Book Review Aharonov's "Quantum Paradoxes" v1

Working on Amazon.com book review

From the last chapter (18 The Quantum World)

Physics theories are passive descriptions of certain kinds of controlled procedures "measurements". If the theories do not correctly describe the results of the measurements in a coherent narrative using mathematics as well as ordinary language and if they do not make predictions of future measurements, then they are not good theoretical physics. There is always a subjective element of what is a good elegant coherent narrative in ordinary language. All the work today in quantum theory, with rare exceptions, is axiomatizing quantum theory in its limiting case that excludes what Einstein called "spooky telepathy" - anything paranormal. No one argues that quantum theory does not work for dead matter, however, the Fat Lady has not yet sung on living matter on us, and on exotic forms of matter prepared in the laboratory and possibly in the moment of inflation creation of our observable universe that are pumped off "sub-quantal thermodynamic equilibrium" that results in direct back-reaction of the classical material dynamics (hidden variables) on their "quantum potential" field (Bohm). In other words, quantum theory, as commonly understood, treats the hidden variables as test particles - clearly an approximation.

Measurements do not necessarily disturb the quantum system, e.g. eigenoperator measurements do not. Aharonov introduced new kinds of "weak" and also "protective" measurements.

Are causality and nonlocality sufficient axioms for quantum theory with "passion at a distance" signal locality? Entanglement is used, but not directly as a stand-alone faster-than-light and/or paranormal precognitive retro-causal communication system. This corresponds to Valentini's "sub-quantal thermal equilibrium" or when there is no direct back-reaction of the classical dynamical field hidden variables on their "super" quantum potential (infinite-dimensional configuration space for classical fields). In other words, Wheeler's BIT acts on IT, but IT does not react back directly on its BIT - like a docile horse.

In seeming contradiction to Bohr's principle of complementarity the Aharonov "Tel Aviv" School claims that in a post-selected "weak measurement ... of an expectation value on a PPS ensemble ... it shows through which slit each particle goes and it shows an interference pattern (p. 265)" Would Feynman be shocked? Would Bohr come back from the grave like Hamlet's Ghost? Sir Fred Hoyle in his 1984 "Intelligent Universe" clearly has the key idea implicate in Bohr's turgid prose refined by Wheeler in his delayed choice gedankenexperiment that it is the Omega Point observer at the Conformal End Time that must be taken into account including all other previous measurements in a self-consistent web.

See eq.18.1 p. 266 for the math.

http://stardrive.org (Tamara Davis, 2004 PhD University New South Wales)

"On the one hand, the previous thought experiments confirmed the intuition that 'it is impossible to design an apparatus to determine which hole the electron passes through, that will not at the same time disturb the electrons enough to destroy the interference pattern'. On the other hand, ... a weak measurement on a Pre-Post Selected ensemble tells us about both the pre- and the postselected states - here, about the interference pattern and about the final direction of each electron ..."

Aharonov invokes a Rube Goldbergian excess axiom of "stable collapse" without which the Born probability rule is violated opening Pandora's Box to controllable spooky paranormal actions at a distance across spacelike separated senders and receivers and, worse, even precognitive remote viewing as reported by Russell Targ at the June 2006 AAAS "Retrocausality Workshop" at USD in San Diego that I attended. The game here is to see what kinds of shackles must bind Dame Nature to avoid the unavoidable occurrence of Aleister Crowley's "Magick without Magic" sought by Jack Parsons and L. Ron Hubbard in the California desert as reported in the book "Strange Angel" on the creation of NASA's JPL and DOD contractor Aerojet General. Remember Newton's passion for Alchemy did not detract from his mechanical equations for gravity.

to be continued