Results for 'quantum statistical mechanics'

962 found
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  1.  59
    The formalism of equilibrium quantum statistical mechanics revisited.Olaf Melsheimer - 1982 - Foundations of Physics 12 (1):59-84.
    It is shown that the traditional formalism of equilibrium quantum statistical mechanics may fully be incorporated into a general macro-observable approach to quantum statistical mechanics recently proposed by the same author. (1,2) In particular, the partition functions which in the traditional approach are assumed to connect nonnormalized density operators with thermodynamic functions are reinterpreted as functions connecting so-called quantum mechanical effect operators with state parameters. It is argued that these functions although only part (...)
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  2.  57
    Quantum statistical mechanics as a construction of an embedding scheme.Olaf Melsheimer - 1983 - Foundations of Physics 13 (7):745-758.
    The aim of the present paper is to show that the formalism of equilibrium quantum statistical mechanics can fully be incorporated into Ludwig's embedding scheme for classical theories in many-body quantum mechanics. A construction procedure based on a recently developed reconstruction procedure for the so-called macro-observable is presented which leads to the explicit determination of the set of classical ensembles compatible with the embedding scheme.
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  3. Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking: Quantum Statistical Mechanics versus Quantum Field Theory.Doreen Fraser - 2012 - Philosophy of Science 79 (5):905-916.
    Philosophical analysis of spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) in particle physics has been hindered by the unavailability of rigorous formulations of models in quantum field theory (QFT). A strategy for addressing this problem is to use the rigorous models that have been constructed for SSB in quantum statistical mechanics (QSM) systems as a basis for drawing analogous conclusions about SSB in QFT. On the basis of an analysis of this strategy as an instance of the application of (...)
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  4.  75
    Interpreting Probabilities in Quantum Field Theory and Quantum Statistical Mechanics.Laura Ruetsche & John Earman - 2011 - In Claus Beisbart & Stephan Hartmann (eds.), Probabilities in Physics. Oxford, GB: Oxford University Press. pp. 263.
    Philosophical accounts of quantum theory commonly suppose that the observables of a quantum system form a Type-I factor von Neumann algebra. Such algebras always have atoms, which are minimal projection operators in the case of quantum mechanics. However, relativistic quantum field theory and the thermodynamic limit of quantum statistical mechanics make extensive use of von Neumann algebras of more general types. This chapter addresses the question whether interpretations of quantum probability devised (...)
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  5. Quantum Foundations of Statistical Mechanics and Thermodynamics.Orly Shenker - 2022 - In Eleanor Knox & Alastair Wilson (eds.), The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Physics. London, UK: Routledge. pp. Ch. 29.
    Statistical mechanics is often taken to be the paradigm of a successful inter-theoretic reduction, which explains the high-level phenomena (primarily those described by thermodynamics) by using the fundamental theories of physics together with some auxiliary hypotheses. In my view, the scope of statistical mechanics is wider since it is the type-identity physicalist account of all the special sciences. But in this chapter, I focus on the more traditional and less controversial domain of this theory, namely, that (...)
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  6.  71
    Statistical Mechanics and Scientific Explanation: Determinism, Indeterminism and Laws of Nature.Valia Allori (ed.) - 2020 - Singapore: World Scientific.
    The book explores several open questions in the philosophy of statistical mechanics. Each chapter is written by a leading expert in the field. Here is a list of some questions that are addressed in the book: 1) Boltzmann showed how the phenomenological gas laws of thermodynamics can be derived from statistical mechanics. Since classical mechanics is a deterministic theory there are no probabilities in it. Since statistical mechanics is based on classical mechanics, (...)
  7. Time's Arrow in a Quantum Universe: On the Status of Statistical Mechanical Probabilities.Eddy Keming Chen - 2020 - In Valia Allori (ed.), Statistical Mechanics and Scientific Explanation: Determinism, Indeterminism and Laws of Nature. Singapore: World Scientific. pp. 479–515.
