Related papers: Common Denominator for Value and Expectation No-Go…
Hidden-variable (HV) theories allege that a quantum state describes an ensemble of systems distinguished by the values of hidden variables. No-go theorems assert that HV theories cannot match the predictions of quantum theory. The present…
No-go theorems assert that hidden-variable theories, subject to appropriate hypotheses, cannot reproduce the predictions of quantum theory. We examine two species of such theorems, value no-go theorems and expectation no-go theorems. The…
No physical measurement can be performed with infinite precision. This leaves a loophole in the standard no-go arguments against non-contextual hidden variables. All such arguments rely on choosing special sets of quantum-mechanical…
Efforts to construct deeper, realistic, level of physical description, in which individual systems have, like in classical physics, preexisting properties revealed by measurements are known as hidden-variable programs. Demonstrations that a…
The paper argues that far from challenging - or even refuting - Bohm's quantum theory, the no-hidden-variables theorems in fact support the Bohmian ontology for quantum mechanics. The reason is that (i) all measurements come down to…
For a hidden variable theory to be indistinguishable from quantum theory for finite precision measurements, it is enough that its predictions agree for some measurement within the range of precision. Meyer has recently pointed out that the…
Hidden variables are extra components added to try to banish counterintuitive features of quantum mechanics. We start with a quantum-mechanical model and describe various properties that can be asked of a hidden-variable model. We present…
Building on the Pusey-Barrett-Rudolph theorem, we derive a no-go theorem for a vast class of deterministic hidden-variables theories, including those consistent on their targeted domain. The strength of this result throws doubt on seemingly…
Measurement is an important scientific activity. In most of science, including classical physics, is may be understood as a way of finding out about the physical world and representing the results numerically. No-go theorems show that…
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…
It is observed that the proofs of hidden-variable no-go theorems depend on the `projection postulate,' which is seen to be contradictory with respect to spin operators in directions orthogonal to the magnetic field direction. In this light…
An open question of fundamental importance in thermodynamics is how to describe the fluctuations of work for quantum coherent processes. In the standard approach, based on a projective energy measurement both at the beginning and at the end…
A suggestion for an observational test of the difference between quantum mechanics and noncontextual hidden variables theories requires the measurement of a product of two commuting observables without measuring either observable…
In quantum theory, it is known for a pair of noncommutative observables that there is no state on which they take simultaneously definite values, and that there is no joint measurement of them. They are called preparation uncertainty and…
The hidden-variables premise is shown to be equivalent to the existence of generic filters for algebras of commuting propositions and for certain more general propositional systems. The significance of this equivalence is interpreted in…
The notorious Wigner's friend thought experiment (and modifications thereof) has in recent years received renewed interest especially due to new arguments that force us to question some of the fundamental assumptions of quantum theory. In…
We use a simple relational framework to develop the key notions and results on hidden variables and non-locality. The extensive literature on these topics in the foundations of quantum mechanics is couched in terms of probabilistic models,…
A century on from the development of quantum theory, the interpretation of a quantum state is still discussed. If a physicist claims to have produced a system with a particular wave function, does this represent directly a physical wave of…
Recently, it has been argued that quantum mechanics is a complete theory, and that different quantum states do necessarily correspond to different elements of reality, under the assumptions that quantum mechanics is correct and that…
Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen (EPR) showed that it is possible to predict with certainty the value of a property without disturbing the object in question. In contrast, Quantum Mechanics (QM) holds that if different measurement setups cannot…