Index

n after a page number indicates a footnote or an endnote. f after a page number indicates a figure.

acceleration  74
Adams, Douglas  141
Adams, John  64
Aharonov, Yakir  155, 156, 167
Albert, David  230
angular momentum  155
anthropic principle  206–7, 277
anti‑realist interpretations  249, 252
arc‑seconds  65n
Aspect, Alain  167, 171
atomic spectra  10f
atoms  7–8
axioms  99–102, 127–30, 255–6
Ayer, Alfred J.  124
Bacon, Francis  57
Bandyopadhyay, Anirban  219
Barrett, Jonathan  173
Barrow, John  207
base concepts  71
basis states  113
Bayes, Thomas  142
Bayesian probability theory  142–3
Becker, Adam  245
Bell, John  106, 151, 157–67, 182, 183, 189, 230–1
Bell’s inequality  157, 164–7, 170, 171
Bertlmann, Reinhard  158
Big Bang model  108
black‑body radiation  8
Bohm, David  154–5, 156, 167, 176, 177, 271
Bohr, Niels  
atomic theory  9
interpretation of quantum theory  28, 81, 82–4, 85, 86–7, 88–91, 94–5, 98, 106, 138, 185, 202, 226
philosophical views  124, 266
Bohr–Einstein debate  84, 85–96
Boltzmann, Ludwig  96
Born, Max  22, 84, 240
Born rule  101, 129–31, 138
bosons  167
Briegel, Hans  242
Bub, Jeffrey  122
Bush, John  178
C60 molecules  275
calcite  272
calcium atoms  168
Carnap, Rudolph  47
Carter, Brandon  277
cathode ray guns  15
Caves, Carlton  144
CERN  45, 108, 158
Chalmers, David  209, 219
chemistry  26
Chiribella, Giulio  129
Christiansen, Christian  10f
classical mechanics  2, 15n, 17
cloud chambers  12
cluster states  241–2
collapse of the wavefunction  24, 181–9, 200, 202, 221–2
complementarity  83–4, 106, 107
complex conjugates  22n
Compton, Arthur  60
consciousness  207–13
consistent histories interpretation  135–8
constructive empiricism  80
Cooper, Leon  229
Copenhagen interpretation  84
challenges/opposition  95, 98, 131, 148, 226, 227
influence/legacy  98, 102, 105–7, 138, 154, 155, 175, 176, 182
limitations  86, 106–7, 140, 203, 228n
Copernican principle  144, 277
Crane, Louis  109
crypto non-local hidden variable theories  173–4, 249
Cuffaro, Michael  242
D‑Wave machines  237n
d’Espagnat, Bernard  41
Davy, Humphrey  51
de Broglie, Louis  2n, 10, 14f, 31, 175
de‑Broglie–Bohm interpretation  176–82, 250
decoherence  139–40, 179, 185–90, 192, 230, 231, 241
decoherence times  186–7, 219
decoherent histories  139
decoherent histories interpretation  140, 231
Debye, Pieter  60
delocalization  12, 21
demarcation problem  62–7
Dennett, Daniel  211
Descartes, René  209–10
Deutsch, David  233–4, 243
Dewdney, Chris  177
DeWitt, Bryce  227, 228, 229, 233
Dick, Philip K.  40
Dicke, Robert  277
diffraction  12, 188
Diósi, Lajos  195
Diósi–Penrose theory  195–6, 214
Dirac, Paul  94, 99
Dirac’s principles  99–102
Dowker, Fay  140, 141
Duhem, Pierre  52, 64
Duhem–Quine thesis  64
Einstein, Albert  
general theory of relativity  50, 65, 222
influence of Mach  264
interpretation of quantum theory  24, 44, 84, 85–91, 93, 94, 95–7, 105, 152–4, 155, 181, 262, 271
letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt  277
light-quantum hypothesis  9, 59–60
Nobel Prize  11
philosophical views  43, 44n, 69, 109, 282
Ellis, George  247
energy  72
energy–time uncertainty relation  30, 88
ensembles  183–4
entangled particles  91, 118
entropy  184–5, 191
EPR (Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen) experiment  91–6, 105, 118, 155, 156, 157, 179
Euclid’s axioms  102
European Space Agency (ESA)  197
Everett, Hugh  223–7, 233, 279
expectation values  18
factorization  236n
falsifiability criterion  62, 66
Faraday, Michael  51
fermions    156
Feyerabend, Paul  66
