Download or read book Probability and Schrödinger's Mechanics written by David B Cook and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2002-12-26 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book addresses some of the problems of interpreting Schrödinger's mechanics — the most complete and explicit theory falling under the umbrella of “quantum theory”. The outlook is materialist (“realist”) and stresses the development of Schrödinger's mechanics from classical theories and its close connections with (particularly) the Hamilton–Jacobi theory. Emphasis is placed on the concepts and use of the modern objective (measure-theoretic) probability theory. The work is free from any mention of the bearing of Schrödinger's mechanics on God, his alleged mind or, indeed, minds at all. The author has taken the naïve view that this mechanics is about the structure and dynamics of atomic and sub-atomic systems since he has been unable to trace any references to minds, consciousness or measurements in the foundations of the theory. Contents:Preliminaries:Orientation and OutlookProbabilities:Simple ProbabilitiesA More Careful Look at ProbabilitiesClassical Mechanics:The Hamilton–Jacobi EquationAngular MomentumSchrödinger's Mechanics:Prelude: Particle DiffractionThe Genesis of Schrödinger's MechanicsThe Schrödinger EquationIdentities: Momenta and Dynamical VariablesAbstracting the StructureInterpretation from Applications:The Quantum Kepler ProblemThe Harmonic Oscillator and FieldsPerturbation Theory and EpicyclesFormalisms and “Hidden” VariablesDisputes and Paradoxes:Measurement at the Microscopic LevelParadoxesBeyond Schrödinger's Mechanics? Readership: Physical scientists interested in quantum theory, philosophers of science, and students of scientific philosophy. Keywords:Physical Science;Quantum Theory;Probability Theory;Philosophy of Science;Schrödinger's Mechanics;Classical MechanicsReviews:“The book can be recommended to students who do not feel satisfied by the inductive part of their textbooks as well as to people who just want to know how to understand quantum mechanics on a moderate level.”Zentralblatt MATH