INTD 364.30
Spring (3) 2005
In Search of (Quantum) Reality
... or ...
What Really Happened to Schrodinger's Cat?
Instructor: Mark Taylor Office: Gerstacker 118
Phone: 569-5241
email: taylormp
Office Hours: MTRF 9:00-12:00, Wed. 9:00-6:00, Sun. 3:00-6:00 ... or ... just stop by.
Also, feel free to call me
or send me email.
Meeting Times: MTRF 2:00-5:00, Gerstacker 123
Texts: 1) "Quantum Reality" by Nick Herbert (1985)
2) "Appearance and Reality" by Peter Kosso (1998)
3) "Where Does the Weirdness Go?" by David Lindley (1996)
Other short reading selections will be distributed throughout the course.
Course Overview: Quantum mechanics is a physical theory used to describe the structure of the microscopic world. This theory is perhaps the most successful, and certainly the most quantitatively accurate description of nature ever constructed. While no one disputes the success of quantum mechanics (no experiment has yet been performed which is found to be in violation of this theory) there has been an ongoing debate as to the meaning or interpretation of the theory since its initial formulation. In particular, quantum mechanics demands that we abandon some of our preconceived ideas about the very nature (or even existence) of "reality". This led Einstein to reject the theory as incomplete. However, recent experiments have convincingly demonstrated that Einstein was wrong and thus we are forced to contend with a number of different "quantum realities" all of which are consistent with our knowledge of the microscopic world. In this course we will examine just what it is that quantum mechanics has to say about the nature of reality. In the process we will also try to understand how the microscopic world can be so weird while the macroscopic world continues to be so seemingly normal. Finally, we'll see what we can do about saving a poor feline from that terrible entangled fate of the simultaneous |live catñ + |dead catñ state.
Final Exam: 10:00 AM
Wednesday, May 11
PreClass Questions:
Problem Set:
Problems
Links to pdf files:
Course Information & Syllabus Quantum_History
Downloadable Programs:
Interference
for Windows Interference
for Mac