Related papers: Spreading the gospel: The Bohr atom popularised
Perhaps the most significant drawback, which the Copenhagen interpretation (still the most popular interpretation of quantum theory) suffers from, is the classical-quantum divide between the large classical systems that carry out…
Philosophers have claimed that: (a) Born-Oppenheimer approximation methods for solving molecular Schr\"odinger equations violate the Heisenberg uncertainty relations; therefore, (b) `quantum chemistry' is not fully quantum; and (c)…
It is not very well known that the philosopher Karl Popper has been one of the foremost critics of the orthodox interpretation of quantum physics for about six decades. This paper reconstructs in detail most of Popper's activities on…
Since Shor's discovery of an algorithm to factor numbers on a quantum computer in polynomial time, quantum computation has become a subject of immense interest. Unfortunately, one of the key features of quantum computers - the difficulty of…
Quantum observables can be identified with vector fields on the sphere of normalized states. The resulting vector representation is used in the paper to undertake a simultaneous treatment of macroscopic and microscopic bodies in quantum…
I begin by examining the question of the quantum limits of knowledge by briefly presenting the constraints of the theory that derive from its mathematical structure (in particular the no-go theorems formulated by von Neumann and Kochen and…
Quantum Mechanics (QM) stands alone as a (very) successful physical theory, but the meaning of its variables and the status of many quantities in the mathematical formalism is obscure. This unique situation prompted the need for attribution…
We introduce a realist, unextravagant interpretation of quantum theory that builds on the existing physical structure of the theory and allows experiments to have definite outcomes, but leaves the theory's basic dynamical content…
We review the conceptual problems in quantum mechanics on a fundamental level. It is shown that the proposed model of extended electrons and a clear understanding of rotations in three dimensional space solve a large part of these problems,…
The elements of a deterministic quantum theory are developed, which reformulates and extends standard quantum theory. The proposed theory is `realistic' in the sense that in it, a general M-level quantum state is represented by a single…
It is argued that Niels Bohr ultimately arrived at positivistic and antirealist-flavored statements because of weaknesses in his initial objective of accounting for measurement in physical terms. Bohr's investigative approach faced a…
This article focuses on the reception among physicists of Bohm's 1952 papers on the causal interpretation of quantum mechanics, which were poorly received at the time. I describe his Brazilian exile and analyze the culture of physics…
Bohr's atomic model, its relationship to the radiation spectrum of the hydrogen atom and the inherent hypotheses are revisited. It is argued that Bohr could have adopted a different approach, focusing his analyzes on the stationary orbit of…
All investigators working on the foundations of quantum mechanics agree that the theory has profoundly modified our conception of reality. But there ends the consensus. The unproblematic formalism of the theory gives rise to a number of…
Quantum mechanics, one of the most successful theories in the history of science, was created to account for physical systems not describable by classical physics. Though it is consistent with all experiments conducted thus far, many of its…
The interpretation of quantum mechanics has been discussed since this theme first was brought up by Einstein and Bohr. This article describes a proposal for a new foundation of quantum theory, partly drawing upon ideas from statistical…
After about a century since the first attempts by Bohr, the interpretation of quantum theory is still a field with many open questions. In this article a new interpretation of quantum theory is suggested, motivated by philosophical…
We review here the main contributions of Einstein to the quantum theory. To put them in perspective we first give an account of Physics as it was before him. It is followed by a brief account of the problem of black body radiation which…
A central feature in the Copenhagen interpretation is the use of classical concepts from the outset. Modern developments show, however, that the emergence of classical properties can be understood within the framework of quantum theory…
What Niels Bohr called the `epistemological lesson' of `complementarity' was the result of reasoning analogically from the classical conception of a mechanical state to a new quantum mechanical conception of an `object' in a mechanical…