    In a quantum universe with a strong arrow of time, it is standard to postulate that the initial wave function started in a particular macrostate---the special low-entropy macrostate selected by the Past Hypothesis. Moreover, there is an additional postulate about statistical mechanical probabilities according to which the initial wave function is a ''typical'' choice in the macrostate. Together, they support a probabilistic version of the Second Law of Thermodynamics: typical initial wave functions will increase in entropy. Hence, there (...)
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  8.  45
    A look back: Early applications of maximum entropy estimation to quantum statistical mechanics.D. J. Scalapino - 1993 - In E. T. Jaynes, Walter T. Grandy & Peter W. Milonni (eds.), Physics and probability: essays in honor of Edwin T. Jaynes. New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 9.
  9. Implications of quantum theory in the foundations of statistical mechanics.David Wallace - manuscript
    An investigation is made into how the foundations of statistical mechanics are affected once we treat classical mechanics as an approximation to quantum mechanics in certain domains rather than as a theory in its own right; this is necessary if we are to understand statistical-mechanical systems in our own world. Relevant structural and dynamical differences are identified between classical and quantum mechanics (partly through analysis of technical work on quantum chaos by (...)
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  10. Interpretive analogies between quantum and statistical mechanics.C. D. McCoy - 2020 - European Journal for Philosophy of Science 10 (1):9.
    The conspicuous similarities between interpretive strategies in classical statistical mechanics and in quantum mechanics may be grounded on their employment of common implementations of probability. The objective probabilities which represent the underlying stochasticity of these theories can be naturally associated with three of their common formal features: initial conditions, dynamics, and observables. Various well-known interpretations of the two theories line up with particular choices among these three ways of implementing probability. This perspective has significant application to (...)
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  11.  40
    Statistical Mechanics of Random Surfaces.J. Fröhlich - 1984 - In Heinrich Mitter & Ludwig Pittner (eds.), Stochastic methods and computer techniques in quantum dynamics. New York: Springer Verlag. pp. 255--257.
  12. Statistical mechanics and the ontological interpretation.D. Bohm & B. J. Hiley - 1996 - Foundations of Physics 26 (6):823-846.
    To complete our ontological interpretation of quantum theory we have to conclude a treatment of quantum statistical mechanics. The basic concepts in the ontological approach are the particle and the wave function. The density matrix cannot play a fundamental role here. Therefore quantum statistical mechanics will require a further statistical distribution over wave functions in addition to the distribution of particles that have a specified wave function. Ultimately the wave function of the (...)
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  13. Irreversibility, Statistical Mechanics and the Nature of Physical States.Robert W. Batterman - 1987 - Dissertation, University of Michigan
    I. Prigogine has proposed, and the writings of N. S. Krylov to some extent suggest, a novel and unorthodox solution to foundational problems in statistical mechanics. In particular, the view claims to offer new insight into two interconnected problems: understanding the role of probability in physics, and that of reconciling the irreversibility of physical processes with the temporal symmetry of dynamical theories. The approach in question advocates a conception of the state of a system which incorporates features of (...)
     
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  14. The development of renormalization group methods for particle physics: Formal analogies between classical statistical mechanics and quantum field theory.Doreen Fraser - 2020 - Synthese 197 (7):3027-3063.
    Analogies between classical statistical mechanics and quantum field theory played a pivotal role in the development of renormalization group methods for application in the two theories. This paper focuses on the analogies that informed the application of RG methods in QFT by Kenneth Wilson and collaborators in the early 1970's. The central task that is accomplished is the identification and analysis of the analogical mappings employed. The conclusion is that the analogies in this case study are formal (...)
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  15.  18
    An Intricate Quantum Statistical Effect and the Foundation of Quantum Mechanics.Fritz W. Bopp - 2021 - Foundations of Physics 51 (1):1-21.
