Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T00:29:37.239Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Quantum Theoretical Concepts of Measurement: Part I

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2022

James L. Park
James L. Park*
Affiliation:
Washington State University
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The overall purpose of this paper is to clarify the physical meaning and epistemological status of the term ‘measurement’ as used in quantum theory. After a review of the essential logical structure of quantum physics. Part I presents interpretive discussions contrasting the quantal concepts observable and ensemble with their classical ancestors along the lines of Margenau's latency theory. Against this background various popular ideas concerning the nature of quantum measurement are critically surveyed. The analysis reveals that, in addition to internal mathematical difficulties, all the so-called quantum theories of measurement are grounded in unjustifiable, classical presuppositions.

Type
Research Article
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 35 , Issue 3 , September 1968 , pp. 205 - 231
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1968

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

†

This essay is based on part of a dissertation presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Yale University. Part II will appear in the immediately succeeding issue (Volume XXXV, No. 4) of Philosophy of Science.

References

REFERENCES

[1] Bergmann, G., Am, J. Phys. vol. 15, 1947.Google Scholar
[2] Bohm, D., Quantum Theory, Prentice-Hall, 1951. pp. 624–628.Google Scholar
[3] Bohr, N., in Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist (ed. P. Shilpp), Tudor, 1949, p. 209.Google Scholar
[4] Bohr, N., Essays 1958–1962 on Atomic Physics and Human Knowledge, Interscience, 1963.10.1063/1.3051271CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[5] Bohr, N., J. Chem. Soc., vol. 135 (I), 1932, pp. 376–377.Google Scholar
[6] Carnap, R., Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, vol. 5, 1945.10.2307/2102817CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[7] Daneri, A., Loinger, A., and Prosperi, G. M., Nuclear Physics, vol. 33, 1962, p. 297; Nuovo Cimento B, vol. 44, 1966, p. 119.10.1016/0029-5582(62)90528-XCrossRefGoogle Scholar
[8] Feyerabend, P. K., in Frontiers in Science and Philosophy (ed. R. G. Colodny), Pittsburgh, 1962.Google Scholar
[9] Feyerabend, P. K., in Observation and Interpretation (ed. S. Korner), Butterworth, 1957, pp. 121–130.Google Scholar
[10] Hanson, N. R., The Concept of the Positron, Cambridge, 1963, pp. 60–70.Google Scholar
[11] Heisenberg, W., in Niels Bohr and the Development of Physics (ed. Pauli, W.), Pergamon, 1955, pp. 25–27.Google Scholar
[12] Heisenberg, W., Physics and Philosophy, Harper, 1958.Google Scholar
[13] Jauch, J. M., Helvetica Physica Acta, vol. 37, 1964, p. 293.Google Scholar
[14] Jordan, P., Philosophy of Science, vol. 16, 1949, p. 269.10.1086/287049CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[15] Discussion, pp. 138–147, in Observation and Interpretation (ed. Korner, S.), Butterworth, 1957.Google Scholar
[16] London, F., and Bauer, E., Actualities Scientifiques et Industrielles, No. 775, Hermann et Cie, 1939, pp. 22–47.10.1007/BF01695529CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[17] Margenau, H., The Nature of Physical Reality, McGraw-Hill, 1950.Google Scholar
[18] Margenau, H., Philosophy of Science, vol. 4, 1937, pp. 352–356; vol. 25, 1958, p. 23.10.1086/286467CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[19] Margenau, H., Philosophy of Science, vol. 30, 1963, p. 138.10.1086/287925CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[20] Park, J. L., Am. J. Phys., vol. 36, 1968, p. 211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[21] Park, J. L., and Margenau, H., “Simultaneous Measurability in Quantum Theory” (to be published in The International Journal of Theoretical Physics).Google Scholar
[22] Rosenfeld, L., Supplement of the Progress of Theoretical Physics, Extra number, 1965, p. 229.Google Scholar
[23] Schrödinger, E., Naturwissenschaften, vol. 23, 1935. p. 812.10.1007/BF01491987CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[24] ter Haar, D., Elements of Statistical Mechanics, Rinehart, 1954, p. 149.10.1119/1.1933869CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[25] von Neumann, J., Mathematical Foundations of Quantum Mechanics, Eng. trans. by R. T. Beyer, Princeton, 1955.Google Scholar
[26] Wakita, H., Progress of Theoretical Physics, vol. 23, 1960, p. 32.10.1143/PTP.23.32CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[27] Wick, G. C., Wightman, A. S., and Wigner, E. P., Phys. Rev., vol. 88, 1952, p. 101.10.1103/PhysRev.88.101CrossRefGoogle Scholar