Philosophical Aspects of Quantum Field Theory

I

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4080004
AutoresLaura Ruetsche (0000-0001-8213-3445, University of Michigan, autor de correspondencia)
Año2012
Volumen7
Número8
Páginas559-570
Fecha de publicación2012-08-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaPhilosophy Compass (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1747-9991 • E-ISSN: 1747-9991
EditorialWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1747-9991.2011.00388.x
OpenAlexW1949187566
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas4
Referencias citadas22

This is the first of a two-part introduction to some interpretive questions that arise in connection with quantum field theories (QFTs). Some of these questions are continuous with those familiar from the discussion of ordinary non-relativistic quantum mechanics (QM). For example, questions about locality can be rigorously posed and fruitfully pursued within the framework of QFT. A stark disanalogy between QFTs and ordinary QM - the former, but not the latter, typically admit infinitely many putatively physically inequivalent realizations - prompts relatively novel questions, questions about how to understand and adjudicate different strategies for equipping quantum theories with content. Part I sketches the fate of locality and related notions in QFT, then documents the non-uniqueness unprecedented in ordinary QM but rampant in QFT. Part II presents foundations issues raised by non-uniqueness

Causality (physics · Epistemology · Field (mathematics · Locality · Physics · Principle of locality · Pure mathematics · Quantum · Quantum entanglement · Quantum field theory · Quantum mechanics · Quantum nonlocality · Theoretical physics · Uniqueness · Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics · Mathematics · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science · Quantum Mechanics and Applications