Ben-Menahem Y., Hemmo M. (Eds.) Probability in Physics

Springer-Verlag Berlin, 2012, 321 pages, ISBN 978-3-642-21328-1What is the role and meaning of probability in physical theory, in particular in two of the most successful theories of our age, quantum physics and statistical mechanics? Laws once conceived as universal and deterministic, such as Newton‘s laws of motion, or the second law of thermodynamics, are replaced in these theories by inherently probabilistic laws. This collection of essays by some of the world‘s foremost experts presents an in-depth analysis of the meaning of probability in contemporary physics. Among the questions addressed are: How are probabilities defined? Are they objective or subjective? What is their explanatory value? What are the differences between quantum and classical probabilities? The result is an informative and thought-provoking book for the scientifically inquisitive.Physics and Chance
Typicality and the Role of the Lebesgue Measure in Statistical Mechanics
Typicality and Notions of Probability in Physics
Deterministic Laws and Epistemic Chances
Measures over Initial Conditions
A New Approach to the Approach to Equilibrium
Revising Statistical Mechanics: Probability, Typicality and Closure Time
How Many Maxwell’s Demons, and Where?
Locality and Determinism: The Odd Couple
Why the Tsirelson Bound?
Three Attempts at Two Axioms for Quantum Mechanics
Generalized Probability Measures and the Framework of Effects
Infinitely Challenging: Pitowsky’s Subjective Interpretation and the Physics of Infinite Systems
Bayesian Conditioning, the Reflection Principle, and Quantum Decoherence
The World According to de Finetti: On de Finetti’s Theory of Probability and Its Application to Quantum Mechanics
Four and a Half Axioms for Finite-Dimensional Quantum Probability
Probability in the Many-Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics