Related papers: Subsystems and Independence in Relativistic Micros…
We propose some formulations of the notion of "operational independence" of two subsystems of a larger quantum system and clarify their relation to other independence concepts in the literature. In addition, we indicate why the operational…
Subobject independence as morphism co-possibility has recently been defined in [2] and studied in the context of algebraic quantum field theory. This notion of independence is handy when it comes to systems coming from physics, but when…
This paper formulates a notion of independence of subobjects of an object in a general (i.e. not necessarily concrete) category. Subobject independence is the categorial generalization of what is known as subsystem independence in the…
How should we interpret physical theories, and especially quantum theory, if we drop the assumption that we should treat it as an exact description of the whole Universe? I expound and develop the claim that physics is about the study of…
The groupoids description of Schwinger's picture of quantum mechanics is continued by discussing the closely related notions of composition of systems, subsystems, and their independence. Physical subsystems have a neat algebraic…
We discuss the possibility of making the {\it initial} definitions of mutually different (possibly interacting, or even entangled) systems in the context of decoherence theory. We point out relativity of the concept of elementary physical…
Quantum theory's irreducible empirical core is a probability calculus. While it presupposes the events to which (and on the basis of which) it serves to assign probabilities, and therefore cannot account for their occurrence, it has to be…
We present several philosophical ideas emerging from the studies of complex systems. We make a brief introduction to the basic concepts of complex systems, for then defining "abstraction levels". These are useful for representing…
We study dependence and independence concepts found in quantum physics, especially those related to hidden variables and non-locality, through the lens of team semantics and probabilistic team semantics, adapting a relational framework…
Difficulties and discomfort with the interpretation of quantum mechanics are due to differences in language between it and classical physics. Analogies to The Special Theory of Relativity, which also required changes in the basic worldview…
Experimental evidene of the last decades has made the status of "collapses of the wave function" even more shaky than it already was on conceptual grounds: interference effects turn out to be detectable even when collapses are typically…
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…
Is there a version of the notions of "state" and "observable" wide enough to apply naturally and in a covariant manner to relativistic systems? I discuss here a tentative answer.
The concepts of independence and totalness of subspaces are introduced in the context of quasi-probability distributions in phase space, for quantum systems with finite-dimensional Hilbert space. It is shown that due to the…
If Nature allowed nonlocal correlations other than those predicted by quantum mechanics, would that contradict some physical principle? Various approaches have been put forward in the past two decades in an attempt to single out quantum…
The problem of "what is 'system'?" is in the very foundations of modern quantum mechanics. Here, we point out the interest in this topic in the information-theoretic context. E.g., we point out the possibility to manipulate a pair of…
Dividing the world into subsystems is an important component of the scientific method. The choice of subsystems, however, is not defined a priori. Typically, it is dictated by experimental capabilities, which may be different for different…
The aim of this paper is to explain carefully the arguments behind the assertion that the correct quantum theory of gravity must be background independent. We begin by recounting how the debate over whether quantum gravity must be…
In this article we argue that in quantum mechanics, and in opposition to classical physics, it is impossible to say that an isolated quantum system "owns" a physical property. Some properties of the system, its mass for example, belong to…
Duality transformations within the quantum mechanics of a finite number of degrees of freedom can be regarded as the dependence of the notion of a quantum, i.e., an elementary excitation of the vacuum, on the observer on classical phase…