Thursday, May 24, 2018

The Consistent Histories Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics

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Recorded: 10/29/2017 Released: 5/24/2018

Jim and Randy investigate the Consistent Histories interpretation of quantum mechanics. This highly logical interpretation was conceived of by Robert Griffiths and is based on bundling possible histories for a particle together and only using those histories that are consistent with the measurements we perform to winnow out the possible states of the particle. Although Griffiths calls this "Copenhagen done right," the interpretation is based on the idea the quantum particles have definite values for observables in the intervening space.

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Notes:

1. The papers we read for this program:

2. Griffith's book Consistent Quantum Theory, which we mention in the podcast because he continually refers to it in his papers.

3. My review of Speakable and Unspeakable in Quantum Mechanics by John Bell, which includes the paper in which he formulates Bell's Theorem -- the testable version of the EPR Paradox, which is based on the first tractable formulation of the paradox by David Bohm. I also recently reviewed a book on wave function realism, which seems to be a response to a response to Bell.

4. Related Episodes of the Weekly Electronic Paper:
5. Please visit and comment on our subreddit, and if you can help us keep this going by contributing to our Patreon, we'd be grateful.

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Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Gravitational Alternatives to Dark Energy

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Recorded: 10/15/2017 Released: 5/15/2018

Jim and Randy discuss the ways in which different modified gravities mimic the observed dark energy in the universe, contra a cosmological constant hypothesis. They talk about various forms of modified gravity theories and the particles associated with their "fifth fields."

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Notes:

1. The papers we read for this program:

2. My review of Will's book, which I talk about a little too much in this podcast.

3. Related Episodes of Physics Frontiers:

4. Please visit and comment on our subreddit, and if you can help us keep this going by contributing to our Patreon, we'd be grateful.

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