Quantum Computation and Information Seminar 

26/06/2009, 15:00 — 16:00 — Room P4.35, Mathematics Building
José Croca, U Lisbon

Quantum Physics at the Dawn of the 21st Century

Quantum mechanics was developed in the first quarter of the 20th century mainly due to the work of Niels Bohr and his school. As is well known it is a linear theory, based onto the Fourier ontology. It is a very good theory to treat statistically large ensembles. Yet, when applied to one of few quantum entities this approach leads to strange paradoxes and, in last instance, to the indeterminism and consequently to the rejection of the existence of the objective reality. Now, at the beginning of this new century some experiments challenge the general validity of the old linear indeterministic quantum mechanics. These facts lead to the development of the nonlinear quantum physics based in the early works of de Broglie and Einstein. This more general theory, rejects Fourier ontology, and uses instead the local analysis by wavelets. In this way, causality is recovered and the old paradoxes are solved in a very clear and easy way. Furthermore, this nonlinear local and causal approach not only explains the new experiments but also opens a whole new physical realm.