Related papers: Hidden Variables, Statistical Mechanics and the Ea…
We discuss several proposals for astrophysical and cosmological tests of quantum theory. The tests are motivated by deterministic hidden-variables theories, and in particular by the view that quantum physics is merely an effective theory of…
The hilbert-space structure of quantum mechanics is related to the causal structure of space-time. The usual measurement hypotheses apparently preclude nonlinear or stochastic quantum evolution. By admitting a difference in the calculus of…
In this paper we discuss and analyse the idea of trying to see (non-relativistic) quantum mechanics as a ``space-time statistical mechanics'', by using the classical statistical mechanical method on objective microscopic space-time…
The statistical properties of the primordial density perturbations has been considered in the past decade as a powerful probe of the physical processes taking place in the early universe. Within the inflationary paradigm, the properties of…
Quantum computers are hypothetical devices, based on quantum physics, that would enable us to perform certain computations hundreds of orders of magnitude faster than digital computers. This feature is coined as "quantum supremacy" and one…
Quantum mechanics for a four-state-system is derived from classical statistics. Entanglement, interference, the difference between identical fermions or bosons and the unitary time evolution find an interpretation within a classical…
We consider the hypothesis that quantum mechanics is an approximation to another, cosmological theory, accurate only for the description of subsystems of the universe. Quantum theory is then to be derived from the cosmological theory by…
Many of the numbers appearing in the laws of physics, such as the strength of electromagnetism or the masses of elementary particles, must lie in precise ranges for stars, planets, and chemistry to exist. Why the universe has these values…
Environmental noise can hinder the metrological capabilities of entangled states. While the use of entanglement allows for Heisenberg-limited resolution, the largest permitted by quantum mechanics, deviations from strictly unitary dynamics…
A generic non-integrable (unitary) out-of-equilibrium quantum process, when interrogated across many times, is shown to yield the same statistics as an (non-unitary) equilibrated process. In particular, using the tools of quantum stochastic…
Many theories are formulated as constrained systems. We provide a mechanism that explains the origin of physical states of a constrained system by a process of selection of noiseless subsystems when the system is coupled to an external…
In almost all structure formation models, primordial perturbations are created within a homogeneous and isotropic universe, like the one we observe. Because their ensemble averages inherit the symmetries of the spacetime in which they are…
The article explores challenges presented by revelations in physics and the questions they provoke concerning reality. It sheds light on the disparity between the indefinite nature of quantum reality and our perception of classical reality.…
We pursue the view that quantum theory may be an emergent structure related to large space-time scales. In particular, we consider classical Hamiltonian systems in which the intrinsic proper time evolution parameter is related through a…
The hypothesis of quantum nonequilibrium at the big bang is shown to have observable consequences. For a scalar field on expanding space, we show that relaxation to quantum equilibrium (in de Broglie-Bohm theory) is suppressed for field…
It is commonplace in discussions of modern cosmology to assert that the early universe began in a special state. Conventionally, cosmologists characterize this fine-tuning in terms of the horizon and flatness problems. I argue that the…
Quantum mechanics is derived from the principle that the universe contain as much variety as possible, in the sense of maximizing the distinctiveness of each subsystem. The quantum state of a microscopic system is defined to correspond to…
The properties of the quantum universe on extremely small spacetime scales are studied in the semi-classical approach to the well-defined quantum model. It is shown that near the initial cosmological singularity point quantum gravity…
I give a highly selective overview of the way statistical mechanics explains the microscopic origins of the time asymmetric evolution of macroscopic systems towards equilibrium and of first order phase transitions in equilibrium. These…
No physical measurement can be performed with infinite precision. This leaves a loophole in the standard no-go arguments against non-contextual hidden variables. All such arguments rely on choosing special sets of quantum-mechanical…