Physical Theory As Logico Operational Structure

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Physical Theory as Logico-Operational Structure

Author: C.A. Hooker
language: en
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Release Date: 2012-12-06
In two earlier volumes, entitled The Logico-Algebraic Approach to Quan tum Mechanics (hereafter LAA I, II), I have presented collections of research papers which trace out the historical development and contem porary flowering of a particular approach to physical theory. One might characterise this approach as the extraction of an abstract logico-algebraic skeleton from each physical theory and the reconstruction of the physical theory as construction of mathematical and interpretive 'flesh' (e. g. , measures, operators, mappings etc. ) on this skeleton. The idea is to show how the specific features of a theory that are easily seen in application (e. g. , 'interference' among observables in quantum mechanics) arise out of the character of its core abstract structure. In this fashion both the deeper nature of a theory (e. g. , in what precise sense quantum mechanics is strongly statistical) and the deeper differences between theories (e. g. clas sical mechanics, though also a 'mechanics', is not strongly statistical) are penetratingly illuminated. What I would describe as the 'mainstream' logico-algebraic tradition is captured in these two collections of papers (LAA I, II). The abstract, structural approach to the characterisation of physical theory has been the basis of a striking transformation, in this century, in the understanding of theories in mathematical physics. There has emerged clearly the idea that physical theories are most significantly characterised by their abstract structural components.
The Logico-Algebraic Approach to Quantum Mechanics

Author: C.A. Hooker
language: en
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Release Date: 1979-05-31
The twentieth century has witnessed a striking transformation in the understanding of the theories of mathematical physics. There has emerged clearly the idea that physical theories are significantly characterized by their abstract mathematical structure. This is in opposition to the tradi tional opinion that one should look to the specific applications of a theory in orrter to understand it. One might with reason now espouse the view that to understand the deeper character of a theory one must know its abstract structure and understand the significance of that structure, while to understand how a theory might be modified in light of its experimental inadequacies one must be intimately acquainted with how it is applied. Quantum theory itself has gone through a development this century which illustrates strikingly the shifting perspective. From a collection of intuitive physical manoeuvers under Bohr, through a formative stage in which the mathematical framework was bifurcated (between Schrodinger and Heisenberg) to an elegant culmination in von Neumann's Hilbert space formulation, the elementary theory moved, flanked even at this later stage by the ill-understood formalisms for the relativistic version and for the field-theoretic alternative; after that we have a gradual, but constant, elaboration of all these quantal theories as abstract mathematical structures (their point of departure being von Neumann's formalism) until at the present time theoretical work is heavily preoccupied with the manipulation of purely abstract structures.
Handbook of Quantum Logic and Quantum Structures

Since its inception in the famous 1936 paper by Birkhoff and von Neumann entitled "The logic of quantum mechanics quantum logic, i.e. the logical investigation of quantum mechanics, has undergone an enormous development. Various schools of thought and approaches have emerged and there are a variety of technical results.Quantum logic is a heterogeneous field of research ranging from investigations which may be termed logical in the traditional sense to studies focusing on structures which are on the border between algebra and logic. For the latter structures the term quantum structures is appropriate. The chapters of this Handbook, which are authored by the most eminent scholars in the field, constitute a comprehensive presentation of the main schools, approaches and results in the field of quantum logic and quantum structures. Much of the material presented is of recent origin representing the frontier of the subject. The present volume focuses on quantum structures. Among the structures studied extensively in this volume are, just to name a few, Hilbert lattices, D-posets, effect algebras MV algebras, partially ordered Abelian groups and those structures underlying quantum probability.- Written by eminent scholars in the field of logic- A comprehensive presentation of the theory, approaches and results in the field of quantum logic- Volume focuses on quantum structures