Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Joule's 19th Century Energy Conservation Meta-Law And The 20th Century Physics (Quantum Mechanics And General Relativity): 21st Century Analysis, Vladik Kreinovich, Olga Kosheleva

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Joule's Energy Conservation Law was the first "meta-law": a general principle that all physical equations must satisfy. It has led to many important and useful physical discoveries. However, a recent analysis seems to indicate that this meta-law is inconsistent with other principles -- such as the existence of free will. We show that this conclusion about inconsistency is based on a seemingly reasonable -- but simplified -- analysis of the situation. We also show that a more detailed mathematical and physical analysis of the situation reveals that not only Joule's principle remains true -- it is actually strengthened: it is …

Quantum Mechanics & Its Broader Implications: The Von Neumann– Wigner Interpretation, Aeowyn Kendall

Computing, Mathematics and Physics Student Scholarship

Essay for PHYS 402 Quantum Mechanics

Like the popular Copenhagen Interpretation, the von Neumann-Wigner Interpretation of quantum mechanics posits that measurement causes a collapse of the wavefunction. Once observed, the wavefunction collapses from a superposition of various states to just one of the possibilities. While the Copenhagen Interpretation does not identify what constitutes a measurement, an observer, or an observation, the von Neumann-Wigner Interpretation specifies that consciousness is necessary for the measurement process to occur (we might say a reading of the measurement), and that it is consciousness itself that causes wavefunction collapse. In simple terms, the von Neumann-Wigner Interpretation …

Audiobook Of A World From Dust, Ben Mcfarland

Faculty Open Access Books

A World From Dust is a popular science book about the chemical sequence behind the evolution of creation.

It’s about how geology, biology, and chemistry worked together over billions of years, providing a hidden order under the random flow of genes and lava and water.

It’s about the chemical job that each element takes up in life, and how that job is predictable from its place on the periodic table.

It can be told as the story of many elements: how iron and sulfur gave a spark of life; how manganese was a key for oxygen; and how copper and …

The Participating Mind In The Quantum Universe, Menas Kafatos, Keun-Hang Susan Yang

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

The Orthodox interpretation of quantum mechanics, which followed the Copenhagen Interpretation but was enhanced by primarily Werner Heisenberg and John von Neumann into a fully developed theory, brought in, among others, the role of measurement, available choices and response of the quantum system. It is, more consistent and clear than other interpretations of quantum mechanics as it provides account of the interactions of observers with the external world. As such, the Orthodox interpretation does a lot more than just account for physical interactions in the atomic world, which was the original goal of quantum mechanics in the early part of …

Accommodating Retrocausality With Free Will, Yakir Aharonov, Eliahu Cohen, Tomer Shushi

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Retrocausal models of quantum mechanics add further weight to the conflict between causality and the possible existence of free will. We analyze a simple closed causal loop ensuing from the interaction between two systems with opposing thermodynamic time arrows, such that each system can forecast future events for the other. The loop is avoided by the fact that the choice to abort an event thus forecasted leads to the destruction of the forecaster's past. Physical law therefore enables prophecy of future events only as long as this prophecy is not revealed to a free agent who can otherwise render it …