A short introduction to the quantum formalism[s]

Abstract

These notes are an elaboration on: (i) a short course that I gave at the IPhT-Saclay in May-June 2012; (ii) a previous letter on reversibility in quantum mechanics. They present an introductory, but hopefully coherent, view of the main formalizations of quantum mechanics, of their interrelations and of their common physical underpinnings: causality, reversibility and locality/separability. The approaches covered are mainly: (ii) the canonical formalism; (ii) the algebraic formalism; (iii) the quantum logic formulation. Other subjects: quantum information approaches, quantum correlations, contextuality and non-locality issues, quantum measurements, interpretations and alternate theories, quantum gravity, are only very briefly and superficially discussed. Most of the material is not new, but is presented in an original, homogeneous and hopefully not technical or abstract way. I try to define simply all the mathematical concepts used and to justify them physically. These notes should be accessible to young physicists (graduate level) with a good knowledge of the standard formalism of quantum mechanics, and some interest for theoretical physics (and mathematics). These notes do not cover the historical and philosophical aspects of quantum physics.