ICTP COLLOQUIUM -TOMORROW

[Infopoint]

ICTP COLLOQUIUM


16:30, Thursday, 9 December 2010
Main Lecture Hall, Leonardo Building, ICTP


Giancarlo Ghirardi
University of Trieste and ICTP


"Conceptual  aspects and problems of the quantum view of natural processes"



The linear nature of quantum theory gives rise to various puzzling
problems which need a clarification in order to make its meaning precise
and unambiguous. Entanglement, nonlocality and the problem of the
properties of individual physical systems, besides raising serious
epistemological issues, represent precise challenges which the scientific
community must face to have an internally consistent scientific scheme
compatible with relativistic requirements. The focal point on which a
lively debate has been going on for 80 years is the measurement or
macro-objectification problem which is not an interpretational problem, as
many physicists seem to believe, but a genuine scientific problem
requiring "serious work by theoretical physicists" (J.S. Bell). It is of
great relevance that in recent years, detailed investigations on such a
problem have led, among other results, to entertaining the idea of a
possible modification of the theory which, in principle, can be
experimentally tested against the standard theory.