Related papers: Quantum randomness can be controlled by free will …
It is often said that quantum and classical randomness are of different nature, the former being ontological and the latter epistemological. However, so far the question of "What is quantum in quantum randomness", i.e. what is the impact of…
Quantum mechanics is derived from the principle that the universe contain as much variety as possible, in the sense of maximizing the distinctiveness of each subsystem. The quantum state of a microscopic system is defined to correspond to…
Randomness comes in two qualitatively different forms. Apparent randomness can result both from ignorance or lack of control of degrees of freedom in the system. In contrast, intrinsic randomness should not be ascribable to any such cause.…
Quantum backflow is usually understood as a quantum interference phenomenon where probability current of a quantum particle points in the opposite direction to particle's momentum. Here, we quantify the amount of quantum backflow for…
Quantum mechanics marks a radical departure from the classical understanding of Nature, fostering an inherent randomness which forbids a deterministic description; yet the most fundamental departure arises from something different. As shown…
We describe a new class of experiments designed to probe the foundations of quantum mechanics. Using quantum controlling devices, we show how to attain a freedom in temporal ordering of the control and detection of various phenomena. We…
Quantum control refers to our ability to manipulate quantum systems. This tutorial-style chapter focuses on the use of classical electromagnetic fields to steer the system dynamics. In this approach, the quantum nature of the control stems…
Conway and Kochen have presented a "free will theorem" (Notices of the AMS 56, pgs. 226-232 (2009)) which they claim shows that "if indeed we humans have free will, then [so do] elementary particles." In a more precise fashion, they claim…
A general scheme is presented for controlling quantum systems using evolution driven by non-selective von Neumann measurements, with or without an additional tailored electromagnetic field. As an example, a 2-level quantum system controlled…
Contemporary quantum mechanical description of nature involves two processes. The first is a dynamical process governed by the equations of local quantum field theory. This process is local and deterministic, but it generates a structure…
A simple experiment using radioactive decay is proposed to test the possibility of a determinsistic, but chaotic, origin of quantum mechanical randomness.
Quantum mechanics is an extremely successful theory of nature and yet it lacks an intuitive axiomatization. In contrast, the special theory of relativity is well understood and is rooted into natural or experimentally justified postulates.…
To test the limits of quantum mechanics, a proposal for an experiment on protons is suggested. The spin component of proton is measured very rapidly in sequential measurements. The reason for this experiment is derived from the genuine…
The claim of the freedom of the will (understood as an individual who is transcendent to Nature) in the name of XXth century scientific knowledge, against the perspective of XVIIIth-XIXth century scientific materialism, is analysed and…
Quantum statistics originate from the physics of state preparation. It is therefore wrong to think of quantum states as fundamental. In fact, quantum states are merely summaries of dynamical processes that randomize the properties of the…
It is often argued that bottom-up causation under a physicalist, reductionist worldview precludes free will in the libertarian sense. On the one hand, the paradigm of classical mechanics makes determinism inescapable, while on the other,…
A quantum system subject to external fields is said to be controllable if these fields can be adjusted to guide the state vector to a desired destination in the state space of the system. Fundamental results on controllability are reviewed…
Many have proposed that free will would use quantum indeterminism. Strict adherence to the Born rule, which follows from the no-signal condition, seems to block this possibility. I propose here that if state collapse really does occur then…
According to the widely accepted opinion, classical (statistical) physics does not support objective indeterminism, since the statistical laws of classical physics allow a deterministic hidden background, while --- as Arthur Fine writes…
We present a scheme for controlling the state of a quantum system by modifying the boundary conditions. This constitutes an infinite-dimensional control problem. We provide conditions for the existence of solutions of the dynamics and prove…