Related papers: Possibilities for Probabilities
I. The arena of quantum mechanics and quantum field theory is the abstract, unobserved and unobservable, M-dimensional formal Hilbert space [not equal to] spacetime. II. The arena of observations and, more generally, of all events (i.e.…
We propose the principle, the law of statistical balance for basic physical observables, which specifies quantum statistical theory among all other statistical theories of measurements. It seems that this principle might play in quantum…
Busch's theorem deriving the standard quantum probability rule can be regarded as a more general form of Gleason's theorem. Here we show that a further generalisation is possible by reducing the number of quantum postulates used by Busch.…
One of the basic peoblems of quantum cosmology is the problem of time. Various solutions have been proposed for this problem. One approach is to use the Bohmian time. Another Approach is to use the probabilistic time which was recently…
We propose a simple abstract formalisation of the act of observation, in which the system and the observer are assumed to be in a pure state and their interaction deterministically changes the states such that the outcome can be read from…
The law of likelihood underlies a general framework, known as the likelihood paradigm, for representing and interpreting statistical evidence. As stated, the law applies only to simple hypotheses, and there have been reservations about…
During the last ten years or so, derivations of the Born rule based on decision theory have been proposed and developed, and it is claimed that these are valid in the context of the Everett interpretation. This claim is critically assessed…
Despite its enormous empirical success, the formalism of quantum theory still raises fundamental questions: why is nature described in terms of complex Hilbert spaces, and what modifications of it could we reasonably expect to find in some…
A brief review is given of the present state of an approach to consistency between basic quantum mechanics and a unique macroscopic reality, with no assumption of branching in the state of the universe. The main new idea consists in the…
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…
Although many people have thought that the difference between the Copenhagen and many-worlds versions of quantum theory was merely metaphysical, quantum cosmology may allow us to make a physical test to distinguish between them empirically.…
The nRules are empirical regularities that were discovered in macroscopic situations where the outcome is known. When they are projected theoretically into the microscopic domain they predict a novel ontology including the frequent collapse…
Bayesian probability theory is used to analyze the oft-made assumption that humans are typical observers in the universe. Some theoretical calculations make the {\it selection fallacy} that we are randomly chosen from a class of objects by…
Extracting predictions from cosmological theories that describe a multiverse, for what we are likely to observe in our domain, is crucial to establishing the validity of these theories. One way to extract such predictions is from…
We derive Born's rule and the density-operator formalism for quantum systems with Hilbert spaces of dimension two or larger. Our extension of Gleason's theorem only relies upon the consistent assignment of probabilities to the outcomes of…
We introduce a 'uniform tension-reduction' (UTR) model, which allows to represent the probabilities associated with an arbitrary measurement situation and use it to explain the emergence of quantum probabilities (the Born rule) as 'uniform'…
We attempt to dissolve the measurement problem using an anthropic principle which allows us to invoke rational observers. We argue that the key feature of such observers is that they are rational (we need not care whether they are…
In this paper I present a thought experiment that gives different results depending on whether or not the wavefunction collapses. Since the wavefunction does not obey the Schrodinger equation during the collapse, conservation laws are…
How can probabilities make sense in a deterministic many-worlds theory? We address two facets of this problem: why should rational agents assign subjective probabilities to branching events, and why should branching events happen with…
The quantum-mechanical rule for probabilities, in its most general form of positive-operator valued measure (POVM), is shown to be a consequence of the environment-assisted invariance (envariance) idea suggested by Zurek [Phys. Rev. Lett.…