Related papers: Measurements on the reality of the wavefunction
The undoing of quantum measurements is discussed in the broader context of irreversibility in physics. We give explicit examples of how a wavefunction can be uncollapsed in two solid-state experimental set-ups. Wavefunction uncollapse shows…
We present critical arguments against individual interpretation of Bohr's complementarity and Heisenberg's uncertainty principles. Statistical interpretation of these principles is discussed in the contextual framework. We support the…
The Bohmian formulation of quantum mechanics is used in order to describe the measurement process in an intuitive way without a reduction postulate in the framework of a deterministic single system theory. Thereby the motion of the hidden…
Our notions of what is physically 'real' have long been based on the idea that the real is what is immediately apprehended, that is the local or observable, the physically tangible, though there has always been an alternative philosophical…
A proper knowledge of the reality of a physical theory is important to get an understanding of empirical phenomena. Despite its extraordinary predictive successes, the orthodox (also known as the Copenhagen) theory provides an indigestible…
In a recent paper (arXiv:1111.3328), Pusey, Barrett and Rudolph claim to prove that statistical interpretations of quantum mechanics do not work. In fact, their proof assumes that all statistical interpretations must be based on hidden…
Quantum measurement finds the observed system in a collapsed state, rather than in the state predicted by the Schr\"odinger equation. Yet there is a relatively spread opinion that the wavefunction collapse can be explained by unitary…
The Schrodinger equation is incomplete, inherently unable to explain the collapse of the wavefunction caused by measurement; a fundamental issue known as the quantum measurement problem. Quantum mechanics is generally constrained by the…
The postulate of the collapse of the wave function stands between the microscopic, quantum world, and the macroscopic world. Because of this intermediate position, the collapse process cannot be examined with the formalism of the quantum…
We show that one may interpret physical reality as random fields in space-time. These have a probability given by the expectation of a coherent state projection operator, called the Q-function. The resulting dynamical evolution includes…
We explore the sense in which the state of a physical system may or may not be regarded (an) observable in quantum mechanics. Simple and general arguments from various lines of approach are reviewed which demonstrate the following no-go…
The spread of the wave-function, or quantum uncertainty, is a key notion in quantum mechanics. At leading order, it is characterized by the quadratic moments of the position and momentum operators. These evolve and fluctuate independently…
Weak measurements of photon position can be used to obtain direct experimental evidence of the wavefunction of a photon between generation and ultimate detection. Significantly, these measurement results can also be understood as complex…
A novel two-tiered organization of the microworld is presented, in which only the fundamental quantum fields of the standard model of particle physics (electrons, photons, quarks, etc.) are true quantum waves, exhibiting linear…
Historically, appearance of the quantum theory led to a prevailing view that Nature is indeterministic. The arguments for the indeterminism and proposals for indeterministic and deterministic approaches are reviewed. These include collapse…
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…
One of the major concerns of Schr\"odinger, Lorentz, Einstein, and many others about the wave function is that it is defined on the $3\mathbf{N}$-dimensional configuration space, rather than on the $3$-dimensional physical space. This gives…
A new ontological view of the quantum measurement processes is given, which has bearings on many broader issues in the foundations of quantum mechanics as well. In this scenario a quantum measurement is a non-equilibrium phase transition in…
It has been widely thought that the wave function describes a real, physical field in a realist interpretation of quantum mechanics. In this paper, I present a new analysis of the field ontology for the wave function. First, I argue that…
Realist interpretations of quantum mechanics presuppose the existence of elements of reality that are independent of the actions used to reveal them. Such a view is challenged by several no-go theorems that show quantum correlations cannot…