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Wigner's Friend-type paradoxes challenge the assumption that events are absolute -- that when we measure a system, we obtain a single result, which is not relative to anything or anyone else. These paradoxes highlight the tension between…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2026-04-23 Sumit Mukherjee , Jonte R. Hance

The Wigner's friend thought experiment has gained a resurgence of interest in recent years thanks to no-go theorems that extend it to Bell-like scenarios. One of these, by us and co-workers, showcased the contradiction that arises between…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2023-05-17 Aníbal Utreras-Alarcón , Eric G. Cavalcanti , Howard M. Wiseman

This paper builds on no-go theorems to the effect that quantum theory is inconsistent with observations being absolute; that is, unique and non-relative. Unlike the existing no-go results, the one introduced here is based on a…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2022-09-09 Nick Ormrod , Jonathan Barrett

The relational approach to quantum states asserts that the physical description of quantum systems is always relative to something or someone. In relational quantum mechanics (RQM) it is relative to other quantum systems, in the…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2021-07-09 Časlav Brukner

Theoretical physics has faced many challenges since the advent of quantum mechanics. Recently, Frauchiger and Renner have presented a no-go theorem, which makes quantum mechanics more controversial. However, from our perspective, the…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2023-05-15 Ehsan Erfani Maharati , Mohsen Sarbishaei , Ali Ahanj

In this paper, I attempt a personal account of my understanding of the measurement problem in quantum mechanics, which has been largely in the tradition of the Copenhagen interpretation. I assume that (i) the quantum state is a…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2015-07-21 Caslav Brukner

Exploiting the tension between the two dynamics of quantum theory (QT) in the Wigner's Friend thought experiment, we point out that the standard QT leads to inconsistency in observed probabilities of measurement outcomes between two…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2023-03-07 Shubhayan Sarkar , Debashis Saha

Extended Wigner's friend no-go theorems provide a modern lens for investigating the measurement problem, by making precise the challenges that arise when one attempts to model agents as dynamical quantum systems. Most such no-go theorems…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2025-11-18 Laurens Walleghem , Rafael Wagner , Yìlè Yīng , David Schmid

In 1962, Eugene P. Wigner introduced a thought experiment that highlighted the incompatibility in quantum theory between unitary evolution and wave function reduction in a measurement. This work resulted in a class of thought experiments…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2021-05-19 Vinicius P. Rossi , Diogo O. Soares-Pinto

In the paper "Quantum theory cannot consistently describe the use of itself" by D. Frauchiger and R. Renner an atempt is made at proving a "no-go theorem" that states that either quantum theory cannot be universally applied, even to…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2021-06-15 Antonio Bernal

The Wigner's friend thought experiment was intended to illustrate the difficulty one has in describing an agent as a quantum system when that agent performs a measurement. While it does pose a challenge to the orthodox interpretation of…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2024-09-12 David Schmid , Yìlè Yīng , Matthew Leifer

In a recent no-go theorem [Bong et al, Nature Physics (2020)], we proved that the predictions of unitary quantum mechanics for an extended Wigner's friend scenario are incompatible with any theory satisfying three metaphysical assumptions,…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2021-03-25 Eric G. Cavalcanti

"The unambiguous account of proper quantum phenomena must, in principle, include a description of all relevant features of experimental arrangement" (Bohr). The measurement process is composed of pre-measurement (quantum correlation of the…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2021-04-12 Marek Żukowski , Marcin Markiewicz

A recent paper "Single-world interpretations of quantum theory cannot be self-consistent" [arXiv:1604.07422] by D. Frauchiger and R. Renner has attracted a considerable interest of a broader physics audience and shortly elicited a number of…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2018-09-10 Igor Salom

There has been a surge of recent interest in the Wigner's Friend paradox, sparking several novel thought experiments and no-go theorems. The main narrative has been that Wigner's Friend highlights a counterintuitive feature that is unique…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2025-01-22 Caroline L. Jones , Markus P. Mueller

Wigner's friend paradoxes highlight contradictions between measurements made by Friends inside a laboratory and superobservers outside a laboratory, who have access to an entangled state of the measurement apparatus. The contradictions lead…

The renowned Local Friendliness no-go theorem demonstrates the incompatibility of quantum theory with the combined assumptions of Absoluteness of Observed Events - the idea that observed outcomes are singular and objective - and Local…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2026-05-18 Laurens Walleghem , Lorenzo Catani

Frauchiger and Renner have recently claimed to prove that "Single-world interpretations of quantum theory cannot be self-consistent". This is contradicted by a construction due to Bell, inspired by Bohmian mechanics, which shows that any…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2017-10-24 Anthony Sudbery

The place and role of an Observer in quantum mechanics has been a subject of an ongoing debate since the theory's inception. Wigner brought this question to the fore in a celebrated scenario in which a super-Observer observes a Friend…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2020-09-14 A. Matzkin , D. Sokolovski

Considering a complicated extension of a Wigner's friend scenario, Frauchiger and Renner (FR) allegedly showed that "quantum theory cannot consistently describe the use of itself". However, such a result has been under severe criticism, as…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2020-06-30 R. Muciño , E. Okon