Physical theory of the twentieth century and contemporary philosophy

Quantum Theory: Exact or Approximate?

Quantum mechanics has enjoyed a multitude of successes since its formulation in the early twentieth century. At the same time, it has generated puzzles that persist to this day. These puzzles have inspired a large literature in physics and philosophy. There are two distinct approaches. One is to assume that quantum theory is exact, but that the interpretive postulates need modification, to eliminate apparent contradictions. The second approach is to assume that quantum mechanics is not exact, but instead is a very accurate approximation to a deeper level theory, which reconciles the determinis…

玻尔在当代（量子）物理学与哲学中的反实在论实在论

Bohr's Anti-Realist Realism in Contemporary (Quantum) Physics and Philosophy

本文探讨了玻尔的工作如何通过建立基于信仰的“宗教实在论”颠覆科学实在论纲领，并指出其反实在论实在论至今仍主导当代量子物理学与哲学的后现代研究。

Using Quantum Computers to Learn Physics

Since its inception at the beginning of the twentieth century, quantum mechanics has challenged our conceptions of how the universe ought to work; however, the equations of quantum mechanics can be too computationally difficult to solve using existing computers for even modestly large systems. Here I will show that quantum computers can sometimes be used to address such problems and that quantum computer science can assign formal complexities to learning facts about nature. Hence, computer science should not only be regarded as an applied science; it is also of central importance to the founda…

Julian Schwinger: Nuclear Physics, the Radiation Laboratory, Renormalized QED, Source Theory, and Beyond

Julian Schwinger's influence on twentieth century science is profound and pervasive. Of course, he is most famous for his renormalization theory of quantum electrodynamics, for which he shared the Nobel Prize with Richard Feynman and Sin-itiro Tomonaga. But although this triumph was undoubtedly his most heroic work, his legacy lives on chiefly through subtle and elegant work in classical electrodynamics, quantum variational principles, proper-time methods, quantum anomalies, dynamical mass generation, partial symmetry, and more. Starting as just a boy, he rapidly became the pre-eminent nuclear…

The Oxford Questions on the foundations of quantum physics

The twentieth century saw two fundamental revolutions in physics -- relativity and quantum. Daily use of these theories can numb the sense of wonder at their immense empirical success. Does their instrumental effectiveness stand on the rock of secure concepts or the sand of unresolved fundamentals? Does measuring a quantum system probe, or even create, reality, or merely change belief? Must relativity and quantum theory just co-exist or might we find a new theory which unifies the two? To bring such questions into sharper focus, we convened a conference on Quantum Physics and the Nature of Rea…