Quantum Reality, Relativistic Causality, and Closing the Epistemic Circle: Essays in Honour of Abner Shimony

504 Pages·2009·8.856 MB·English

by  Wayne C. Myrvold, Joy Christian

Quantum Reality, Relativistic Causality,
and Closing the Epistemic Circle
THE WESTERN ONTARIO SERIES
IN PHILOSOPHYOF SCIENCE
ASERIES OF BOOKS
IN PHILOSOPHYOF SCIENCE, METHODOLOGY, EPISTEMOLOGY,
LOGIC, HISTORYOF SCIENCE, AND RELATED FIELDS
Managing Editor
WILLIAM DEMOPOULOS
Department of Philosophy, University of Western Ontario, Canada
Managing Editor1980–1997
ROBERTE. BUTTS
Late, Department of Philosophy, University of Western Ontario, Canada
Editorial Board
JOHN L. BELL, University of Western Ontario
JEFFREY BUB, University of Maryland
PETER CLARK, St Andrews University
DAVID DEVIDI, University of Waterloo
ROBERT DiSALLE, University of Western Ontario
MICHAEL FRIEDMAN, Stanford University
MICHAEL HALLETT, McGill University
WILLIAM HARPER, University of Western Ontario
CLIFFORD A. HOOKER, University of Newcastle
AUSONIO MARRAS, University of Western Ontario
JÜRGEN MITTELSTRASS, Universität Konstanz
WAYNE C. MYRVOLD, University of Western Ontario
THOMAS UEBEL,University of Manch ester
ITAMAR PITOWSKY, Hebrew University
VOLUME 73
·
Wayne C. Myrvold Joy Christian
Quantum Reality, Relativistic
Causality, and Closing
the Epistemic Circle
Essays in Honour of Abner Shimony
123
WayneC.Myrvold JoyChristian
Department of Philosophy Wolfson College
University of Western Ontario University of Oxford
London, ON N6A 3K7 Oxford, OX2 6UD
Canada United Kingdom
[email protected] [email protected]
ISBN:978-1-4020-9106-3 e-ISBN:978-1-4020-9107-0
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2008939924
(cid:2)c SpringerScience+BusinessMediaB.V.2009
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Abner Shimony and Manana Sikic
Acknowledgments
This book collects papers stemming from a conference held in honour of Abner
Shimony at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ontario,
Canada,July18–21,2006,togetherwithsomecontributionsfrompeoplewhowould
havelikedtohavebeenattheconference,butwereunabletoattend.
WewouldliketothankJeremyButterfieldforinitiatingtheideaofaconference
in honour of Abner Shimony. We are also grateful to Howard Burton and Lucien
HardyforprovidingthevenuefortheconferenceatthePerimeterInstitute,which
also provided generous financial support for the conference. Additional financial
support was provided by contributions from the Institute for Quantum Computing
andtheUniversityofWesternOntario.WethankthestaffofthePerimeterInstitute,
in particular the conference coordinator Kate Gillespie, for their dedicated efforts,
whichmadetheconferencesmoothly.WearegratefultoWilliamDemopoulosfor
hissupportforthisvolume,toLucyFleetofSpringerforhereditorialassistanceand
patience, toDavid MalamentforhisassistancewiththeeditingofHoward Stein’s
paper, and to Paul Tappenden for the superb job he did in transcribing the “Bistro
Banter”dialogue.
Finally,wethankthecontributorsofthisvolumefortheirenthusiasminjoining
ustohonourourmentorandfriend,AbnerShimony.
Theeditors.
vii
Contents
PartI Introduction
PassionataDistance............................................. 3
DonHoward
PartII Philosophy,MethodologyandHistory
BalancingNecessityandFallibilism:CharlesSandersPeirce
ontheStatusofMathematicsanditsIntersectionwiththeInquiry
intoNature..................................................... 15
RonaldAnderson
Newton’sMethodology........................................... 43
WilliamHarper
Whitehead’s Philosophy and Quantum Mechanics (QM):ATribute
toAbnerShimony ............................................... 63
ShimonMalin
BohrandthePhoton............................................. 69
JohnStachel
PartIII Bell’sTheoremandNonlocality
A.Theory
ExtendingtheConceptofan“ElementofReality”toWork
withInefficientDetectors ......................................... 87
DanielM.Greenberger
AGeneralProofofNonlocalitywithoutInequalities
forBipartiteStates .............................................. 95
GianCarloGhirardiandLucaMarinatto
ix
x Contents
OntheSeparabilityofPhysicalSystems............................. 105
JonP.Jarrett
BellInequalities:ManyQuestions,aFewAnswers.................... 125
NicolasGisin
B.Experiment
DoExperimentalViolationsofBellInequalitiesRequireaNonlocal
InterpretationofQuantumMechanics?II:Analysisa` laBell ........... 141
EdwardS.Fry,XinmeiQu,andMarlanO.Scully
ThePhysicsof2(cid:2)=1+1 .......................................... 157
YanhuaShih
PartIV Probability,Uncertainty,andStochasticModifications
ofQuantumMechanics
InterpretationsofProbabilityinQuantumMechanics:
ACaseof“ExperimentalMetaphysics” ............................. 211
GeoffreyHellman
“No Information Without Disturbance”: Quantum Limitations
ofMeasurement................................................. 229
PaulBusch
HowStandsCollapseII .......................................... 257
PhilipPearle
Is There a Relation Between the Breakdown of the Superposition
Principle and an Indeterminacy inthe Structure of the Einsteinian
Space-Time? ................................................... 293
AndorFrenkel
IndistinguishabilityorStochasticDependence? ...................... 311
D.CostantiniandU.Garibaldi
PartV Relativity
PlaneGeometryinSpacetime ..................................... 327
N.DavidMermin
TheTransientnows.............................................. 349
StevenF.Savitt
QuantuminGravity? ............................................ 363
MichaelHorne
Contents xi
AProposedTestoftheLocalCausalityofSpacetime .................. 369
AdrianKent
QuantumGravityComputers:OntheTheoryofComputation
withIndefiniteCausalStructure ................................... 379
LucienHardy
“Definability,”“Conventionality,”andSimultaneity
inEinstein–MinkowskiSpace-Time ................................ 403
HowardStein
PartVI ConcludingWords
BistroBanter:ADialoguewithAbnerShimonyandLeeSmolin ......... 445
UnfinishedWork:ABequest ...................................... 479
AbnerShimony
BibliographyofAbnerShimony......................................493
Index .............................................................507