Quantum Theory: Concepts and Methods: Difference between revisions

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{{short description|1993 physics textbook by Asher Peres}}

{{italic title}}

{{Infobox book

| author = [[Asher Peres]]

| isbn =

| pub_date = 1993

| subject = [[Quantum mechanics]]

| publisher = Kluwer Academic Publishers

| language = English

| image = File:Quantum_Theory,_Concepts_and_Methods.jpeg

}}

'''''Quantum Theory: Concepts and Methods''''' is a 1993 [[quantum physics]] textbook by Israeli physicist [[Asher Peres]]. Well-regarded among the physics community, it is known for unconventional choices of topics to include.

==Contents==

In his preface, Peres summarized his goals as follows:

<blockquote>The purpose of this book is to clarify the ''conceptual meaning'' of quantum theory, and to explain some of the mathematical methods that it utilizes. This text is not concerned with specialized topics such as atomic structure, or strong or weak interactions, but with the very foundations of the theory. This is not, however, a book on the [[philosophy of science]]. The approach is pragmatic and strictly instrumentalist. This attitude will undoubtedly antagonize some readers, but it has its own logic: quantum phenomena do not occur in a [[Hilbert space]], they occur in a laboratory.{{efn|Preface, p. xi. The last remark is often quoted,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gilligan-Lee|first=Ciarán M|date=2021-10-01|title=Computation in a general physical setting|url=https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1751-8121/ac2007|journal=[[Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical]]|volume=54|issue=39|pages=394001|arxiv=2108.11454|bibcode=2021JPhA...54M4001G|doi=10.1088/1751-8121/ac2007|s2cid=237304127 |issn=1751-8113}}</ref> for example by [[Časlav Brukner|Brukner]] and [[Anton Zeilinger|Zeilinger]]<ref>{{cite book|last1=Brukner|first1=Časlav|chapter=Information and Fundamental Elements of the Structure of Quantum Theory|date=2003|chapter-url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-662-10557-3_21|title=Time, Quantum and Information|pages=323–354|editor-last=Castell|editor-first=Lutz|place=Berlin, Heidelberg|publisher=Springer Berlin Heidelberg|language=en|arxiv=quant-ph/0212084|bibcode=2003tqi..conf..323B|doi=10.1007/978-3-662-10557-3_21|isbn=978-3-642-07892-7|access-date=2022-02-19|last2=Zeilinger|first2=Anton|s2cid=16831915 |author-link=Časlav Brukner|author-link2=Anton Zeilinger|editor2-last=Ischebeck|editor2-first=Otfried}}</ref> and by Czartowski and [[Karol Życzkowski|Życzkowski]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Czartowski|first1=Jakub|last2=Życzkowski|first2=Karol|author-link2=Karol Życzkowski|date=2021-04-26|title=Bipartite quantum measurements with optimal single-sided distinguishability|url=https://quantum-journal.org/papers/q-2021-04-26-442/|journal=[[Quantum (journal)|Quantum]]|language=en|volume=5|pagesarticle-number=442|arxiv=2010.14868|bibcode=2021Quant...5..442C|doi=10.22331/q-2021-04-26-442|s2cid=225094378 |issn=2521-327X}}</ref>}}</blockquote>

The book is divided into three parts. The first, "Gathering the Tools", introduces quantum mechanics as a theory of "preparations" and "tests", and it develops the mathematical formalism of Hilbert spaces, concluding with the [[spectral theory]] used to understand the quantum mechanics of continuous-valued observables. Part II, "Cryptodeterminism and Quantum Inseparability", focuses on [[Bell's theorem]] and other demonstrations that quantum mechanics is incompatible with [[local hidden-variable theory|local hidden-variable theories]]. (Within its substantial discussion of the failure of [[Hidden variable theory|hidden variable theories]], the book includes a [[FORTRAN]] program for testing whether a list of [[Euclidean vector|vector]]s forms a [[Kochen–Specker theorem|Kochen–Specker configuration]].{{efn|Section 7-5, "Appendix: Computer test for Kochen–Specker contradiction", p. 209}}) Part III, "Quantum Dynamics and Information", covers the role of [[spacetime]] symmetry in quantum physics, the relation of [[quantum information]] to [[thermodynamics]], [[Semiclassical physics|semiclassical approximation]] methods, [[quantum chaos]], and the treatment of [[measurement in quantum mechanics]].

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==Reception==

Physicist Leslie E. Ballentine gave the textbook a positive review, declaring it a good introduction to [[quantum foundations]] and ongoing research therein.<ref name="Ballentine">{{Cite journal|last=Ballentine|first=Leslie E.|date=March 1995|title=none|journal=[[American Journal of Physics]]|language=en|volume=63|issue=3|pages=285–286|doi=10.1119/1.17946|issn=0002-9505 }}</ref> [[John C. Baez]] also gave the book a positive assessment, calling it "clear-headed" and finding that it contained "a lot of gems that I hadn't seen", such as the [[Wigner–Araki–Yanase theorem]].<ref name="Baez">{{Cite web|url=http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/week33.html|title=week33|last=Baez|first=John C.|author-link=John C. Baez|date=1994-05-10|website=[[This Week's Finds in Mathematical Physics]]|access-date=2020-04-10}}</ref> [[Michael Nielsen]] wrote of the textbook, "Revelation! Suddenly, all the key results of 30 years of work (several of those results due to Asher) were distilled into beautiful and simple explanations."<ref>{{cite web|last=Nielsen|first=Michael A.|author-link=Michael Nielsen|title=Asher Peres|url=http://michaelnielsen.org/blog/asher-peres/|date=2005-01-05|website=michaelnielsen.org|access-date=2018-02-21}}</ref> Nielsen and [[Isaac Chuang]] said in their own influential textbook that Peres' was "superb", providing "an extremely clear exposition of elementary quantum mechanics" as well as an "extensive discussion of the Bell inequalities and related results".<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Nielsen|first1=Michael A.|title=Quantum Computation and Quantum Information: 10th Anniversary Edition|url=https://archive.org/details/quantumcomputati00niel_720|url-access=limited|last2=Chuang|first2=Isaac L.|date=2010-12-09|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|isbn=9781107002173|pages=[https://archive.org/details/quantumcomputati00niel_720/page/n151 118]|language=en|oclc=844974180|author-link=Michael Nielsen|author-link2=Isaac Chuang}}</ref> Jochen Rau's introductory textbook on quantum physics described Peres' work as "an excellent place to start" learning about Bell inequalities and related topics like [[Gleason's theorem]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Rau|first=Jochen|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1256446911|title=Quantum Theory: An information processing approach|date=2021|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-265027-6|edition=1st|___location=Oxford|pages=152|oclc=1256446911}}</ref>

[[N. David Mermin]] wrote that Peres had bridged the "textual gap" between conceptually-oriented books, aimed at understanding what quantum physics implies about the nature of the world, and more practical books intended to teach how to apply quantum mechanics. Mermin found the book praiseworthy, noting that he had "only a few complaints". He wrote: