| Instructor: | Brad Skow. |
| TAs: | Matt Mandelkern (mandelk@mit.edu), office hours: Thursday, 2-3, 32-D912. Katya Botchkina (elbot@mit.edu), office hours: Wednesday, 1-2, 32-D942. Cosmo Grant (cdg@mit.edu), office hours: Monday, 11-12, 32-D938. |
| Meetings: | MW, 12 noon; F, 11am; room 32-144. |
| Course Description: | What is the world like, according to quantum mechanics? We will try to figure out the answer. |
| Goals: | Improve your ability to think and argue clearly about philosophical questions about quantum mechanics (and philosophical questions generally). |
| Format: | Hopefully, I will rarely spend 50 straight minutes lecturing. (This will be less avoidable at the beginning of the semester than later.) Ideally classes will typically consist in some lecturing interrupted by class discussion (moderated discussion, where students raise their hands and I call on them). There may be some class meetings later in the semester with quite different formats (eg a class debate). This class will be a success if, and only if, you come to class prepared and ready to participate in discussions. Prepared means you have done the reading (when marked with a *) and made an attempt to understand it. If you find the reading very confusing, you should at least be able to say which part of it was confusing. (There is no separate part of your grade for preparation and participation, but some homework assignments will be designed so that you cannot do them unless you are prepared.) |
| Laptop policy: | No laptops, smartphones, tablets, phablets, netbooks, surfaces, desktop computers, apple TVs, mainframes, athena clusters, etc may be used in class, unless you have a special reason for needing them (if you do please see me). |
| Assessment: | Homework assignments, 20%; midterm, 40%; final exam, 40%. All homeworks have equal weight. The final exam will have no questions about non-locality. UPDATE: now the weights of the final and the midterm will be 30% and 50%; whichever you score better on will be weighted 50%, the other will be weighted 30%. |
| Homework Policies: | You may work on homework assignments with other students, but your write-up must be your own. Unless the assignment says otherwise, all homework submissions must be typed. Late work will not be accepted without a legitimate excuse. If you are having personal or academic problems that make it hard for you to keep up with the class, the first thing you should do is contact s-cubed. (An excuse for work that is more than a few days late is legitimate only if accompanied by a message from a dean at s-cubed.) |
Note on readings: Readings marked with a * will be discussed in some detail in class. You should print them out, read them ahead of time, and bring them to class. Other readings are there to supplement stuff I cover in lecture. I gave out information on how to get the readings on the first day of class.
Mathematical and Physical Background
| Date | Topic | Assignments |
| 2/4 W | How is quantum mechanics different from classical mechanics? | HW1 due 2/5. |
| 2/6 F | The quantum mechanics of spin-1/2 particles. The Stern-Gerlach Experiment. | Linear algebra notes. Hughes, The Stern-Gerlach Experiment. Maudlin, Overview of QM. |
| 2/9 M | Snow day | |
| 2/11 W | The quantum-mechanical statistical algorithm. | *Handout on the statistical algorithm. |
| 2/13 F | Review of linear algebra | *Linear algebra notes. Hughes, Vector Spaces. |
| 2/17 T | The two-path experiment. The orthodox interpretation. | *Handout on the "orthodox" interpretation. |
| 2/18 W | No class. | |
| 2/20 F | More on the orthodox interpretation. The uncertainty principle. | HW2 and HW3 due today. |
Non-Locality
| 2/23 M | The EPR Argument, and Bohr's reply | *EPR, Can Quantum-Mechanical.... *Einstein, Quantum Mechanics and Reality. *Bohr, Can Quantum-Mechanical.... *EPR handout. |
| 2/25 W | Bell's Theorem, I. | Mermin, Quantum Mysteries for Anyone. |
| 2/27 F | No class. | |
| 3/2 M | Bell's Theorem, II. | *Bell, Bertlmann's socks and the nature of reality. *Handout on Bell's Theorem. |
| 3/4 W | Bell's Theorem II (continued). | hw 4 due today. |
| 3/6 F | Non-Local Causation? | *Maudlin, ch5, to p.139. *Handout on non-local causation. Alt hw2 due today (if you do it). |
| 3/9 M | Non-Local Causation? (continued) | *Griffiths excerpt. |
| 3/11 W | Signaling and energy transfer. | |
| 3/13 F | The efficiency loophole. | Maudlin, Ch6. |
| 3/16 M | The conspiracy Loophole. | bell exchange |
| 3/18 W | midterm review. | |
| 3/20 F | midterm test. |
Spring Break
The Measurement Problem
| 3/30 M | Motivating Collapse Theories; Schrodinger's Cat. | *Maudlin, Three Measurement Problems, "PROBLEM 1." *Schrodinger, "The Present Situation in Quantum Mechanics," sect. 5. *Bell, Against 'Measurement,' to 217. |
| 4/1 W | No class. | |
| 4/3 F | Can We Experimentally Determine When Collapse Occurs? | Albert, digression. |
| 4/6 M | GRW: introduction; GRW and EPR. | *GRW handout. |
| 4/8 W | interpreting GRW: the fuzzy link. | *Albert and Loewer, Tails of Schrodinger's Cat. |
| 4/10 F | GRW: the fuzzy link, continued. | |
| 4/13 M | GRW: two arguments. | *Albert, excerpt against GRW. Kumar excerpt. |
| 4/15 W | Von Neumann's no hidden variables theorem. | Mermin, "Hidden variables," I-III. hw5 due. |
| 4/17 F | GRW and "prediction vs accomodation"; / review session. | |
| 4/20 M | No class; Boston Marathon Day. | |
| 4/22 W | The Kochen Specker Theorem. | handout. hw6 due. |
| 4/24 F | Bohmian Mechanics. | |
| 4/27 M | Bohmian Mechanics. | |
| 4/29 W | Bohmian Mechanics. | Albert, chapter 7 (on Bohmian Mechanics). |
| 5/1 F | Discussion / review session. | |
| 5/4 M | Class canceled (illness). | |
| 5/6 W | Many Worlds: introduction. | |
| 5/8 F | Many Worlds: the problem of probability. | Many worlds handout. |
| 5/11 M | What if many worlds had come first? | *What if Many Worlds Had Come First? hw7 due in class. |
| 5/13 W | Grand Summation. | |
| 5/11 Thurs | Review Session: 11-12:30, 32-144. | |
| 5/22 F | Final Exam: 1:30 to 4:30 in 32-144 (our usual room). |