Conferencia invitada: About the relation between chemistry and physics

OLIMPIA LOMBARDI

Lovaina

Conferencia; Invitación, Universidad KULeuven; 2013

Katholikie Universiteit Leuven

The idea that the whole reality can in principle be reduced to some elemental entities or basic laws pervaded Western thought since its inception. By beginning with a quick review of the idea of reduction since its origins, in this talk I will focus on the alleged reduction of chemistry to quantum mechanics. With this purpose, I will introduce the main theoretical features of quantum mechanics -indistinguishability, non-separability and contextuality- in order to discuss the Born-Oppenheimer approximation in the light of them. In particular, I will try to uncover the assumptions underlying the approximation. The final aim consists in stressing the conceptual breakdown between molecular chemistry and quantum mechanics; this breakdown should lead us to take the assumption of reduction with great care.