Related papers: The unspeakable why
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…
We point out a fundamental problem that hinders the quantization of general relativity: quantum mechanics is formulated in terms of systems, typically limited in space but infinitely extended in time, while general relativity is formulated…
Quantum theory has been proved as an outstanding mystery in modern science. The predictions of science have turned out to be probabilistic. The principle of determinism has failed. For systems like weather, earthquakes, rolling dices etc...…
One would not think that thought experiments could matter to nature, for they are a humble human device. Yet quantum mechanics very naturally frames thought experiments (as distinct from precisely defining what exists). They exemplify the…
We look into the ontology of quantum theory as distinct from that of the classical theory in the sciences, following a broadly Kantian tradition and distinguishing between the noumenal and phenomenal realities where the former is…
The orthodox quantum mechanics can describe results of observation but not an objective reality. Misunderstanding of its positivistic essence results to numerous mistaken publications, in particular about a possibility of a real quantum…
Practically measurable quantities resulting from quantum field theory are not described by hermitian operators, contradicting one of the cornerstone axioms of orthodox quantum theory. This could be a sign that some of the axioms of orthodox…
We briefly review a number of major features of the approach to quantum measurement theory based on environment-induced decoherence of the measuring apparatus, and summarize our observations in the form of a couple of general principles…
The search for a theory of quantum gravity faces two great challenges: the incredibly small scales of the Planck length and time, and the possibility that the observed constants of nature are in part the result of random processes. A…
Why do correlations between the results of measurements performed on physical systems violate Bell and non-contextuality inequalities up to some specific limits? The answer may follow from the observation that in quantum theory, unlike in…
The probabilistic predictions of quantum theory are conventionally obtained from a special probabilistic axiom. But that is unnecessary because all the practical consequences of such predictions follow from the remaining, non-probabilistic,…
The point of building a quantum computer is that it allows to model living things with predictive power and gives the opportunity to control life. Its scaling means not just the improvement of the instrument part, but also, mainly,…
The machinery of quantum mechanics is fully capable of describing a single realistic world. Here we discuss the converse: in spite of appearances, and indeed numerous claims to the contrary, any quantum mechanical model can be mimicked, up…
A quantum theory of the universe consists of a theory of its quantum dynamics and a theory of its quantum state The theory predicts quantum multiverses in the form of decoherent sets of alternative histories describing the evolution of the…
In a recent paper [e-print quant-ph/0101012], Hardy has given a derivation of "quantum theory from five reasonable axioms." Here we show that Hardy's first axiom, which identifies probability with limiting frequency in an ensemble, is not…
Interpretation problems are eliminated from quantum theory by picturing a quantum history as having been sampled from a probability distribution over the set of histories which are permitted by all relevant boundary conditions. In…
Encoding information in quantum systems can offer surprising advantages but at the same time there are limitations that arise from the fact that measuring an observable may disturb the state of the quantum system. In our work, we provide an…
The major advances in physics have been through counterintuitive breakthroughs-- ideas that seemed to go against prevailing convictions. In the twentieth century the Special and General Theory of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics have…
Formulations of quantum mechanics can be characterized as realistic, operationalist, or a combination of the two. In this paper a realistic theory is defined as describing a closed system entirely by means of entities and concepts…
Quantum gravity places entirely new challenges on the formulation of a consistent theory as well as on an extraction of potentially observable effects. Quantum corrections due to the gravitational field are commonly expected to be tiny…