Physics Frontiers Jim Rantschler

Jim talks with Alex Jurgens about Maxwellian ratchets, automata that are similar to Maxwell's Demon.  They talk about their implications for information processing and entropy.http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/77

Jim talks with Claus Kiefer about the implications of Goedel's incompleteness theorems on the search for the theory.Show Notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/76

Jim talks with Nick Ormrod and V. Vilasini about their use of categorical probability theory to analyze the measurement problem.  We discuss categorical probability theory, which allows them to abstract from particular mathematical formulations of quantum mechanics to more general ideas about states and measurements and observers than found in Hilbert space formulations.  They use this to look at the various properties of quantum mechanics and how they relate to each other, in particular how relativity affects the measurement problem.Show Notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/75

Jim talks with David Wolpert about the non-equilibrium behavior of computation, what it means for entropy, and how it relates to traditional thermodynamics.Show Notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/74

Jim discusses quantum money with Jiahui Liu.  Quantum money is a linchpin of quantum cryptography.  The ability to create secure banknotes using quantum computers would allow even more secure methods of encryption for communications. 

Jim talks with Antony Valentini about the difficulties of interpretation of quantum mechanics in light of quantum gravity.  In particular, Antony discusses the failure of the Born Rule due to the impossibility of normalization (the fact that probabilities must sum to 100%) at that scale, and therefore the need to interpret the wavefunction as something more than merely the knowledge of the observer about the system.  They spend some time talking about the de Broglie-Bohm interpretation in light of quantum gravity.Show Notes: http://frontiers.physicsfm.com/72