Models on the boundary between classical and quantum mechanics
Author(s) -
Gerard ’t Hooft
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
philosophical transactions of the royal society a mathematical physical and engineering sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.074
H-Index - 169
eISSN - 1471-2962
pISSN - 1364-503X
DOI - 10.1098/rsta.2014.0236
Subject(s) - theoretical physics , counterexample , classical logic , superstring theory , classical physics , interpretations of quantum mechanics , no go theorem , quantum , physics , quantum probability , classical mechanics , mathematics , quantum mechanics , quantum process , quantum dynamics , pure mathematics , discrete mathematics , fundamental theorem , supersymmetry , fixed point theorem
Arguments that quantum mechanics cannot be explained in terms of any classical theory using only classical logic seem to be based on sound mathematical considerations: there cannot be physical laws that require ‘conspiracy’. It may therefore be surprising that there are several explicit quantum systems where these considerations apparently do not apply. In this report, several such counterexamples are shown. These are quantum models that do have a classical origin. The most curious of these models is superstring theory. So now the question is asked: how can such a model feature ‘conspiracy’, and how bad is that? Is there conspiracy in the vacuum fluctuations? Arguments concerning Bell's theorem are further sharpened.
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