    An intricate quantum statistical effect guides us to a deterministic, non-causal quantum universe with a given fixed initial and final state density matrix. A concept is developed on how and where something like macroscopic physics can emerge. However, the concept does not allow philosophically crucial free will decisions. The quantum world and its conjugate evolve independently, and one can replace fixed final states on each side just with a common matching one. This change allows for external (...)
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  16. On the explanation for quantum statistics.Simon Saunders - 2006 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 37 (1):192-211.
    The concept of classical indistinguishability is analyzed and defended against a number of well-known criticisms, with particular attention to the Gibbs’paradox. Granted that it is as much at home in classical as in quantum statistical mechanics, the question arises as to why indistinguishability, in quantum mechanics but not in classical mechanics, forces a change in statistics. The answer, illustrated with simple examples, is that the equilibrium measure on classical phase space is continuous, whilst on (...)
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  17.  81
    Quantum statistical determinism.Eftichios Bitsakis - 1988 - Foundations of Physics 18 (3):331-355.
    This paper attempts to analyze the concept of quantum statistical determinism. This is done after we have clarified the epistemic difference between causality and determinism and discussed the content of classical forms of determinism—mechanical and dynamical. Quantum statistical determinism transcends the classical forms, for it expresses the multiple potentialities of quantum systems. The whole argument is consistent with a statistical interpretation of quantum mechanics.
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  18. Stochastic phase spaces and master Liouville spaces in statistical mechanics.Eduard Prugovečki - 1979 - Foundations of Physics 9 (7-8):575-587.
    The concept of probability space is generalized to that of stochastic probability space. This enables the introduction of representations of quantum mechanics on stochastic phase spaces. The resulting formulation of quantum statistical mechanics in terms of Γ-distribution functions bears a remarkable resemblance to its classical counterpart. Furthermore, both classical and quantum statistical mechanics can be formulated in one and the same master Liouville space overL 2(Γ). A joint derivation of a classical and (...)
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  19. Quantum Statistics, Quantum Field Theory, and the Interpretation Problem.Allen Ginsberg - 1983 - Dissertation, Rutgers the State University of New Jersey - New Brunswick
    Although philosophers have considered some of the implications of the nature of quantum statistics of many-particle systems for the interpretation problem, e.g., Reichenbach, they have not produced a complete analysis of the relationship between aspects of quantum statistics and complications and/or possible solutions of the interpretation problem. While the present work by no means provides a complete account, it does explore some heretofore uncharted regions. One of the latter is an analysis of a situation that I call 'The (...)
     
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  20.  85
    The case for black hole thermodynamics part II: Statistical mechanics.David Wallace - 2018 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 66 (C):103-117.
    I present in detail the case for regarding black hole thermodynamics as having a statistical-mechanical explanation in exact parallel with the statistical-mechanical explanation believed to underly the thermodynamics of other systems. I focus on three lines of argument: zero-loop and one-loop calculations in quantum general relativity understood as a quantum field theory, using the path-integral formalism; calculations in string theory of the leading-order terms, higher-derivative corrections, and quantum corrections, in the black hole entropy formula for (...)
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  21. Statistical mechanical proof of the second law of thermodynamics based on volume entropy.Michele Campisi - 2008 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 39 (1):181-194.
    In a previous work (M. Campisi. Stud. Hist. Phil. M. P. 36 (2005) 275-290) we have addressed the mechanical foundations of equilibrium thermodynamics on the basis of the Generalized Helmholtz Theorem. It was found that the volume entropy provides a good mechanical analogue of thermodynamic entropy because it satisfies the heat theorem and it is an adiabatic invariant. This property explains the ``equal'' sign in Clausius principle ($S_f \geq S_i$) in a purely mechanical way and suggests that the volume entropy (...)
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  22. Applications of quantum statistics in psychological studies of decision processes.Diedrik Aerts & Sven Aerts - 1995 - Foundations of Science 1 (1):85-97.
