Related papers: On the interrelation between Gibbs hypotheses and …
We propose an exercise in which one attempts to deduce the formalism of quantum mechanics solely from phenomenological observations. The only assumed inputs are obtained through sequential probing of quantum systems; no presuppositions…
Quantum particles and classical particles are described in a common setting of classical statistical physics. The property of a particle being "classical" or "quantum" ceases to be a basic conceptual difference. The dynamics differs,…
The possibility to recover the which-way information, for example in the two slit experiment, is based on a natural but implicit assumption about the position of a particle {\it before} a position measurement is performed on it. This…
In a recent paper Griffiths claims that the consistent histories interpretation of quantum mechanics gives rise to results that contradict those obtained from the Bohm interpretation. This is in spite of the fact that both claim to provide…
We show within a statistical model of quantization reported in the previous work based on Hamilton-Jacobi theory with a random constraint that the statistics of fluctuations of the actual trajectories around the classical trajectories in…
It is shown that the statistical conception of quantum mechanics is dynamical but not probabilistic, i.e. the statistical description in quantum mechanics is founded on dynamics. A use of the probability theory, when it takes place, is…
Through extended consideration of two wide classes of case studies -- dilute gases and linear systems -- I explore the ways in which assumptions of probability and irreversibility occur in contemporary statistical mechanics, where the…
Although intrinsic spin is usually viewed as a purely quantum property with no classical analog, we present evidence here that fermion spin has a classical origin rooted in the geometry of three-dimensional physical space. Our approach to…
Introducing the Boltzmann distribution very early in a statistical thermodynamics course (in the spirit of Feynmann) has many didactic advantages, in particular that of easily deriving the Gibbs entropy formula. In this note, a short…
It is argued that quantum mechanics follows naturally from the assumptions that there are no fundamental causal laws but only probabilities for physical processes that are constrained by symmetries, and reality is relational in the sense…
Five physical assumptions are proposed that together entail the general qualitative results, including the Born rule, of non-relativistic quantum mechanics by physical and information-theoretic reasoning alone. Two of these assumptions…
Quantum mechanics is one of the basic theories of modern physics. Here, the famous Schr\"odinger equation and the differential operators representing mechanical quantities in quantum mechanics are derived, just based on the principle that…
Objects exhibiting statistics other than the familiar Bose and Fermi ones are natural in theories with topologically nontrivial objects including geons, strings, and black holes. It is argued here from several viewpoints that the statistics…
There must exist a reformulation of quantum field theory, even at low energies, which does not depend on classical time. The octonionic theory proposes such a reformulation, leading to a pre-quantum pre-spacetime theory. The ingredients for…
We consider the problem of quantum behavior in the finite background. Introduction of continuum or other infinities into physics leads only to technical complications without any need for them in description of empirical observations. The…
Gibbs partition models are the largest class of infinite exchangeable partitions of the positive integers generalizing the product form of the probability function of the two-parameter Poisson-Dirichlet family. Recently those models have…
An Ising-type classical statistical ensemble can describe the quantum physics of fermions if one chooses a particular law for the time evolution of the probability distribution. It accounts for the time evolution of a quantum field theory…
We develop a new formalism for constructing probabilities associated to the causal ordering of events in quantum theory, where by an event we mean the emergence of a measurement record on a detector. We start with constructing probabilities…
We develop the argument that the Gibbs-von Neumann entropy is the appropriate statistical mechanical generalisation of the thermodynamic entropy, for macroscopic and microscopic systems, whether in thermal equilibrium or not, as a…
The Higgs mechanism gives mass to Yang-Mills gauge bosons. According to the conventional wisdom, this happens through the spontaneous breaking of gauge symmetry. Yet, gauge symmetries merely reflect a redundancy in the state description and…