Related papers: Specker's fundamental principle of quantum mechani…
Ernst Specker considered a particular feature of quantum theory to be especially fundamental, namely that pairwise joint measurability of sharp measurements implies their global joint measurability (https://vimeo.com/52923835). To date,…
Specker's principle, the condition that pairwise orthogonal propositions must be jointly orthogonal, has been much investigated recently within the programme of finding physical principles to characterise quantum mechanics. It largely…
The three major theoretical principles of quantum mechanics relevant to its interpretation are: (T1), linearity; (T2), invariance under certain groups; and (T3) the orthogonality and isolation of the different branches of the state vector.…
The question concerning the physical realizability of a probability distribution is of quite importance in Quantum foundations. Specker first pointed out that this question cannot be answered from Kolmogorov's axioms alone. Lately, this…
We propose six principles as the fundamental principles of quantum mechanics: principle of space and time, Galilean principle of relativity, Hamilton's principle, wave principle, probability principle, and principle of indestructibility and…
We argue that Anton Zeilinger's "foundational conceptual principle" for quantum mechanics according to which an elementary system carries one bit of information is an idealistic principle, which should be replaced by a realistic principle…
In 1960, the mathematician Ernst Specker described a simple example of nonclassical correlations which he dramatized using a parable about a seer who sets an impossible prediction task to his daughter's suitors. We revisit this example…
Three postulates are discussed: first that well-defined properties cannot be assigned to an isolated system, secondly that quantum unitary evolution is atemporal, and thirdly that some physical processes are never reversed. It is argued…
The notion of contextuality, which emerges from a theorem established by Simon Kochen and Ernst Specker (1960-1967) and by John Bell (1964-1966), is certainly one of the most fundamental aspects of quantum weirdness. If it is a questioning…
The geometric form of standard quantum mechanics is compatible with the two postulates: 1) The laws of physics are invariant under the choice of experimental setup and 2) Every quantum observation or event is intrinsically statistical.…
A central result in the foundations of quantum mechanics is the Kochen-Specker theorem. In short, it states that quantum mechanics is in conflict with classical models in which the result of a measurement does not depend on which other…
Quantum mechanics, one of the most successful theories in the history of science, was created to account for physical systems not describable by classical physics. Though it is consistent with all experiments conducted thus far, many of its…
We argue that Anton Zeilinger's "foundational conceptual principle" for quantum mechanics according to which an elementary system carries one bit of information is an idealistic principle, which should be replaced by a realistic principle…
The Standard Model of the elementary particles is controlled by more than 20 parameters, of which it is not known today how they can be linked to deeper principles. Any attempt to clean up this theory, in general results in producing more…
Two central concepts of quantum mechanics are Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, and a subtle form of non-locality that Einstein famously called ``spooky action at a distance''. These two fundamental features have thus far been distinct…
In contrast to the intuitively plausible assumption of local realism, entangled particles, even when isolated, are not allowed to possess definite properties in their own right, as quantitatively expressed by violations of Bell's…
Contextuality is a key feature of quantum mechanics, as was first brought to light by Bohr and later realised more technically by Kochen and Specker. Isham and Butterfield put contextuality at the heart of their topos-based formalism and…
The list of basic axioms of quantum mechanics as it was formulated by von Neumann includes only the mathematical formalism of the Hilbert space and its statistical interpretation. We point out that such an approach is too general to be…
Quantum mechanics provides a statistical description about nature, and thus would be incomplete if its statistical predictions could not be accounted for by some realistic models with hidden variables. There are, however, two powerful…
The new orthodoxy of quantum mechanics (QM) based on the decoherence approach requires many-worlds as an essential ingredient for logical consistency, and one may wonder what status to give to all these "other worlds". Here we advocate that…