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Colloquium | Physics

Quantum Mechanics, Chaos, and the Quantum-Classical Transition

PHY Colloquium

Abstract: The connection between quantum and classical mechanics has always been somewhat uncomfortable, unlike the case for Newtonian mechanics and special relativity. This apparent disconnect is most obvious in the case of chaotic dynamical systems; formally there is no chaos in quantum mechanics, but obviously there is plenty of it in the real world. How can this be? In this talk, I will discuss the nontrivial nature of the quantum-classical transition and how chaos and quantum mechanics can, in fact, co-exist.