A Way Out of the Quantum Trap

arXiv:quant-ph/9812081v231Dec1998February1,2008EEQTAWayOutoftheQuantumTrapPh.Blanchard♭andA.Jadczyk♯1♭FacultyofPhysicsandBiBoS,UniversityofBielefeldUniversit¨atstr.25,D-33615BielefeldAbstractWereviewEventEnhancedQuantumTheory(EEQT).InSection1weaddressthequestion”IsQuantumTheorytheLastWord”.InparticularwerespondtosomeofchallengingstamentsofH.P.Stapp.Wealsodiscussapossiblefutureofthequantumparadigm-seealsoSection5.InSection2wegiveashortsketchofEEQT.ExamplesaregiveninSection3.Section3.3discussesacompletelynewphe-nomenon-chaosandfractal-likephenomenacausedbyasimultaneous”measurement”ofseveralnon-commutingobservables.InSection4weanswer”FrequentlyAskedQuestions”concerningEEQT-mostlycomingfromrefereesofourpublications.SummaryandconclussionsareinSection6.1e-mail:[e-mail]1Introduction:IsQuantumTheorytheLastWord?SixtyyearsafterthefamousdebateonthenatureofRealitybetweenNielsBohrandAlbertEinstein,questionscentraltotheirdebatearethesubjectoffascinatingexperiments.IsQuantumTheorythelastword?Haveweplumbedthedepthandspannedthebreadthofscientificinquiryandfoundthattherejustsimplyisnomore?Havewecometothe”endoftheline?”Inancienttimes,thenumberofthingsthatcouldbeknownwaslimitedanditWASpossibleforasinglepersontoknowthemall.Evenasrecentlyas200yearsago,ourrangeofknowledgewasseverelycircumscribedbyourassumptionsabouttheworldaroundus.Inthepreviouscentury,daringthinkersandobserversexpandedourunderstandingoftheworldinwhichwelivetosuchafantasticdegreethatman’stechnologicalprogressinthepast100yearshassurpassedtheprevious2,000yearsaddedalltogether.Doesthisaccelerationindicatethattheendisnear?Or,shallwecomparesuchclaimstothestoryabouttheexaminerintheU.S.PatentOfficewho,atthebeginningofthiscentury,suggestedthatthePatentOfficebeclosedsince”everythinghasalreadybeeninvented.”Well,itclearlywasn’ttheendin1901,butperhapsweareapproachingitnowintheyear2001?Perhapsscience,asweknowit,hasbecomeobsoletebecauseithasexplainedevery-thing...thereisnomore”toinvent.”Doesthissoundfantastic?Well,onecertainlygetsthisimpressionwhenreadingsomeoftherecentpapersonthesubject-aremarkableexamplebeingH.P.Stapp’scontributiontotheX-thMaxBorn”QuantumFuture”Symposium[1],entitled”QuantumOntologyandMind-MatterSynthesis.”[2]WewishtoaddressStapp’smaintheseslateroninthissection,butbeforewedo,wewouldliketoaddressthequestionthatcertainlydeservesananswerifwewanttobehonestwithouraudience,towit:IFquantum1theoryisNOTTheLastWord,ifthereISafuture,whatcanitbe?Itisclearthatouranswertothisquestionmustbe,atpresent,basedonspeculation.But,aspartofthetradition,onceinawhile,scientistsdospeculate![3]Ouranswer,givenspeculativelyremember,isthatwebelievethatquantumtheoryisaneffectiveandpowerfultheoryofmeasurements.But,wealsobelievethatitdealsonlywithaparticularaspectofrealityandthatotherapproachescan,andshall,andmust,giveusadeeperinsightintothecomplexweavingsofNature.WhenwespeakaboutQuantumTheory,wemeanitsstandardandor-thodoxversionwhichisclearlyalineartheory.Itisverygoodformakingpredictionsbasedonincompleteinformation.But,itisnotsuitableforex-plainingwhatreallyhappens.Itexplainstheobjectsandphenomenaofourexperience,butdoesNOTexplaintheunderlyingrealitywhichwedonotexperiencedirectly.AsAlanTuringsuccintlystated:”predictionislinear,descriptionisnon-linear”.TherewillbemoreonthissubjectinSect.6,wherewewilldescribeinmoredetailsapossiblescenarioforfuturedevelop-mentsinquantumtheory-a”QuantumFuture”thatwebelieveisvalidanddeservingofseriouswork,evenifonlytoseeifStapp’sdarkvisionofwhatliesaheadinscienceiswhatwemustprepareourselvestoface.Stappstates:”...Iproposetobreakawayfromthecautiousstanceofthefoundersofquantumtheory,andbuildatheoryofrealitybytakingseriouslywhattheincredibleaccuracyofthepredictionsoftheformalismseemstoproclaim,namelythatnatureisbestunderstoodasbeingbuiltaroundknowingsthatenjoythemathematicalpropertiesascribedtothembyquantumtheory.”AccordingtoStapp,realityshouldbe”recognizedtobeknowledge,ratherthansubstantivematter...”Stappisnotthefirstonetopropagatetheviewthatnothing”outthere”reallyexists.BishopBerkeley,asweknow,proclaimedtheverysameidealongagowhenhesaid:”Ihavenoreasonforbelievingtheexistenceofmat-ter.”ButStappissupportingthisviewbythepracticalsuccessofquantummechanicsandfailureof”allofoureffortstoridphysicsofthisvilecontam-2inationbymind,whichquantumtheorypressesuponus.”Well,letusjustpointoutthatthesuccessofquantumtheoryisnotthatoverhelming!Meaninglessinfinitiesofrelativisticquantumfieldtheorytellusthatsomethingisseriouslywrongwithourtheoreticalassumptions.Inouropin-ion,thevalueofatheoryconsistsnotinthatitcanexplainthetechniquebywhichthefabriciswovenontheloomofNature,butthatitcanexplainthepatternsoftheweaving,theWeaverandperhapsthemotivationsbehindtheweaving.Factscannotbeunderstoodbybeingcraftedintoasummaryoraformula-theycanonlybeunderstoodbybeingexplained.And,understandingisnotthesameas”knowing.”QuantumTheory,asanyothertheory,hasafiniteregionofvalidity-whenattemptsaremadetoapplyitbeyondtheselimits-wegeteithernonsenseornoansweratall.Quantumtheory,initsorthodoxversion,cannote