Experimental Noise, Idealizations and the Classical-Quantum Relation

Abstract

Classical dynamics and the classical concept of space-time reality is based on the assumption that the objects of physics can be observed continuously. The discrete structure of matter (atoms) and fields (quanta), however, implies that the process of observation is quantized. In this paper we discuss the consequences of this paradigm change from continuity to discreteness and from determinism to chance. By taking into account the quantized structure of observation, we are led to the conclusion that the classical concept of reality has to be replaced by a quantum concept of observability. It implies that quantum dynamics is not a generalization of classical dynamics. Rather, the two theories apply to complementary idealizations of nature representing opposite extremes on a scale of observability. They are related by correspondence rules. Both theories disregard experimental noise. Statistical and thermal noise provide the experimental foundation for statistical physics.