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Complexity, Entropy and the Physics of Information
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TLDR
In this article, the authors discuss the connections between quantum and classical physics, information and its transfer, computation, and their significance for the formulation of physical theories, but also consider the origins and evolution of the information-processing entities, their complexity, and the manner in which they analyze their perceptions to form models of the Universe.Abstract:
This book has emerged from a meeting held during the week of May 29 to June 2, 1989, at St. John’s College in Santa Fe under the auspices of the Santa Fe Institute. The (approximately 40) official participants as well as equally numerous “groupies” were enticed to Santa Fe by the above “manifesto.” The book—like the “Complexity, Entropy and the Physics of Information” meeting explores not only the connections between quantum and classical physics, information and its transfer, computation, and their significance for the formulation of physical theories, but it also considers the origins and evolution of the information-processing entities, their complexity, and the manner in which they analyze their perceptions to form models of the Universe. As a result, the contributions can be divided into distinct sections only with some difficulty. Indeed, I regard this degree of overlapping as a measure of the success of the meeting. It signifies consensus about the important questions and on the anticipated answers: they presumably lie somewhere in the “border territory,” where information, physics, complexity, quantum, and computation all meet.read more
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On the relation between quantum mechanical probabilities and event frequencies
TL;DR: In this paper, it was shown that the probability of a measurement at two consecutive moments of time is non-additive, and that it is possible to obtain additive probabilities for two-time measurements.
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Information entropy and the space of decoherence functions in generalized quantum theory
C. J. Isham,Noah Linden +1 more
TL;DR: In this article, it was shown that there are no ''pure'' decoherence functions in the consistent histories approach to generalized quantum theory, which is applicable in contexts in which there is no a priori notion of time.
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Information-Based Physics: An Observer-Centric Foundation
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors consider a problem where two observers form consistent descriptions of and make optimal inferences about a free particle that simply influences them, and they show that this approach to describing such a particle based only on available information leads to the mathematics of relativistic quantum mechanics as well as a description of a free particles that reproduces many of the basic properties of a fermion.
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Wigner’s “Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics”, Revisited
TL;DR: In this article, a famous essay by Wigner is reexamined in view of more recent developments around its topic, together with some remarks on the metaphysical character of its main question about mathematics and natural sciences.
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Consistent histories, quantum truth functionals, and hidden variables
TL;DR: In this article, a central principle of consistent histories quantum theory, the requirement that quantum descriptions be based upon a single framework (or family), is employed to show that there is no conflict between consistent histories and a no-hidden-variables theorem of Bell, and Kochen and Specker, contrary to a recent claim by Bassi and Ghirardi.