Constructing reality : quantum theory and particle physics /
This picture of the winding state vector glosses over the subtlety that we freely choose when as well as where or what to measure. The Dirac view separates the abstract state vector from all of these contingent choices. Moreover, the principles of relativity demand that we treat when and where (time...
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge ; New York :
Cambridge University Press,
2011.
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| Summary: | This picture of the winding state vector glosses over the subtlety that we freely choose when as well as where or what to measure. The Dirac view separates the abstract state vector from all of these contingent choices. Moreover, the principles of relativity demand that we treat when and where (time and space) on a more or less equal footing. Thus a better choice for an omniscient picture corresponding to the classical 'tapestry of world lines' is a Master State Vector for all of nature in an abstract Hilbert space 'outside of space and time' whose coordinates bear labels for time as well as for distance or momentum and other properties. In this picture space-time, being a property of the detectors, not the underlying stuff, is a macroscopic phenomenon. For historical reasons, the picture in which the state vector depends on time is called the Schrodinger picture, and the alternative static case is called the Heisenberg picture. |
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| Physical Description: | viii, 287 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages [275]-281) and index. |
| ISBN: | 9781107004832 (hardback) 1107004837 (hardback) |