From: hal@finney.org
Date: Wed Mar 28 2001 - 23:02:49 MST
Scerir writes:
> M. Pour-El and I. Richards [Computability in Analysis and Physics, Springer,
> Berlin, 1989] have proven that even though solutions of the "wave equation"
> behave deterministically, there exist computable initial data (initial conditions)
> with the weird property that for a later (computable) time the value of the "field"
> is "non-computable" (non-computable evolution). Randomness in physics
> correspond to mathematical uncomputability.
I haven't seen this result, but it is well known that Newtonian physics
has similar properties. In fact you can do an infinite amount of
computation in finite time using Newtonian point sources. I wouldn't be
surprised if this QM result relied on similar unrealistic idealizations.
Hal
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 08:06:45 MST