Related papers: Observability, Unobservability and the Copenhagen …
The present form of quantum mechanics is based on the Copenhagen school of interpretation. Einstein did not belong to the Copenhagen school, because he did not believe in probabilistic interpretation of fundamental physical laws. This is…
Authoritative appraisals qualified this book as an axiomatic theory. However, being its essential content no more than an analogy, its theoretical organization cannot be an axiomatic one. In fact, in the first edition Dirac declares to…
The Copenhagen interpretation of quantum theory is investigated from a philosophical point of view. It is justified the opinion that the philosophical attitude the Copenhagen interpretation is based on is in principle inevitable for a real…
Dirac's contributions to the discovery of non-relativistic quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics, prior to his discovery of the relativistic wave equation, are described.
I shall use a few personal reminiscences of my time as a student and colleague of Dirac in Cambridge to introduce some reflections on the nature of research in theoretical physics. I shall discuss and illustrate the approach of Dirac to his…
The standard presentation of the principles of quantum mechanics is critically reviewed both from the experimental/operational point and with respect to the request of mathematical consistency and logical economy. A simpler and more…
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…
Dirac talked about q-numbers versus c-numbers. Quantum observables are q-number variables that generally do not commute among themselves. He was proposing to have a generalized form of numbers as elements of a noncommutative algebra. That…
The year 2025 marked the centennial of quantum mechanics, inaugurated by Heisenberg's matrix formulation and the foundational contributions of Pauli, Schrodinger, and Dirac. Concurrently, 2026 marks the centennial of the Klein - Gordon…
Credible reasons are presented to reveal that many of the lingering century old enigmas, surrounding the behavior of at least an individual quantum particle, can be comprehended in terms of an objectively real specific wave function. This…
One key theme of Basil Hiley's work was the development of David Bohm's approach to Quantum Mechanics; in particular the concept of the quantum potential. Another theme was the importance of Clifford Algebras in fundamental physics. In this…
This colloquium summarizes Dirac's contributions to the discovery of quantum mechanics before he invented his relativistic wave equation.
We recall Dirac's early proposals to develop a description of quantum phenomena in terms of a non-commutative algebra in which he suggested a way to construct what he called `quantum trajectories'. Generalising these ideas, we show how they…
The aim of the article is to argue that the interpretations of quantum mechanics and of probability are much closer than usually thought. Indeed, a detailed analysis of the concept of probability (within the standard frequency theory of R.…
The non-relativistic quantum theory has been interpreted causally by de Broglie, David Bohm, and others, where a quantum entity is viewed as a particle with a definite position and momentum. This interpretation opposes the Copenhagen…
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…
This article is concerned with the role of fundamental principles in theoretical physics, especially quantum theory. The fundamental principles of relativity will be be addressed as well in view of their role in quantum electrodynamics and…
In the well known Copenhagen interpretation of Quantum mechanics, advocated by N. Bohr, the physical objects and the experimental results can be described only in a macroscopic language, leaving any possible microscopic description as…
In this paper we present for the first time a complete description of the Bohm model of the Dirac particle. This result demonstrates again that the common perception that it is not possible to construct a fully relativistic version of the…
The famous gedanken experiments of quantum mechanics have played crucial roles in developing the Copenhagen interpretation. They are studied here from the perspective of standard quantum mechanics, with no ontological interpretation…