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A Matter of Degree: Putting Unitary Inequivalence to Work

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Laura Ruetsche
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Abstract

If a classical system has infinitely many degrees of freedom, its Hamiltonian quantization need not be unique up to unitary equivalence. I sketch different approaches (Hilbert space and algebraic) to understanding the content of quantum theories in light of this non-uniqueness, and suggest that neither approach suffices to support explanatory aspirations encountered in the thermodynamic limit of quantum statistical mechanics.

Type
Quantum Field Theory, Bell's Theorem, and Hidden Variables
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 70 , Issue 5: Proceedings of the 2002 Biennial Meeting of The Philosophy of Science Association. Part I: Contributed Papers , December 2003 , pp. 1329 - 1342
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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Footnotes

‡

For comments on earlier drafts, I am obliged to Gordon Belot, Jeremy Butterfield, Rob Clifton, and John Earman.

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