Classical Concepts in Quantum Theory

Trustees Of Boston University, Boston

Investigators

Abstract

The rapidly growing body of scientific literature in fields such as semi-classical mechanics, mesoscopic physics, and quantum chaos is raising new questions about the relationship between classical and quantum mechanics. Far from being obsolete, the concepts of classical mechanics are playing a central role in discovering new phenomena and coming to a deeper understanding of quantum theory. Despite these important developments there still does not exist a book in the history and philosophy of science literature devoted to an examination of the relationship between these two theories. The objective of this research is to produce such a book. This project begins with the realization that the traditional frameworks for understanding intertheoretic relations are inadequate. The complex and subtle relationship between classical and quantum mechanics is not captured by the well-known models of reductionism, pluralism, nor the classical limit. In searching for a new framework, Bokulich turns to the history of physics, examining how the founders of quantum theory viewed the relationship of that theory to classical mechanics. Her work will provide an important contribution to the history of physics literature by showing how Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, and Paul Dirac, all members of the so-called Copenhagen interpretation, each had a distinctive philosophy of the relationship between classical and quantum mechanics. Of these three views she proposes that Dirac's philosophy of intertheoretic relations provides the best framework for understanding recent developments in quantization and semiclassical mechanics. Building on this historical work, Bokulich considers how recent developments in are a continuation of Dirac's program to make precise the similarities between the mathematical structures of classical and quantum mechanics. Her investigation will provide a new and important testing ground for the philosophical view known as structural realism. To further build her case, Bokulich next turns to an examination of semiclassical theory and its application in the field of quantum chaos. She focuses her investigation on a particular area of experimental research in which classical orbits are being used not only to investigate, but to explain causally, quantum phenomena. These experiments raise pressing philosophical questions about the epistemological status of classical concepts in quantum theory. These two case studies, quantization and quantum chaos, provide examples of scientific discoveries that come only through a careful study of the relationship between classical and quantum mechanics. Bokulich contends that these two case studies will also shed new light on the traditional philosophical problems of reductionism and realism. As an interdisciplinary work that integrates historical, philosophical, and scientific perspectives, Bokulich's book will help further the fruitful dialogue between researchers in these diverse fields.