Quantum Mechanics and Experience

Citation

Albert, D. Z. (1992). Quantum Mechanics and Experience. Harvard University Press.

Chapter Summary

The book is short, about 220 pages, with a preface, eight chapters, an appendix, a bibliography and an index. The publisher describes it as an investigation of the challenge that quantum theory poses to ordinary ideas about nature, written in a style that is "simultaneously elementary and deep": a self-contained introduction to the foundations of quantum mechanics that needs only a high school mathematics education, combined with a rigorous discussion of recent advances in understanding the subject, some due to the author. According to published accounts, Albert explains the measurement problem and then discusses three interpretations that aim to solve it while keeping a realist view of science: the Ghirardi–Rimini–Weber theory, the de Broglie–Bohm theory and the many-worlds interpretation. The entries below rest on the chapter titles, their page extents and those descriptions; no chapter text was available.

Chapter 1: Superposition

The opening chapter, about 16 pages, is devoted to superposition.

Chapter 2: The Mathematical Formalism and the Standard Way of Thinking about It

At roughly 44 pages, this is the longest chapter apart from the one on Bohm's theory. Its title pairs the formalism of quantum mechanics with the standard way of thinking about it.

Chapter 3: Nonlocality

A short chapter of about 12 pages on nonlocality.

Chapters 4–5: The Measurement Problem; The Collapse of the Wave Function

Chapter 4 (about 7 pages) is devoted to the measurement problem, and Chapter 5 (about 32 pages) takes up the collapse of the wave function. According to published accounts, the book's central subject is how realist interpretations respond to the measurement problem, and these chapters come before the chapters on the alternatives.

Chapter 6: The Dynamics by Itself

About 22 pages, placed between the chapter on collapse and the chapter on Bohm's theory.

Chapter 7: Bohm's Theory

At about 46 pages this is the longest chapter in the book. It treats Bohm's theory, which corresponds to the de Broglie–Bohm theory that, according to published accounts, is one of the three interpretations the book discusses.

Chapter 8: Self-Measurement

About 11 pages on self-measurement.

Appendix: The Kochen-Healey-Dieks Interpretations

An appendix of roughly eight pages on the Kochen–Healey–Dieks interpretations, followed by the bibliography and the index.

Key Concepts

Chapters 1–3: Foundations

• Superposition: the subject of the first chapter.
• The mathematical formalism and the standard way of thinking about it: Chapter 2.
• Nonlocality: Chapter 3.

Chapters 4–6: The measurement problem

• The measurement problem: Chapter 4.
• Collapse of the wave function: Chapter 5.
• The dynamics by itself: Chapter 6.

Chapters 7–8 and appendix: Alternatives and extensions

• Bohm's theory: Chapter 7.
• Self-measurement: Chapter 8.
• Kochen–Healey–Dieks interpretations: the appendix.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• Little mathematical preparation required. The publisher says the book is accessible to anyone with a high school mathematics education, while Chapter 2 supplies the formalism the later discussion uses.
• Focus on the foundations rather than on technique. The eight chapters follow one line of questions: superposition, the formalism, nonlocality, the measurement problem, collapse, the dynamics by itself, Bohm's theory and self-measurement. There are no chapters on solving particular systems, which keeps attention on interpretation.
• Influence. The book is regarded as having set a key research agenda in the philosophy of quantum mechanics, the search for a realist interpretation. The "three-way debate" it set out among collapse theories, Bohm's theory and the many-worlds interpretation is said to have framed much of the later discussion.
• Original contributions. The publisher notes that some of the recent advances the book discusses are due to the author himself, who trained in theoretical physics and later became a philosopher at Columbia University.

Limitations

• Not a textbook for calculation. Its subject is interpretation. Readers who want to learn to solve problems in quantum mechanics will need a standard textbook alongside it.
• An author with a position. Albert has argued, in this book and later, that the Everett (many-worlds) interpretation is incoherent or incomplete, so the discussion is not a neutral survey of every view; readers will profit from comparing it with other treatments.
• Informal style. His writing has been both praised and criticized for its informal, conversational manner, and a 1994 review in American Scientist by Flores and Clifton is cited for the criticism. Readers who prefer a formal presentation may find the register uneven.
• A 1992 text. The book appeared in 1992 and the 1994 paperback is listed as a reprint, so the discussion does not reflect later work on the foundations of quantum mechanics.

Where It Fits in the Course

In the quantum mechanics list, Albert is the conceptual and foundational companion rather than a main text. Rae and Napolitano's Quantum Mechanics is a compact first course in wave mechanics that ends by discussing what quantum theory says about measurement and reality, and Susskind and Friedman's Quantum Mechanics: The Theoretical Minimum builds states, observables, measurement and entanglement step by step starting from spin; either can be read before or alongside Chapters 4–5 of Albert's book.

Griffiths's Introduction to Quantum Mechanics is a comprehensive text for advanced undergraduates, and Sakurai and Napolitano's Modern Quantum Mechanics is a more mathematically mature treatment using Dirac notation for advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students. Albert's book fills a different role from these: it is the place in the list that questions what the formalism means, and it can be read before, during or after any of them because it needs only high school mathematics.

How to Use This Book

The book is for readers who want the physical and philosophical questions behind quantum mechanics without a full formal textbook, including students taking a first quantum course who want to understand the measurement problem.

A practical plan:

• First reading: Chapters 1–3 in order, giving yourself time; Chapter 2 sets up the formalism and the standard interpretation that the rest of the book depends on.
• Core argument: Chapters 4–5 on the measurement problem and collapse, then Chapter 6.
• Alternatives: Chapter 7 on Bohm's theory is the longest and merits a slow second pass; Chapter 8 and the appendix come last in the book's order and can be left until the earlier chapters are secure.
• Alongside a course: read a chapter after the matching topic in a standard textbook, and write down in your own words what the standard way of thinking about the formalism claims, then see whether the following chapters keep it.