Quantum and Classical Frontiers of Noise

Abstract

This paper is an introduction to the eleven works of the special issue on Quantum and Classical Frontiers of Noise. The weather, and its butterfly effect, is the typical example that explain why many natural phenomena are, in fact, not predictable with certainty. Noise in classical or quantum phenomena, understood as the difference between the empirical output of an experiment and its statistical prediction, is a measure of such uncertainty. One of the great contributions of noise appeared in 1905 when Einstein showed how the noisy (Brownian) motion of a dust particle seen in a microscope provided uncontroversial evidences on the existence of the (unseen) atoms. The aim of this special issue is to provoke discussions on how noise can help us to better understand (the reality behind) classical and quantum theories, and the frontier between them.