Feynman, Richard  4, 125, 195
‘five reasonable axioms’  128, 270
‘force particles’  167
Fuchs, Christopher  144, 145
functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)  211–12
Galle, Johann  64
Gell‑Mann, Murray  139, 140, 231–2
general theory of relativity  50, 65, 90, 108, 222
Ghirardi, Giancarlo  193, 194
‘ghost in the machine’  211
Graham, Neill  228, 229
grand unified theory  154, 195
gravitational waves  108
gravity  108–9
‘greater than or equal to’ sign  29n
Griffiths, Robert  135, 136, 137, 140, 141
Grover, Lov  242n
‘guiding field’ (Führungsfeld)  153
Hacking, Ian  46, 79
Hameroff, Stuart  214, 215, 216, 219
Hamilton, William Rowan  2
Hamiltonian mechanics  2
hard problem (consciousness)  209, 212
Hardy, Lucien  128–9
Hartle, James  139, 140
Heisenberg, Werner  28, 42, 81, 84, 106, 143–4, 202
Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle  28–30, 90
Hempel, Carl  57n
hidden variables theories  154–5
Higgs, Peter  68
Higgs boson  68, 108
Higgs field  75
Hilbert, David  99
Hilbert space  134n, 200n
Hilbert’s problems  99
Hiley, Basil  177, 271
Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)  141
Holland, Peter  180
Huxley, Thomas  51
hypothetico-deductive method  60
imaginary numbers  17n
information theory  191
intelligent design  63
intensity (waves)  21
interference  12, 13f, 19–21, 137, 138, 188
intrinsic behaviour  21
irreversibility  185
Kant, Immanuel  39–40, 44n
Kent, Adrian  140, 141, 232
Kochen, Simon  165
Kragh, Helge  246
Krauss, Lawrence  34
Kuhn, Thomas  80n
‘la Comédie Française’  15
Ladyman, James  69, 247
Lagrange, Joseph-Louis  2
Landauer, Rolf  191
Laplace, Pierre Simon  142
Laudan, Larry  66
Le Verrier, Urbain  64, 65
Leggett, Anthony  172–3
Leggett’s inequality  173
light-quantum hypothesis  9, 10, 12, 60
linear momentum  15, 16, 17
LISA Pathfinder mission  197–8
localization accuracy  193
Lockwood, Michael  230
Loewer, Barry  230
logical positivism  47, 62, 263
loop quantum gravity  108
Mach, Ernst  47, 50, 264
macroscopic quantum resonators (MAQRO)  197, 198, 218
Mandelstam, Leonid  30
many‑minds theory    230
many‑worlds interpretation  228–47, 252
mass  75
Massimi, Michela  61
materialism  211
Matrix movie  35
‘matter waves’  22
Maxwell, James Clerk  96
Maxwell’s Demon  203
measurement operator  23
mechanics  2
Mercator projection  134
Mercury (planet)  65
Mermin, N. David  3, 125, 145
metaphysical preconceptions  50
metaphysics  34
microtubules  215
Miller, Kenneth R.  55–6
mind–body dualism  210–11
Möbius band  156n
modulus square (wavefunctions)  22
Molière  44
Monty Python’s Flying Circus  263–4
Monty Python’s Life of Brian  35
Moore’s law  236n
multiverse theories  233–40, 243–5, 246–7
naïve realism  43
neo‑Everettians  244
neural correlates  211
Neurath, Otto  47
neuroscience  212
New York Times  94
Newton, Isaac  60, 74
Newton’s first law of motion  180
Newton’s second law of motion  72
Newton’s third law of motion  205
Newtonian precession  65
no‑go theorems  165, 173
observables  17, 18
observers  109–10
Omnès, Roland  140, 190
operators (mathematics)  18
orchestrated objective reduction (Orch‑OR)  214, 216–18, 219
Pais, Abraham  228n
participatory anthropic principle  206–7
Pauli, Wolfgang  84, 94, 99, 106
PBR (Pusey–Barrett–Rudolph) theorem  174, 176
Pearle, Philip  193
Penrose, Roger  190, 195–6, 197, 214–15, 216, 219
Philippidis, Chris  177
photoelectric effect  11
‘photon box’ experiment    88–90
photons  9, 167
Pierce, Charles Sanders  266
Pigliucci, Massimo  67
pilot wave theories  175–6, 182, 230
Planck, Max  8–9