    We present a new approach to the old problem of how to incorporate the role of the observer in statistics. We show classical probability theory to be inadequate for this task and take refuge in the epsilon-model, which is the only model known to us caapble of handling situations between quantum and classical statistics. An example is worked out and some problems are discussed as to the new viewpoint that emanates from our approach.
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  23. Early Quantum Theory Genesis: Reconciliation of Maxwellian Electrodynamics, Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics.Rinat M. Nugayev - 2000 - Annales de la Fondation Louis de Broglie 25 (3-4):337-362.
    Genesis of the early quantum theory represented by Planck’s 1897-1906 papers is considered. It is shown that the first quantum theoretical schemes were constructed as crossbreed ones composed from ideal models and laws of Maxwellian electrodynamics, Newtonian mechanics, statistical mechanics and thermodynamics. Ludwig Boltzmann’s ideas and technique appeared to be crucial. Deriving black-body radiation law Max Planck had to take the experimental evidence into account. It forced him not to deduce from phenomena but to use (...)
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  24. Irreversibility and statistical mechanics: A new approach?Robert W. Batterman - 1990 - Philosophy of Science 57 (3):395-419.
    I discuss a broad critique of the classical approach to the foundations of statistical mechanics (SM) offered by N. S. Krylov. He claims that the classical approach is in principle incapable of providing the foundations for interpreting the "laws" of statistical physics. Most intriguing are his arguments against adopting a de facto attitude towards the problem of irreversibility. I argue that the best way to understand his critique is as setting the stage for a positive theory which (...)
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  25. Statistics, Symmetry, and the Conventionality of Indistinguishability in Quantum Mechanics.Darrin W. Belousek - 2000 - Foundations of Physics 30 (1):1-34.
    The question to be addressed is, In what sense and to what extent do quantum statistics for, and the standard formal quantum-mechanical description of, systems of many identical particles entail that identical quantum particles are indistinguishable? This paper argues that whether or not we consider identical quantum particles as indistinguishable is a matter of theory choice underdetermined by logic and experiment.
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  26.  87
    Quantum statistics, identical particles and correlations.Dennis Dieks - 1990 - Synthese 82 (1):127 - 155.
    It is argued that the symmetry and anti-symmetry of the wave functions of systems consisting of identical particles have nothing to do with the observational indistinguishability of these particles. Rather, a much stronger conceptual indistinguishability is at the bottom of the symmetry requirements. This can be used to argue further, in analogy to old arguments of De Broglie and Schrödinger, that the reality described by quantum mechanics has a wave-like rather than particle-like structure. The question of whether (...) statistics alone can give rise to empirically observable correlations between results of distant measurements is also discussed. (shrink)
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  27.  63
    Covariant Relativistic Statistical Mechanics of Many Particles.Wm C. Schieve - 2005 - Foundations of Physics 35 (8):1359-1381.
    In this paper the quantum covariant relativistic dynamics of many bodies is reconsidered. It is emphasized that this is an event dynamics. The events are quantum statistically correlated by the global parameter τ. The derivation of an event Boltzmann equation emphasizes this. It is shown that this Boltzmann equation may be viewed as exact in a dilute event limit ignoring three event correlations. A quantum entropy principle is obtained for the marginal Wigner distribution function. By means of (...)
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  28.  25
    Quantum Statistics of Identical Particles.J. C. Garrison - 2022 - Foundations of Physics 52 (4):1-18.
    The empirical rule that systems of identical particles always obey either Bose or Fermi statistics is customarily imposed on the theory by adding it to the axioms of nonrelativistic quantum mechanics, with the result that other statistical behaviors are excluded a priori. A more general approach is to ask what other many-particle statistics are consistent with the indistinguishability of identical particles. This strategy offers a way to discuss possible violations of the Pauli Exclusion Principle, and it leads (...)
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  29.  36
    Quantum Mechanics as a Statistical Description of Classical Electrodynamics.Yehonatan Knoll - 2017 - Foundations of Physics 47 (7):959-990.
