1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910792459003321

Autore

Sen Rathindra Nath

Titolo

Causality, measurement theory and the differentiable structure of space-time / / Rathindra Nath Sen [[electronic resource]]

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cambridge : , : Cambridge University Press, , 2010

ISBN

1-107-21106-9

1-282-54703-8

9786612547034

0-511-67433-3

0-511-67552-6

0-511-67227-6

0-511-67099-0

0-511-67476-7

0-511-67354-X

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xx, 391 pages) : digital, PDF file(s)

Collana

Cambridge monographs on mathematical physics

Disciplina

530.15

Soggetti

Mathematical physics

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. [370]-379) and index.

Nota di contenuto

pt. 1. Causality and differentiable structure -- pt. 2. Geometrical points and measurement theory.

Sommario/riassunto

Introducing graduate students and researchers to mathematical physics, this book discusses two recent developments: the demonstration that causality can be defined on discrete space-times; and Sewell's measurement theory, in which the wave packet is reduced without recourse to the observer's conscious ego, nonlinearities or interaction with the rest of the universe. The definition of causality on a discrete space-time assumes that space-time is made up of geometrical points. Using Sewell's measurement theory, the author concludes that the notion of geometrical points is as meaningful in quantum mechanics as it is in classical mechanics, and that it is impossible to tell whether the differential calculus is a discovery or an invention. Providing a mathematical discourse on the relation between



theoretical and experimental physics, the book gives detailed accounts of the mathematically difficult measurement theories of von Neumann and Sewell.