English

A system's wave function is uniquely determined by its underlying physical state

Quantum Physics 2017-12-29 v2

Abstract

We address the question of whether the quantum-mechanical wave function Ψ\Psi of a system is uniquely determined by any complete description Λ\Lambda of the system's physical state. We show that this is the case if the latter satisfies a notion of "free choice". This notion requires that certain experimental parameters---those that according to quantum theory can be chosen independently of other variables---retain this property in the presence of Λ\Lambda. An implication of this result is that, among all possible descriptions Λ\Lambda of a system's state compatible with free choice, the wave function Ψ\Psi is as objective as Λ\Lambda.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1312.7353,
  title  = {A system's wave function is uniquely determined by its underlying physical state},
  author = {Roger Colbeck and Renato Renner},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1312.7353},
  year   = {2017}
}

Comments

6+3 pages, 3 figures. This work is related to arXiv:1111.6597, but the argument is simplified and based on fewer assumptions. v2: We have made updates in response to referee comments, including adding figure 1. Additionally, in Appendix B we have corrected an omission, removed an erroneous formula and added more detail to the calculation

R2 v1 2026-06-22T02:35:58.262Z