EmerQuM 11: Emergent Quantum Mechanics 2011 (Heinz von Foerster Congress)

Abstract

These proceedings comprise the plenary lectures and poster contributionsof the ‘Heinz von Foerster Conference 2011’ on Emergent QuantumMechanics (EmerQuM11), which was held at the University of Vienna, 11–13November 2011. With the 5th International Heinz von Foerster Conference convenedat the occasion of von Foerster's 100th birthday, the organizersopted for a twin conference to take place at the Large and Small CeremonialHalls of the University's main building, respectively. The overalltopic was chosen as ‘Self-Organization and Emergence’,a topic to which von Foerster was an early contributor. While thefirst conference (‘Self-Organization and Emergence in Nature andSociety’) addressed a more general audience, the second one (‘EmergentQuantum Mechanics’) was intended as a specialist meeting with a contemporarytopic that could both serve as an illustration of von Foerster's intellectualheritage and, more generally, point towards future directions in physics.We thus intended to bring together many of those physicists who areinterested in or are working on attempts to understand quantum mechanicsas emerging from a suitable classical (or, more generally, deeperlevel) physics. EmerQuM11 was organized by the Austrian Institute for Nonlinear Studies(AINS), with essential support from the Wiener Institute for SocialScience Documentation and Methodology (WISDOM), the Department ofContemporary History at the University of Vienna, and the Heinz vonFoerster-Gesellschaft. There were a number of individuals who contributedto the smooth course of our meeting and whom I would like to sincerelythank: Christian Bischof, Thomas Elze, Marianne Ertl, Gertrud Hafner,Werner Korn, Angelika Krawanja, Florian Krug and his team, Sonja Lang,Albert Müller, Ilse Müller, Irene Müller, Karl Müller, Armin Reautschnig,Marion Schirrmacher, Anton Staudinger, Roman Zlabinger, and, lastbut not least, my AINS colleagues Siegfried Fussy, Herbert Schwabland Johannes Mesa Pascasio, the latter in particular for hisinvaluable technical help with these proceedings.Funds made available by the Federal Ministry of Science and Research(BMWF), the City of Vienna MA7 Science Funding, the Faculty of Historicaland Cultural Studies, Blaha Office Furniture, and Padma AG Zurichare gratefully acknowledged.As for the nature of the search for a ‘deeper level’ foundationof quantum mechanics, a first difficulty already arises with respectto the question: Where do we start? One may look for quitedifferent points of departure, such as an encompassing theoryof quantum gravity. Or one may find arguments for the necessity tobase one's approach at least on a relativistic formulation of theproblem. Or one may discard searching for general principles for thetime being, and develop an explicit physical model first. And so on.In fact, this is actually what is happening today in different researchprograms for emergent quantum mechanics, a fact which is also reflectedin the rich variety of approaches presented at our meeting. Thismay be considered a very welcome situation, reminding us of Heinzvon Foerster's dictum: ‘Act always so as to increase the number ofchoices.’ However, some may view this variety also as a drawback:There is not (yet?) a single, definite alternative theory that wouldchallenge orthodox positions, for example, by providing differentexperimental predictions. However, the prevailing orthodoxy has shownthroughout the 20th century to the present day, that a too restrictiveattitude towards theoretical alternatives can lead to almost a standstillin coping with the serious shortcomings and contradictions of present-dayphysics. Many of us remember famous quantum physicists repeating inan almost mantra-like fashion that quantum theory, or experimentalevidence, ‘excludes hidden variables as a possibility’, along witha reference to some or other newly found ‘impossibility proof’.Yet we also recall John Bell's famous counter-statement: ‘What isproved by impossibility proofs is lack of imagination.’ In this sense,therefore, our task is to make use of the variety of the differentapproaches offered, for it is in scrutinizing each of them that achance for further progress and understanding may emerge. The papers collected in these proceedings essentially follow the orderof the plenary talks during the conference program, with the additionof the poster presentations. Prior to the contributions to EmerQuM11, the very first paper of these proceedings presentsthe opening lecture by Yves Couder who addressed both twin conferenceswith his talk on wave-particle duality in a classical system. (Althoughhe was not able to participate personally, the contribution of RobertCarroll, a member of the academic advisory board, is included here.Regrettably, the lectures by John Bush, Marek Czachor, Mark Everitt,Felix Finster, and Lee Smolin could not be included, partly for copyrightreasons.) Finally, I would like to thank Sarah Toms and Graham Douglasand their team at IOP Publishing (Bristol) for their friendly adviceand help during the preparation of these proceedings.Vienna, April 2012 Gerhard Grössing