Overview

This book introduces and critically appraises the main proposals for how to understand quantum mechanics, namely the Copenhagen interpretation, spontaneous collapse, Bohmian mechanics, many-worlds, and others. The author makes clear what are the crucial problems, such as the measurement problem, related to the foundations of quantum mechanics and explains the key arguments like the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen argument and Bell’s proof of nonlocality. He discusses and clarifies numerous topics that have puzzled the founding fathers of quantum mechanics and present-day students alike, such as the possibility of hidden variables, the collapse of the wave function, time-of-arrival measurements, explanations of the symmetrization postulate for identical particles, or the nature of spin. Several chapters are devoted to extending the different approaches to relativistic space-time and quantum field theory. The book is self-contained and is intended for graduate students and researchers who want to step into the fundamental aspects of quantum physics. Given its clarity, it is accessible also to advanced undergraduates and contains many exercises and examples to master the subject.

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9783031095474

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Reviews

“The present book … tackles the problem with all the power of mathematics, though without sacrificing philosophical insights. … The attentive readers of the present book will certainly not remain confused or be led into mistakes, if they have the patience to follow to the end the appropriate mathematical treatments, which—in the author’s overall vision—are an indispensable element of the discussion on the foundations of quantum mechanics.” (Salvatore Esposito, Mathematical Reviews, February, 2024)

Author Information

Roderich Tumulka earned a Ph.D. in mathematics from Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich. During the period 2007-2016, he taught at Rutgers University (USA) and has since taught at Eberhard Karls University in Tübingen (Germany). His field of research is mathematical physics, focusing particularly on the foundations of quantum mechanics, quantum field theory, and quantum statistical mechanics.

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