, it means to “seize the opportunity right now,” or maybe in my case, to avoid procrastinating. From a psychological perspective, this makes a lot of sense. As hu

      4 min read

    • Article

      The Metaphysical Baggage of Physics: Lee Smolin argues that time is more fundamental than physical laws.

      Jan 30, 2014

      An issue on time would not be complete without a conversation with Lee Smolin. High school dropout, theoretical physicist, and founding member of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Canada, Smolin’s life and work reflect many

      7 min read

    • Article

      The Math That Takes Newton Into the Quantum World

      Feb 28, 2019

      In my 50s, too old to become a real expert, I have finally fallen in love with algebraic geometry. As the name suggests, this is the study of geometry using algebra. Around 1637, René Descartes laid the groundwork for this subject by taking a plane,

      9 min read

    • Article

      How the Physics of Resonance Shapes Reality

      Feb 9, 2022

      Almost anytime physicists announce that they’ve discovered a new particle, whether it’s the Higgs boson or the recently bagged double-charm tetraquark, what they’ve actually spotted is a small bump rising from an otherwise smooth curve on a plot. Suc

      5 min read

    • Article

      Evil Triumphs in These Multiverses, and God Is Powerless

      Mar 2, 2017

      The challenge that the multiverse poses for the idea of an all-good, all-powerful God is often focused on fine-tuning. If there are infinite universes, then we don’t need a fine tuner to explain why the conditions of our universe are perfect for life

      7 min read

    • Article

      What This Drawing Taught Me About Four-Dimensional Spacetime

      Mar 16, 2017

      My aim as a theoretical physicist is to unite quantum theory with Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity. While there are a few proposals for this unification, such as string theory and loop quantum gravity, many roadblocks to a complete unification

      8 min read

    • Article

      Why The Holographic Principle Is So Exciting

      Mar 13, 2018

      One of the most cutting-edge theories in theoretical physics, the holographic principle, holds holds that the universe is 3D image projected off a 2D surface, much like a hologram emerges from a sheet of photographic film. “In my view, the discovery

      4 min read

    • Article

      How to Make Sense of Quantum Physics

      Mar 12, 2020

      Quantum mechanics isn’t rocket science. But it’s well on the way to take the place of rocket science as the go-to metaphor for unintelligible math. Quantum mechanics, you have certainly heard, is infamously difficult to understand. It defies intuitio

      11 min read

    • Article

      The Split: Why We Lost Consciousness and Need to Wake Up

      Dec 15, 2020

      — Centuries ago, we lost something very precious. It radically changed the course of our evolution, progressively disconnecting us from our humanity and bringing us to the brink of destruction. Deprived of this vital nourishment, we have fallen prey

      10 min read

    • Article

      The Interplay Between Nature And Ourselves

      Apr 19, 2021

      The room is pitch black. Carefully, the test person gropes for the button in front of her. A single flash appears for a split second. Almost too faint to be visible, the flicker could nearly be a product of imagination. Or was it? The experimental se

      5 min read

    • Article

      How Big Can Schrödinger’s Kittens Get?: Scientists are slowly scaling up quantum effects from atomic to human size.

      Oct 8, 2015

      It’s time we thought again about quantum theory. There’s nothing actually wrong with the theory itself—it works fantastically well for understanding how atoms and subatomic particles behave. The problem is how we talk about quantum theory. We keep in

      13 min read

    • Article

      Infinite Garbage Can: Can information ever be rescued from inside a black hole?

      Nov 21, 2013

      String theorist Vijay Balasubramanian grapples with the garbage cans of the universe: black holes. His research on particle physics at the University of Pennsylvania and The City University of New York Graduate Center questions the apparent loss of i

      4 min read

    • Article

      The Joy of Condensed Matter: Hard times in fundamental physics got you down? Let’s talk excitons.

