Related papers: Quantum histories without contrary inferences
Developing a quantum analog of the modern classical theory of causation, as formulated by Pearl and others using directed acyclic graphs, requires a theory of random or stochastic time development at the microscopic level, where the…
The operational formulations of quantum theory are drastically time oriented. However, to the best of our knowledge, microscopic physics is time-symmetric. We address this tension by showing that the asymmetry of the operational…
In the present article we consider the inverse fallacy, a well known cognitive heuristic experimentally tested in cognitive science, which occurs for intuitive judgments in situations of bounded rationality. We show that the quantum…
An idealized experiment estimating the spacetime topology is considered in both classical and quantum frameworks. The latter is described in terms of histories approach to quantum theory. A procedure creating combinatorial models of…
We pursue the view that quantum theory may be an emergent structure related to large space-time scales. In particular, we consider classical Hamiltonian systems in which the intrinsic proper time evolution parameter is related through a…
Time-symmetric interpretations of quantum theory are often presented as featuring "retrocausal" effects in addition to the usual forward notion of causation. This paper examines the ontological implications of certain timesymmetric…
The quantum mechanics of closed systems such as the universe is formulated using an extension of familiar probability theory that incorporates negative probabilities. Probabilities must be positive for sets of alternative histories that are…
Is quantum mechanics about 'states'? Or is it basically another kind of probability theory? It is argued that the elementary formalism of quantum mechanics operates as a well-justified alternative to 'classical' instantiations of a…
Quantum causal histories are defined to be causal sets with Hilbert spaces attached to each event and local unitary evolution operators. The reflexivity, antisymmetry, and transitivity properties of a causal set are preserved in the quantum…
In the standard physical interpretation of quantum theory, prediction and retrodiction are not symmetric. The opposite assertion by some authors results from their use of non-standard interpretations of the theory.
It is shown that quantum mechanics is a plausible statistical description of an ontology described by classical electrodynamics. The reason that no contradiction arises with various no-go theorems regarding the compatibility of QM with a…
A quantum-like description of human decision process is developed, and a heuristic argument supporting the theory as sound phenomenology is given. It is shown to be capable of quantitatively explaining the conjunction fallacy in the same…
There is a trend to consider counterfactuals as invariably time-asymmetric. Recently, this trend manifested itself in the controversy about validity of counterfactual application of a time-symmetric quantum probability rule. Kastner (2003)…
A relativistic version of the (consistent or decoherent) histories approach to quantum theory is developed on the basis of earlier work by Hartle, and used to discuss relativistic forms of the paradoxes of spherical wave packet collapse,…
Topos theory has been suggested by Doring and Isham as an alternative mathematical structure with which to formulate physical theories. In particular it has been used to reformulate standard quantum mechanics in such a way that a novel type…
In the context of the decoherent histories approach to quantum theory, it is shown that a class of macroscopic configurations consisting of histories of local densities (number, momentum, energy) exhibit negligible interference. This…
We take quantum theory and replace $\mathbb{C}$ by $\mathbb{C}[\varepsilon]$ where $\varepsilon^2=0$, i.e. we extend quantum theory to the ring of dual complex numbers. The aim is to develop a common language in which to treat continuous…
General relativity required the abandonment of Euclidean geometry. Here we show that quantum theory requires the abandonment of classical logic. We show that the Hilbert space representation of quantum theory is logically inevitable. There…
It has been experimentally demonstrated that quantum coherence can persist in macroscopic phenomena [J.R. Friedman et al.,Nature, 406 (2000) 43]. To face the challenge of this new fact, in this article QM in its standard form is assumed to…
Quantum theory is formulated as the only consistent way to manipulate probability amplitudes. The crucial ingredient is a consistency constraint: if there are two different ways to compute an amplitude the two answers must agree. This…