    It is shown that quantum mechanics is a plausible statistical description of an ontology described by classical electrodynamics. The reason that no contradiction arises with various no-go theorems regarding the compatibility of QM with a classical ontology, can be traced to the fact that classical electrodynamics of interacting particles has never been given a consistent definition. Once this is done, our conjecture follows rather naturally, including a purely classical explanation of photon related phenomena. Our analysis entirely rests (...)
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  30. A fundamental link between system theory and statistical mechanics.H. Atmanspacher & H. Scheingraber - 1987 - Foundations of Physics 17 (9):939-963.
    A fundamental link between system theory and statistical mechanics has been found to be established by the Kolmogorov entropy K. By this quantity the temporal evolution of dynamical systems can be classified into regular, chaotic, and stochastic processes. Since K represents a measure for the internal information creation rate of dynamical systems, it provides an approach to irreversibility. The formal relationship to statistical mechanics is derived by means of an operator formalism originally introduced by Prigogine. For (...)
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  31.  56
    Statistical inference and quantum mechanical measurement.Rodney W. Benoist, Jean-Paul Marchand & Wolfgang Yourgrau - 1977 - Foundations of Physics 7 (11-12):827-833.
    We analyze the quantum mechanical measuring process from the standpoint of information theory. Statistical inference is used in order to define the most likely state of the measured system that is compatible with the readings of the measuring instrument and the a priori information about the correlations between the system and the instrument. This approach has the advantage that no reference to the time evolution of the combined system need be made. It must, however, be emphasized that the (...)
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  32. Quantum mechanics in the making. The concepts of light atoms and light molecules and their final interpretation / Dieter Fick and Horst Kant. Early interactions of quantum statistics and quantum mechanics / Daniela Monaldi. Pourparlers for amalgamation : some early sources of quantum gravity research. [REVIEW]Dean Rickles - 2013 - In Shaul Katzir, Christoph Lehner & Jürgen Renn (eds.), Traditions and transformations in the history of quantum physics: HQ-3, Third International Conference on the History of Quantum Physics, Berlin, June 28-July 2, 2010. [Berlin]: Edition Open Access.
  33. Quantum-mechanical Statistics and the Inclusivist Approach to the Nature of Particulars.Francesco Orilia - 2006 - Synthese 148 (1):57-77.
    There have been attempts to derive anti-haeccetistic conclusions from the fact that quantum mechanics (QM) appeals to non-standard statistics. Since in fact QM acknowledges two kinds of such statistics, Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac, I argue that we could in the same vein derive the sharper anti-haeccetistic conclusion that bosons are bundles of tropes and fermions are bundles of universals. Moreover, since standard statistics is still appropriate at the macrolevel, we could also venture to say that no anti-haecceitistic conclusion is (...)
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  34.  46
    Spin-Statistics Connection for Relativistic Quantum Mechanics.A. F. Bennett - 2015 - Foundations of Physics 45 (4):370-381.
    The spin-statistics connection has been proved for nonrelativistic quantum mechanics . The proof is extended here to the relativistic regime using the parametrized Dirac equation. A causality condition is not required.
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  35.  54
    Quantum statistical dynamics: Statistics origin, measurement, and irreversibility. [REVIEW]V. S. Mashkevich - 1985 - Foundations of Physics 15 (1):1-33.
    It is shown that in the quantum theory of systems with a finite number of degrees of freedom which employs a set of algebraic states, a statistical element introduced by averaging the mean values of operators over the distribution of continuous quantities (a spectrum point of a canonical operator and time) is conserved for the limiting transition to the δ distribution. On that basis, quantum statistical dynamics, i.e., a theory in which dynamics (time evolution) includes a (...)
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  36. Inherent Properties and Statistics with Individual Particles in Quantum Mechanics.Matteo Morganti - 2009 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics 40 (3):223-231.
