Lattice field theories are described as a way to regularize continuum quantum field theories. They are obtained by replacing ordinary space time by a lattice, space time derivatives by suitable differences and Minkowski by Euclidean space. The connection between a quantum field theory isd space dimension and classical statistical mechanics in (d+1) dimensions is brought outvia elementary examples. The problem of regaining the continuum limit and of handling nonabelian gauge theories are briefly discussed.

We show that in the case of unknown harmonic oscillator coherent states it is possible to achieve what we call perfect information cloning. By this we mean that it is still possible to make arbitrary number of copies of a state which has exactly the same information content as the original unknown coherent state. By making use of this perfect information cloning it would be possible to estimate the original state through measurements and make arbitrary number of copies of the estimator. We define the notion of a measurement fidelity and calculate it for our case as well as for the Gaussian cloners.

We have addressed the foundational issue of how a macroscopic quantum system starting off as a pure state tends towards a mixed state described by the microcanonical ensemble. The earlier works of von Neumann and Van Kampen are also reviewed. A simple criterion is given as to when the above mentioned passage can take place.