Quantum theory as an emergent phenomenon : the statistical mechanics of matrix models as the precursor of quantum field theory /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:	Adler, Stephen L.
Imprint:	Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Description:	1 online resource (xi, 225 pages) : illustrations
Language:	English
Subject:	Quantum theory. Physics. Physics. Quantum theory. Electronic books.
Format:	E-Resource Book
URL for this record:	http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/11812992

Hidden Bibliographic Details
ISBN:	0511216556 9780511216558 9780511535277 0511535279 9780511207600 0511207603 1280516100 9781280516108 051121118X 9780511211188 0521831946 9780521831949 051121295X 9780511212956 1107148618 9781107148611 9786610516100 6610516103 0511214766 9780511214769 0511315333 9780511315336
Digital file characteristics:	data file
Notes:	Includes bibliographical references (pages 212-219) and index. English. Print version record.
Summary:	"This book develops a new approach, based on the proposal that quantum theory is not a complete, final theory, but is in fact an emergent phenomenon arising from a deeper level of dynamics. The dynamics at this deeper level is taken to be an extension of classical dynamics to non-commuting matrix variables, with cyclic permutation inside a trace used as the basic calculational tool. With plausible assumptions, quantum theory is shown to emerge as the statistical thermodynamics of this underlying theory, with the canonical commutation - anticommutation relations derived from a generalized equipartition theorem. Brownian motion corrections to this thermodynamics are argued to lead to state vector reduction and to the probabilistic interpretation of quantum theory, making contact with recent phenomenological proposals for stochastic modifications to Schrodinger dynamics."--Jacket.
Other form:	Print version: Adler, Stephen L. Quantum theory as an emergent phenomenon. Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2004

Table of Contents:

The quantum measurement problem
Reinterpretations of quantum mechanical foundations
Motivations for believing that quantum mechanics is incomplete
Brief historical remarks on trace dynamics
Trace dynamics: the classical Lagrangian and Hamiltonian dynamics of matrix models
Bosonic and fermionic matrices and the cyclic trace identities
Derivative of a trace with respect on an operator
Lagrangian and Hamiltonian dynamics of matrix models
The generalized Poisson bracket, its properties, and applications
Trace dynamics contrasted with unitary Heisenberg picture dynamics
Additional generic conserved quantities
The trace "fermion number" N
The conserved operator C
Conserved quantities for continuum spacetime theories
An illustrative example: a Dirac fermion coupled to a scalar Klein-Gordon field
Symmetries of conserved quantities under p[subscript F left and right arrow] q[subscript F]
Trace dynamics models with global supersymmetry
The Wess-Zumino model
The supersymmetric Yang-Mills model
The matrix model for M theory
Superspace considerations and remarks
Statistical mechanics of matrix models
The Liouville theorem
The canonical ensemble
The microcanonical ensemble
Gauge fixing in the partition function
Reduction of the Hilbert space modulo i[subscript eff]
Global unitary fixing
The emergence of quantum field dynamics
The general Ward identity
Variation of the source terms
Approximations/assumptions leading to the emergence of quantum theory.

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