1998/12/17 by Doug Bilodeau, Bilodeau, Doug
Arts and Humanities · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) #High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th) #Philosophy and History of Science #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #Quantum Physics (quant-ph) #gr-qc #hep-th #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.quant-ph/9812050
LATEX, 11 pages, no figures
arxiv created 1998/12/17 · openalex publication_date 1998/12/17 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
To understand the foundations of quantum mechanics, we have to think carefully about how theoretical concepts are rooted in -- and limited by -- the nature of experience, as Bohr attempted to show. Geometrical pictures of physical phenomena are favored because of their clarity. Quantum phenomena, however, do not permit them. Instead, the historical and dynamical aspects of description diverge and must be expressed in different but complementary languages. Objective historical facts are recorded in terms of objects, which necessarily have an imprecise, empirical quality. Dynamics is based on quantitative abstraction from recurring patterns. The "quantum of action" is the discontinuity between these two ways of looking at the physical world.