Planck’s constant  9, 16, 17
Planck–Einstein relation  8, 11
Plato  38
Podolsky, Boris  91, 93
Poincaré, Henri  79
polarizing analysers  169
Popper, Karl  
definition of physics  41
interpretation of quantum theory  105–6, 131–2, 133
philosophy of science  58–9, 60, 62, 67
positron emission tomography (PET)  211, 212
posterior probabilities  143
pragmatism  266–7
principle of induction  57, 62
prior probabilities    142
projection operators  134
prokaryotic cells  215n
Pusey, Mathew  173
Putnam, Hilary  77
quanta  8
quantum Bayesianism (QBism)  145–9
quantum computing  235–7, 241–3
quantum jumps  9
quantum measurement  183, 189
quantum numbers  9
quantum potential  176–81
quantum probabilities  22
quantum probability theory  24
quantum theory of gravity  109, 195, 222
qubits  235, 241, 242n
Quine, Willard Van Orman  64
Raussendorf, Robert  242
raven paradox  57n
realist interpretations    249–50
realist propositions  44, 46, 71, 79, 255
recoherence  188
red roses  208, 211
Rees, Martin  244
relational/information-theoretic interpretations  109–11, 115, 122–5, 148, 191, 251
Rimini, Alberto  193
Roosevelt, Franklin D.  277
Rosen, Nathan  91, 93
Rosenfeld, Léon  222
Ross, Don  69
Rovelli, Carlo  107–9, 110, 113–14, 116, 119, 122, 196n
Rudolph, Terry  173
Russell, Bertrand  58
Ryle, Gilbert  211
Schack, Rüdiger  144, 145, 270
Schlick, Moritz  47
Schrödinger, Erwin  
development of quantum theory  16–17, 26, 31, 84–5
interpretation of quantum theory  22, 28, 44, 81, 95, 96, 97–8, 105
Schrödinger’s cat  97–8, 116, 123, 212, 229
Schrödinger’s wave equation  16, 27f, 130, 176
scientific method  56
scientific realism  43
Searle, John  145
second law of thermodynamics  184
Shannon, Claude  191
Shannon entropy  191
‘shifty split’  106, 136, 190
‘shut up and calculate’ slogan  124
Silk, Joe  247
Sisyphus (Greek mythology)  72
Smolin, Lee  64, 108–9, 196n, 245, 250
social brain hypothesis  213
Solo, Han  251
Solvay conferences  84, 87, 175
spacetime  50, 222–3
special theory of relativity  181
Specker, Ernst  165
spin (elementary particles)  155–6
‘spooky action at a distance’  85, 94, 180
Spurrett, David  69
Standard Model  108
state vectors  275
statistical interpretation  152–4
Stern, Otto  86–7
Stern–Gerlach apparatus  159n
structural realism  78
superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs)  188
superposition  26, 29
superstring theory  243
Susskind, Leonard  34
synapses (brain)  215
synesthesia  37
Szilard, Leo  202, 277
Tamm, Igor  30
Tegmark, Max  219, 238, 239, 244
Teller, Edward  277
thought experiments (gedankenexperiments)  87
Tipler, Frank  207
total wavefunction  91
Traunkirchen conference (2011)  252, 253f
tubulin subunits  215, 216–18, 278
two-slit experiment  see interference
uncertainty principle  28–30, 90
Uranus  63, 64
Vaidman, Lev  240
van der Waals forces  216
van Fraassen, Bas  80
van Vechten, Deborah  229
verifiability criterion  62
Vienna Circle  47, 124
von Neumann, John  23, 99, 154, 184, 199–202, 203, 221
Wallace, David  240, 241, 243
Watt, Richard  215
wave equation  
wave mechanics  16–19
wave–particle duality  16
wavefunctions  16, 17, 22, 26–7, 251
wavepackets  29
Weber, Tullio  193
Weinberg, Steven  34
Wheeler, John  
collaboration with Hugh Everett  223, 226, 228, 233
description of general relativity theory  195
development of participatory anthropic principle  206–7
interpretation of quantum theory  123–4, 185
Wigner, Eugene  204–5, 277
Wigner’s friend  205
Wittgenstein, Ludwig  124
Worrall, John  78
Zeh, Dieter  185, 230, 231
Zeilinger, Anton  120, 121, 252, 253f