English

Realism about the Wave Function

Quantum Physics 2021-10-25 v2 History and Philosophy of Physics

Abstract

A century after the discovery of quantum mechanics, the meaning of quantum mechanics still remains elusive. This is largely due to the puzzling nature of the wave function, the central object in quantum mechanics. If we are realists about quantum mechanics, how should we understand the wave function? What does it represent? What is its physical meaning? Answering these questions would improve our understanding of what it means to be a realist about quantum mechanics. In this survey article, I review and compare several realist interpretations of the wave function. They fall into three categories: ontological interpretations, nomological interpretations, and the \emph{sui generis} interpretation. For simplicity, I will focus on non-relativistic quantum mechanics.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1810.07010,
  title  = {Realism about the Wave Function},
  author = {Eddy Keming Chen},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1810.07010},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

Penultimate version for Philosophy Compass