Related papers: Can different quantum state vectors correspond to …
The possibility of a quantum system to exhibit properties that are akin to both the classically held notions of being a particle and a wave, is one of the most intriguing aspects of the quantum description of nature. These aspects have been…
In order to relate the probabilistic predictions of quantum theory uniquely to measurement results, one has to conceive of an ensemble of identically prepared copies of the quantum system under study. Since the universe is the total domain…
Can it possibly be that the proper interpretation of quantum theory, which allows a quantum system to be in a superposition of mutually exclusive states, is itself a superposition of seemingly contradicting interpretations?
In the area of the foundations of quantum mechanics a true industry appears to have developed in the last decades, with the aim of proving as many results as possible concerning what there cannot be in the quantum realm. In principle, the…
According to a recent no-go theorem (M. Pusey, J. Barrett and T. Rudolph, Nature Physics 8, 475 (2012)), models in which quantum states correspond to probability distributions over the values of some underlying physical variables must have…
A fundamental prediction of quantum theory that is derived from the "projection postulate" is that under continuous measurement, the state of a system traces out a "quantum trajectory" in time that depends upon its measurement record, and…
There are reasons to doubt that making sense of the wave function (other than as a probability algorithm) will help with the project of making sense of quantum mechanics. The consistency of the quantum-mechanical correlation laws with the…
QBism is one of the main candidates for an epistemic interpretation of quantum mechanics. According to QBism, the quantum state or the wavefunction represents the subjective degrees of belief of the agent assigning the state. But, although…
The state $\rho$ of a quantum system can be represented by a vector $\mathbf{P}_{\mathcal{M}}(\rho)$ of outcome probabilities for a set of measurements $\mathcal{M}$. Such representations appear throughout physics, for example, in quantum…
Quantum physics involves an ensemble of quantum systems, usually one thinks of a large ensemble of identical quantum systems at one single time. In single ion experiments one has a single quantum system at an ensemble of different times.…
The connection between the problem of scattering a particle on a one-dimensional $\delta$-potential with the "Einstein's boxes" thought experiment is shown. In both cases, the validity of the superposition principle is limited by Einstein's…
In this paper, we show that Quantum Mechanics does not admit ontological models, in the sense that the quantum state of a system cannot correspond to a set of physical states representing the independent reality of the system. We show, via…
I address the question whether the wave function in quantum theory exists as a real (ontic) quantity or not. For this purpose, I discuss the essentials of the quantum formalism and emphasize the central role of the superposition principle.…
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…
A characteristical property of a classical physical theory is that the observables are real functions taking an exact outcome on every (pure) state; in a quantum theory, at the contrary, a given observable on a given state can take several…
Two thought experiments are analyzed, revealing that the quantum state of the universe does not contain definitive evidence of the wavefunction collapse. The first thought experiment shows that unitary quantum evolution alone can account…
By means of a thought-experiment, consisting of an interference experiment with two interfering beams, it is shown that it can be demonstrated experimentally that with one single particle a wave can be associated which propagates in space…
Quantum theory can be viewed as a generalization of classical probability theory, but the analogy as it has been developed so far is not complete. Whereas the manner in which inferences are made in classical probability theory is…
The quantum mechanics is considered to be a partial case of the stochastic system dynamics. It is shown that the wave function describes the state of statistically averaged system $<\mathcal{S}_{st}>$, but not that of the individual…
Applications of quantum mechanics have led to many successful predictions and explanations of puzzling phenomena, and we now apply quantum mechanics to gain, process, and communicate information in novel ways. We can understand quantum…