Open Questions in Quantum Physics: Invited Papers on the Foundations of Microphysics (Fundamental Theories of Physics, 10)

Due to its extraordinary predictive power and the great generality of its mathematical structure, quantum theory is able, at least in principle, to describe all the microscopic and macroscopic properties of the physical world, from the subatomic to the cosmological level. Nevertheless, ever since the Copen­ hagen and Gottingen schools in 1927 gave it the definitive formu­ lation, now commonly known as the orthodox interpretation, the theory has suffered from very serious logical and epistemologi­ cal problems. These shortcomings were immediately pointed out by some of the principal founders themselves of quantum theory, to wit, Planck, Einstein, Ehrenfest, Schrodinger, and de Broglie, and by the philosopher Karl Popper, who assumed a position of radical criticism with regard to the standard formulation of the theory. The aim of the participants in the workshop on Open Questions in Quantum Physics, which was held in Bari (Italy), in the Department of Physics of the University, during May 1983 and whose Proceedings are collected in the present volume, accord­ ingly was to discuss the formal, the physical and the epistemo­ logical difficulties of quantum theory in the light of recent crucial developments and to propose some possible resolutions of three basic conceptual dilemmas, which are posed respectively ~: (a) the physical developments of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen argument and Bell's theorem, i. e. Front Matter....Pages i-x Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Realism in Quantum Mechanics and a New Version of the EPR Experiment....Pages 3-25 Discussion....Pages 26-32 The Physical Origin of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Paradox....Pages 33-50 Does the Bell Inequality Hold for All Local Theories ?....Pages 51-62 Is it Possible to Save Causality and Locality in Quantum Mechanics?....Pages 63-73 Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Experiments and Macroscopic Locality....Pages 75-86 On the Compatibility of Local Realism with Atomic Cascade Experiments....Pages 87-101 Is the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Paradox Demanded by Quantum Mechanics?....Pages 103-118 Infinite Wave Resolution of the EPR Paradox....Pages 119-127 On Nonlocal Influences....Pages 129-151 Einstein Locality for Individual Systems and for Statistical Ensembles....Pages 153-170 Can Non-Detected Photons Simulate Non-Local Effects in Two-Photon Polarization Correlation Experiments ?....Pages 171-181 Front Matter....Pages 183-183 Quantum Theory of Measurement Without Wave Packet Collapse....Pages 185-197 A Causal Fluidodynamical Model for the Relativistic Quantum Mechanics....Pages 199-213 On the Non-Linear Schrödinger Equation....Pages 215-224 Recent Progress in De Broglie Nonlinear Wave Mechanics....Pages 225-236 The Role of the Quantum Potential in Determining Particle Trajectories and the Resolution of the Measurement Problem....Pages 237-256 When is a Statistical Theory Causal?....Pages 257-270 Radiation Damping and Nonlinearity in the Pilot Wave Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics....Pages 271-282 Stochastic Electrodynamics and the Bell Inequalities....Pages 283-296 Front Matter....Pages 183-183 Nonlocal Quantum Potential Interpretation of Relativistic Actions at a Distance in Many-Body Problems....Pages 297-322 Front Matter....Pages 323-323 Third Kind Measurements and Wave-Particle Dualism....Pages 325-331 Quantum Effects in the Interference of Light....Pages 333-343 Tests of Quantum Mechanics by Neutron Interferometry....Pages 345-376 A Unified Experiment for Testing Both the Interpretation and the Reduction Postulate of the Quantum Mechanical Wave Function....Pages 377-390 Epilogue....Pages 391-393 Evolutionary Epistemology....Pages 395-413 Back Matter....Pages 415-426