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We offer a fresh perspective on the relational interpretation of quantum mechanics as a way of thinking about the world described by quantum theory based on quantifiable notions of information. This allows us to provide a definition of a…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2026-02-10 Andrea Di Biagio , Carlo Rovelli

The role of the observers is frequently obscured in the literature, either by writing equations in a coordinate system implicitly pertaining to some specific observer or by entangling the invariance and the observer dependence of physical…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2013-05-14 Bruno Klajn , Ivica Smolić

In the theory of classical statistical inference one can derive a simple rule by which two or more observers may combine {\em independently} obtained states of knowledge together to form a new state of knowledge, which is the state which…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2007-05-23 Kurt Jacobs

In this work we discuss the notion of observable - both quantum and classical - from a new point of view. In classical mechanics, an observable is represented as a function (measurable, continuous or smooth), whereas in (von Neumann's…

Mathematical Physics · Physics 2007-05-23 Hans F. de Groote

Since its inception, quantum theory has been the subject of fierce interpretive controversy, which persists to this day. Disputed topics include the basic ontology and dynamics of the theory, the role (if any) of measurement, the meaning of…

History and Philosophy of Physics · Physics 2025-12-30 Tim Maudlin

We attempt to dissolve the measurement problem using an anthropic principle which allows us to invoke rational observers. We argue that the key feature of such observers is that they are rational (we need not care whether they are…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2007-05-23 Thomas Marlow

We give a review of concepts related to connection of classical and quantum theories, from the phase space perspective. Quantum theory is described by non-commutative operators of coordinates and momenta, results in values having a certain…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2025-09-04 Miloš D. Davidović , Ljubica D. Davidović , Milena D. Davidović

I take a pragmatist perspective on quantum theory. This is not a view of the world described by quantum theory. In this view quantum theory itself does not describe the physical world, nor our observatons, experiences or opinions of it.…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2026-04-03 Richard Healey

The role attributed to the observer in various interpretations of quantum mechanics as well as in classical statistical mechanics is discussed, with particular attention being paid to the Everett interpretation. In this context, the…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2018-03-07 H. Dieter Zeh

Rational agents acting as observers use ``knowables'' to construct a vision of the outside world. Thereby, they are bound by the information exchanged with what they consider to be objects. The cartesian cut or, in modern terminology, the…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2007-05-23 Karl Svozil

A realist description of our universe requires a twofold concept of locality. On one hand, there are the strictly Einstein-local interactions which generate the time evolution. On the other hand, the quantum state space calls for a…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2013-08-27 Andreas O. Tell

Physical systems are characterized by their structure and dynamics. But the physical laws only express relations, and their symmetries allow any possible relational structure to be also possible in a different parametrization or basis of…

History and Philosophy of Physics · Physics 2024-02-09 Ovidiu Cristinel Stoica

The aim of the article is to argue that the interpretations of quantum mechanics and of probability are much closer than usually thought. Indeed, a detailed analysis of the concept of probability (within the standard frequency theory of R.…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2011-06-21 Louis Vervoort

Quantum information science is a source of task-related axioms whose consequences can be explored in general settings encompassing quantum mechanics, classical theory, and more. Quantum states are compendia of probabilities for the outcomes…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2007-05-23 Howard Barnum

An essential quantity in quantum information theory is the von Neumann entropy which depends entirely on the quantum density operator. Once known, the density operator reveals the statistics of observables in a quantum process, and the…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2023-09-08 Mark Balas , Vinod P. Gehlot , Tristan D. Griffith

It is widely thought that the quantum theory of de Sitter space requires the existence of a physical observer in the static patch. What exactly is meant by an observer is unclear; it could be anything from a few photons with energy just…

High Energy Physics - Theory · Physics 2026-01-08 Leonard Susskind

We analyse the wave function collapse as seem by two distinct observers (with identical detectors) in relative motion. Imposing that the measurement process demands information transfer from the system to the detectors, we note that…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2012-12-12 Milton A. da Silva , Roberto M. Serra , Lucas C. Celeri

Does information play a significant role in the foundations of physics? Information is the abstraction that allows us to refer to the states of systems when we choose to ignore the systems themselves. This is only possible in very…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2014-03-05 Lluis Masanes , Markus P. Mueller , Remigiusz Augusiak , David Perez-Garcia

In classical probability theory, the best predictor of a future observation of a random variable $X,$ is its expected value $E_P[X]$ when no other information is available When information consisting in the observation of another random…

Mathematical Physics · Physics 2009-09-29 Henryk Gzyl

Since the appearance of General Relativity, its intrinsec general covariance has been very often misinterpreted as implying that physically meaningful quantitities (and conclusions extracted from the theory) have to be absolutely…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2012-02-20 L. Herrera