Escape from Shadow Physics

the quest to end the dark ages of quantum theory
Adam Forrest Kay

‘Adam Kay has accomplished a real tour de force: he has covered almost the entire history of science to illustrate the failure of instrumentalist or positivist approaches; this leads him to a radical critique of the current dominant view of quantum physics, known as the Copenhagen interpretation. Kay’s critique is based in part on the pilot-wave theory and the hydrodynamic quantum analogues. This book will be a landmark in the history and philosophy of physics.’

Jean Bricmont, Catholic University of Louvain

‘Whatever you think of Kay’s efforts to overturn the Copenhagen Interpretation of quantum mechanics, and to justify Einstein by re-establishing classical norms of causality and determinism, his history of the whole wave/particle debate, from ancient Greece onwards, is authoritative and encyclopedic — and also intriguingly suggests that the purely scientific arguments were in part outweighed by an element of the straightforwardly human.’

Michael Frayn, playwright and novelist

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‘In the bouncing groove of an oil droplet, Adam Forrest Kay finds a new way to look at quantum mechanics — one that replaces randomness and mystery with new knowledge. Supported by a brilliantly told history and philosophy of physics, this book will change how you think about the field’s past. And it may just set a new path for its future.’

Stephon Alexander, author of Fear of a Black Universe

An expert physicist argues for a revolutionary new understanding of quantum mechanics.

The received wisdom in quantum physics is that, at the deepest levels of reality, there are no actual causes for atomic events. This idea led to the outlandish belief that quantum objects — indeed, reality itself — aren’t real unless shaped by human measurement. Einstein mocked this idea, asking whether his bed spread out across his room unless he looked at it. And yet it remains one of the most influential ideas in science and our culture.

In Escape from Shadow Physics, Adam Forrest Kay takes up Einstein’s torch: reality isn’t mysterious or dependent on human measurement, but predictable and independent of us. At the heart of his argument is groundbreaking research with little drops of oil. These droplets behave as particles do in the long-overlooked quantum theory of pilot waves; crucially, they showcase quantum behavior while being described by classical physics.

What if the original doubters of our quantum orthodoxy (not least Einstein himself) were onto something? What if pilot wave theory was right all along? In that case, our whole story of twentieth-century physics is topsy-turvy, and we must give up the idea that reality is simply too weird to grasp. Weird it may still be, but a true understanding of nature now seems within our reach.

Jean Bricmont, Catholic University of Louvain

Michael Frayn, playwright and novelist

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Details

Format:Paperback

Size: 234mm × 153mm

Extent:496pp

ISBN (13):9781922310422

RRP:$39.99

Pub date:2 Jul 2024

Rights Held: ANZ

High-res cover:Download Image

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Adam Forrest Kay

Adam Forrest Kay studied classics and physics at the University of Colorado, and did his graduate work in England and France. He is the recipient of many scholarships and academic distinctions. He has two PhDs, one in literature from the University of Cambridge and the other in mathematics from the University of Oxford. His maths dissertation discussed the possibility of three-dimensional hydrodynamic quantum analogues. Adam’s current research interests centre around realist models of quantum mechanics, relativity theory, and partial differential equations, particularly variable coefficient wave equations.

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We publish books that matter — narrative and literary nonfiction on important topics, and the best of local, international, and translated fiction.

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