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Chance in Physics: Foundations and Perspectives

Chance in Physics: Foundations and Perspectives

Bricmont, J.
Dürr, D.
Galavotti, M. C.

Hardcover

Series: Lecture Notes in Physics, Book 574

General ReferencePhysicsProbability & Statistics

ISBN10: 3540420568
ISBN13: 9783540420569
Publisher: Springer Nature
Published: Jul 27 2001
Pages: 292
Weight: 1.28
Height: 0.92 Width: 6.32 Depth: 9.44
Language: English
TheconferenceChanceinPhysics: FoundationsandPerspectiveswasheldfrom 29thNovemberto3rdDecember1999inIschia, Italy. Itwassponsoredbythe IstitutoItalianoPerGliStudiFiloso?ciinNaples, bytheDeutscheForschun- gemeinschaft(DFG), andbytheSociet aItalianaDiFondamentiDellaFisica. SponsoringbytheInternationalSchoolforAdvancedStudies(ISAS)ofTrieste, Italy, madethecompilationofthisvolumepossible;thefundingbytheIs- tutoItalianoPerGliStudiFiloso?ciwascrucialfortheconferenceandisvery gratefullyacknowledged. TheIstitutomanagedtoprovideauniqueatmosphere foraninterdisciplinarymeeting, andtheseproceedingsre?ectindeedthevery friendlybutneverthelessintenseandneverendingdiscussionsononeofthemost debatedissuesofscience: probability, andinparticularprobabilityinphysics. Wegratefullyacknowlegdetheorganisationalworkaswellastheeditorialwork donebyoursecretaryofthemeetingPhDstudentRoderichTumulka. Themeetingwasintendedtostimulaterenewedre?ectiononthefundam- talandpracticalaspectsofprobabilityinphysics, inparticularthefoundations ofstatisticalsechanics, theprobabilityinthefoundationsofquantummech- ics, thealgebraicviewofprobabilityandthephilosophyofprobabilityinits interrelationwithphysics. Questionslikewhatprobabilityis, orwhatitisabout, orhowprobability entersphysicsareofasubtlekind. Theyaredi?cultinvariousways, often mixedupwiththeenormouscomplexityandtheinescapablelackofmat- maticalrigorinthephysicalapplication, orwiththefoundationalproblemsof quantummechanics, wheretheprobabilisticignoranceconcerningthevaluesof certainphysicalquantitieshasevenbeenelevatedtoamatterofprinciple. At present, theunderstandingofprobabilityinphysicsisalmostaspersonalasthe understandingofquantumtheory. Theaimoftheconferencewasthustofocusonideasaboutprobabilityin physics, itsmeaninganditsphilosophicalimplications, byreviewingthedi?erent facetsofprobabilityinphysicsinitsmodernsettingsandbytakingintoaccount modernquantumtheorieswithoutobservers, wheretheoriginofprobabilityis notmysti?edbydogmatism. Thereviewsweregiveninone-hourtalks, andthediscussionswereheldin theformofroundtables, whereshortercontributionswerealsogiven. Thespeakerswereaskednottodilutethemainthemesoftheconference withtechnicalitiesandtofocussharplyontheissueofprobability. Thiswas VI Preface takentoheartbyallspeakersandthemeetingthusprovedverysuccessful. The contributionsinthisvolumeconsequentlyfocusonconceptualissues, andthey makeworthwhilereadingforspecialistsinthe?eldoffoundationsaswellasfor nonspecialists, becauseextensivetechnicalpriorknowledgeisnotrequired. The contributionshavebeenleftintheordertheywerediscussedinthemeeting, whichprovedtobeaverynaturalone: 1. ClassicalStatisticalMechanics, whereBoltzmann'sunderstandingofstat- ticalmechnanicsasarisingfromkineticgastheoryisreviewedandputinto modernperspectives, withanoutlookonrelativisticstatisticalmechanics. Therelativelackofemphasisonthee?ectofchaoticbehaviouronthefo- dationsofprobabilityisnoteworthy. 2. QuantumMechanics, wherewereviewthoseontologicalquantumtheories, thathavebeenmostseriouslydiscussedintherecentyears. Amongthese areadeterministictheory(Bohmianmechanics)andboththeintrinsically randomtheoriesofwavepacketreductionandtheoperator-basedconsistent (decoherent)histories. Itstartswiththeorthodoxview, againwith- phasisontheprobabilisticaspectsofthesetheories. 3. Chaoticsystems, wherethedynamicalaspectsforthefoundationsofpro- bilityinphysicsareadressed. 4. PhilosophyofProbability, wheretheissuesoftheearliersectionsarefurther scrutinizedonphilosophicalgrounds. Thesecontributionshavenoabstracts. Thebookstartswi

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