    This paper puts forward the hypothesis that the distinctive features of quantum statistics are exclusively determined by the nature of the properties it describes. In particular, all statistically relevant properties of identical quantum particles in many-particle systems are conjectured to be irreducible, ‘inherent’ properties only belonging to the whole system. This allows one to explain quantum statistics without endorsing the ‘Received View’ that particles are non-individuals, or postulating that quantum systems obey peculiar probability distributions, or assuming (...)
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  37.  92
    Can the Statistical Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics be Inferred from the Schrödinger Equation?—Bell and Gottfried.M. A. B. Whitaker - 2008 - Foundations of Physics 38 (5):436-447.
    In his paper titled ‘Against “measurement” ’ [Physics World 3(8), 33–40 [1990]], Bell criticised arguments that use the concept of measurement to justify the statistical interpretation of quantum theory. Among these was the text of Gottfried [Quantum Mechanics (Benjamin, New York, [1966])]. Gottfried has replied to this criticism, claiming to show that, for systems with both continuous and discrete degrees of freedom, the statistical interpretation for the discrete variables is implied by requiring that the continuous (...)
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  38. Stephen L. Adler, Quantum Theory as an Emergent Phenomenon: The Statistical Mechanics of Matrix Models as the Precursor of Quantum Field Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press , 283 pp., $50.00. [REVIEW]GianCarlo Ghirardi - 2005 - Philosophy of Science 72 (4):642-645.
  39.  55
    Statistical VS Wave Realism in the Foundations of Quantum Mechanics.Claudio Calosi, Vincenzo Fano, Pierluigi Graziani & Gino Tarozzi - unknown
    Different realistic attitudes towards wavefunctions and quantum states are as old as quantum theory itself. Recently Pusey, Barret and Rudolph on the one hand, and Auletta and Tarozzi on the other, have proposed new interesting arguments in favor of a broad realistic interpretation of quantum mechanics that can be considered the modern heir to some views held by the fathers of quantum theory. In this paper we give a new and detailed presentation of such arguments, (...)
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  40.  56
    New information-theoretic foundations for quantum statistics.William Band & James L. Park - 1976 - Foundations of Physics 6 (3):249-262.
    When the state of a physical system is not fully determined by available data, it should be possible nevertheless to make a systematic guess concerning the unknown state by applying the principles of information theory. The resulting theoretical blend of informational and mechanical constructs should then constitute a modern structure for statistical physics. Such a program has been attempted by a number of authors, most notably Jaynes, with seeming success. However, we demonstrated in a recent publication that the standard (...)
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  41. Is the Statistical Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics ψ-Ontic or ψ-Epistemic?Mario Hubert - 2023 - Foundations of Physics 53 (16):1-23.
    The ontological models framework distinguishes ψ-ontic from ψ-epistemic wave- functions. It is, in general, quite straightforward to categorize the wave-function of a certain quantum theory. Nevertheless, there has been a debate about the ontological status of the wave-function in the statistical interpretation of quantum mechanics: is it ψ-epistemic and incomplete or ψ-ontic and complete? I will argue that the wave- function in this interpretation is best regarded as ψ-ontic and incomplete.
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  42.  35
    Reinterpretation of Quantum Mechanics Based on the Statistical Interpretation.Hisato Shirai - 1998 - Foundations of Physics 28 (11):1633-1662.
    I attempt to develop further the statistical interpretation of quantum mechanics proposed by Einstein and developed by Popper, Ballentine, etc. Two ideas are proposed in the present paper. One is to interpret momentum as a property of an ensemble of similarly prepared systems which is not satisfied by any one member of the ensemble of systems. Momentum is regarded as a statistical parameter like temperature in statistical mechanics. The other is the holistic assumption that (...)
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  43. Quantum Mechanics in a Time-Asymmetric Universe: On the Nature of the Initial Quantum State.Eddy Keming Chen - 2021 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 72 (4):1155–1183.
    In a quantum universe with a strong arrow of time, we postulate a low-entropy boundary condition to account for the temporal asymmetry. In this paper, I show that the Past Hypothesis also contains enough information to simplify the quantum ontology and define a unique initial condition in such a world. First, I introduce Density Matrix Realism, the thesis that the quantum universe is described by a fundamental density matrix that represents something objective. This stands in sharp contrast (...)