      Dec 31, 2021

      Happy Holidays. In this special issue we are reprinting our top stories of the past year. This article first appeared online in our “Wonder” issue in February, 2021. Everyone seems to be talking about the problems with physics: Peter Woit’s book Not

      7 min read

    • Article

      What Quantum Gravity Needs Is More Experiments

      Feb 2, 2017

      In the mid-1990s, I studied mathematics. I wasn’t really sure just what I wanted to do with my life, but I was awed by the power of mathematics to describe the natural world. After classes on differential geometry and Lie algebras, I attended a semin

      8 min read

    • Article

      What Quantum Gravity Needs Is More Experiments

      Dec 12, 2019

      In the mid-1990s, I studied mathematics. I wasn’t really sure just what I wanted to do with my life, but I was awed by the power of mathematics to describe the natural world. After classes on differential geometry and Lie algebras, I attended a semin

      8 min read

    • Article

      Can We Change The Past?

      Feb 21, 2018

      Can We Change The Past?
      4 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Quantum Physics

    5/5

    2 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Quantum Physics - Random Press

      Quantum Physics: From Illusion to Reality

      A Short Journey through Two Mysterious Slits

      By Shan Gao

      Smashwords Edition

      Copyright 2012 Shan Gao

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      To Vicky

      We choose to examine a phenomenon which is impossible, absolutely impossible, to explain in any classical way, and which has in it the heart of quantum mechanics. In reality, it contains the only mystery.

      —Richard Feynman

      Contents

      Acknowledgements

      List of Illustrations

      Preface

      1. The Mysterious Double Slit

      The classical world is an illusion

      Quantum unreality

      2. Three Roads to Quantum Reality

      A river of hidden variables

      A jungle of many worlds

      The unified road

      3. Exploring Reality with Protection

      The open sesame

      The first glimmer of reality

      4. The Picture of Quantum Reality

      Field vs. particle

      Field loses and particle wins

      Motion is discontinuous and random

      God plays dice with the universe

      5. The Transition from Quantum to Classical

      No hidden variables

      There is only one world

      No many minds

      Collapse is real

      6. The Mystery Unveiled

      Further Reading

      Acknowledgements

      The ideas of this book mainly come out of my Ph.D. research in quantum foundations at the University of Sydney, though I already had an inkling of them more than ten years ago. I have benefited from discussions with several physicists and philosophers in Sydney. They are: Huw Price, Dean Rickles, David Miller, Rod Sutherland, John Corbett, Hans Westman, and Owen Maroney. I thank them all deeply.

      My deepest gratitude goes to my parents, QingFeng Gao and LiHua Zhao, who spared no effort to provide the best possible environment for me to grow up in and their constant support during my extended studies. They have always allowed me to have the freedom of choice, and for that I am truly grateful.

      Finally, I am deeply indebted to my wife, HuiXia, and my daughter, Vicky, for their unflagging love and support throughout my study and writing; this book would have been impossible without them. Moreover, they have never let me forget the true values of life.

      List of Illustrations

      Figure 1 A double-slit pattern

      Figure 2 A mixture of two one-slit patterns

      Figure 3 Bohmian trajectories for the double-slit experiment

      Figure 4 Quantum suicide thought experiment in many worlds

      Figure 5 Collapse is dynamical

      Figure 6 A method of protective measurement

      Figure 7 Continuous motion is an illusion

      Figure 8 Electron clouds in a hydrogen atom

      Preface

      The double-slit experiment has been widely discussed since the beginning of quantum mechanics. Many popular science books use the experiment to illustrate the wave-particle duality of light and matter. According to Richard Feynman, the double-slit experiment contains the only mystery of quantum mechanics. After we have unveiled the mystery, we will be able to understand the strange quantum world.

      The predictions of quantum mechanics agree with the results of the double-slit experiment to astonishing precision. What is the mystery then? The mystery lies in understanding the startling and counterintuitive results. What do they imply for the nature of reality? How on earth does a single electron pass through two slits at the same time? Exactly what is an electron? The mystery is not that classical

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1