A system's wave function is uniquely determined by its underlying physical state
Abstract
We address the question of whether the quantum-mechanical wave function of a system is uniquely determined by any complete description 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 . An implication of this result is that, among all possible descriptions of a system's state compatible with free choice, the wave function is as objective as .
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