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  44. Does the Minimal Statistical Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics Resolve the Measurement Problem?Nicholas Maxwell - 1975 - Methodology and Science 8:84-101.
    It is argued that the so-called minimal statistical interpretation of quantum mechanics does not completely resolve the measurement problem in that this view is unable to show that quantjum mechanics can dispense with classical physics when it comes to a treatment of the measuring interaction. It is suggested that the view that quantum mechanics applies to individual systems should not be too hastily abandoned, in that this view gives perhaps the best hope of leading (...)
     
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  45. (1 other version)The foundations of quantum mechanics and the approach to thermodynamic equilibrium.David Z. Albert - 1994 - British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 45 (2):669-677.
    It is argued that certain recent advances in the construction of a theory of the collapses of Quantum Mechanical wave functions suggest the possibility of new and improved foundations for statistical mechanics, foundations in which epistemic considerations play no role.
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  46.  43
    Entropy in operational statistics and quantum logic.Carl A. Hein - 1979 - Foundations of Physics 9 (9-10):751-786.
    In a series of recent papers, Randall and Foulis have developed a generalized theory of probability (operational statistics) which is based on the notion of a physical operation. They have shown that the quantum logic description of quantum mechanics can be naturally imbedded into this generalized theory of probability. In this paper we shall investigate the role of entropy (in the sense of Shannon's theory of information) in operational statistics. We shall find that there are several related (...)
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  47.  19
    (1 other version)Connecting Spin and Statistics in Quantum Mechanics.Arthur Jabs - 2010 - Foundations of Physics 40 (7):776-792.
    The spin-statistics connection is derived in a simple manner under the postulates that the original and the exchange wave functions are simply added, and that the azimuthal phase angle, which defines the orientation of the spin part of each single-particle spin-component eigenfunction in the plane normal to the spin-quantization axis, is exchanged along with the other parameters. The spin factor 2s belongs to the exchange wave function when this function is constructed so as to get the spinor ambiguity under control. (...)
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  48. On the possibility of a phase-space reconstruction of quantum statistics: A refutation of the Bell-Wigner locality argument. [REVIEW]Jeffrey Bub - 1973 - Foundations of Physics 3 (1):29-44.
    J. S. Bell's argument that only “nonlocal” hidden variable theories can reproduce the quantum statistical correlations of the singlet spin state in the case of two separated spin-1/2 particles is examined in terms of Wigner's formulation. It is shown that a similar argument applies to a single spin-1/2 particle, and that the exclusion of hidden variables depends on an obviously untenable assumption concerning conditional probabilities. The problem of completeness is discussed briefly, and the grounds for rejecting a phase-space (...)
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  49. Rigorous information-theoretic derivation of quantum-statistical thermodynamics. II.William Band & James L. Park - 1977 - Foundations of Physics 7 (9-10):705-721.
    Part I of the present work outlined the rigorous application of information theory to a quantum mechanical system in a thermodynamic equilibrium state. The general formula developed there for the best-guess density operator $\hat \rho$ was indeterminate because it involved in an essential way an unspecified prior probability distribution over the continuumD H of strong equilibrium density operators. In Part II mathematical evaluation of $\hat \rho$ is completed after an epistemological analysis which leads first to the discretization ofD H (...)
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  50. Typical Quantum States of the Universe are Observationally Indistinguishable.Eddy Keming Chen & Roderich Tumulka - 2024
    This paper is about the epistemology of quantum theory. We establish a new result about a limitation to knowledge of its central object---the quantum state of the universe. We show that, if the universal quantum state can be assumed to be a typical unit vector from a high-dimensional subspace of Hilbert space (such as the subspace defined by a low-entropy macro-state as prescribed by the Past Hypothesis), then no observation can determine (or even just narrow down significantly) (...)
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