The foundations and meaning of quantum theory became a central issue to
Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr since the onset of their impassioned debate
in the 1920s, enriched by the contributions of many other distinguished scientists and philosophers. The questions are not settled down at all, despite
the great achievements of the theory, its impressive accordance with experiment and predictive power. The fundamental and technological applications
range from cosmology to biology, with the development of invaluable in-
struments and the design of new materials.
Is quantum mechanics a complete or an incomplete theory? Is there an objective reality independent of the observer or is the reality created by the
measurements? Are hidden-variable theories justifiable? Is there a quantum
theory founded in a local-causal and non-linear approach that formally contains the orthodox linear theory as a special case? Can such a formulation
unify classical and quantum physics? Are Heisenberg’s uncertainty relations
valid in all cases?
Here, the subject is addressed as an adaptation of our contribution to the
Colloquium “Quantal aspects in Chemistry and Physics. A tribute in memory
of Professor Ruy Couceiro da Costa” held at Academia das Ciências de Lisboa,
November 27, 2009.
Ruy Couceiro da Costa (1901-1955), University of Coimbra, was one of the
first professors and researchers to apply and teach quantum mechanics at
Portuguese universities. The above questions presumably crossed his mind
as they do pervade, presently, the minds of teachers and researchers interested in the interpretation, philosophy and epistemology of quantum theory.
http://webpages.fc.ul.pt/~fmfernandes/Papers/IQMR_FF.pdf
Slides
On decoherence theory
