Vendredi 25 mai 2012 à 14h15
Auditoire Stueckelberg, Ecole de Physique

A Minimalist's view of Quantum Mechanics

Juerg Froehlich,

To start with, an (algebraic) approach to the description of physical systems unifying classical and quantum theory is presented. It is then explained in which way quantum theory radically differs from classical theory. In particular, it is explained why standard quantum mechanics does not provide a realistic description of physical systems and why it is intrinsically probabilistic. It is then sketched what "quantum probabilities" (of "histories") are and how they are calculated. The role of "dephasing" and "decoherence" in the interpretation of "quantum probabilities" (more precisely in rendering "histories" consistent) is explained.