69 research outputs found
The necessity of entanglement and the equivalency of Bell's theorem with the second law of thermodynamics
We demonstrate that both Wigner's form of Bell's inequalities as well as a
form of the second law of thermodynamics, as manifest in Carath\'{e}odory's
principle, can be derived from the same simple experimental and statistical
mechanical assumptions combined with the trivial behavior of integers. This
suggests that Bell's theorem is merely a well-disguised statement of the second
law. It also suggests that entanglement is necessary for quantum theory to be
in full accord with the second law and thus builds on the results of Wiesniak,
Vedral, and Brukner \cite{Marcin-Wiesniak:2008fv} who showed it was necessary
for consistency with the third law.Comment: Greatly simplified the derivation of the entropic inequality in the
third section and added acknowledgements. Note that this is not the version
that appears in the FPP-6 proceedings. When possible, please cite this
version. 5 pages, 1 table, 1 figur
Eddington & Uncertainty
Sir Arthur Eddington is considered one of the greatest astrophysicist of the
twentieth century and yet he gained a stigma when, in the 1930s, he embarked on
a quest to develop a unified theory of gravity and quantum mechanics. His
attempts ultimately proved fruitless and he was unfortunately partially shunned
by some physicists in the latter portion of his career. In addition some
historians have been less than kind to him regarding this portion of his work.
However, detailed analysis of how this work got started shows that Eddington's
theories were not as outlandish as they are often purported to be. His entire
theory rested on the use of quantum mechanical methods of uncertainty in the
reference frames of relativity. Though the work was ultimately not fruitful, in
hindsight it did foreshadow several later results in physics and his methods
were definitely rigorous. In addition, his philosophy regarding determinism and
uncertainty was actually fairly orthodox for his time. This work begins by
looking at Eddington's life and philosophy and uses this as a basis to explore
his work with uncertainty.Comment: new version to appear in Physics in Perspective (either Sept. or Dec.
issue
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