Monday, January 14, 2013

Quantum Physicists' Beliefs about Quantum Theory

Physics arXiv recently published a paper on a poll on the meaning of results and the future of quantum physics, which was taken of physicists specializing in quantum theory, as well as a few mathematicians and philosophers attending a seminar on the subject. I thought the results were really interesting, so I reproduce some of the key results, below (as images from the paper -- the entire paper is an easy read and illuminating not only on the poll but physics disputes underlying it). I should note that none of the authors or poll participants is questioning the validity of quantum theory -- which extraordinarily well supported by experiment and observation. Indeed, even Albert Einstein, whose antipathy towards some of the broader interpretations of quantum theory is well known, was instrumental in the development of quantum mechanics.

















This chart is one of several in the paper showing the relation between answers given:

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