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Predictions of quantum theory have been confirmed experimentally in the microscopic domain with no known exceptions. This success motivates physicists to assume universal validity of the theory. To put the predictions of the quantum theory…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2019-04-17 Jindřich Krčmář

Recent no-go theorems on interpretations of quantum theory featuring an assumption of `Absoluteness of Observed Events' (AOE) are shown to have an unexpectedly strong corollary: one cannot reject AOE and at the same time assume that the…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2024-09-27 Jacques L. Pienaar

An experiment by Proietti {\it et al} purporting to instantiate the `Wigner's Friend' thought experiment is discussed. It is pointed out that the stated implications of the experiment regarding the alleged irreconcilability of facts…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2023-03-30 R. E. Kastner

In April 2016, Daniela Frauchiger and Renato Renner published an article online in which they introduce a Gedankenexperiment that led them to conclude that single-world interpretation of quantum theory cannot be self-consistent. In a new…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2019-04-17 Sebastian Fortin , Olimpia Lombardi

Facts happen at every interaction, but they are not absolute: they are relative to the systems involved in the interaction. Stable facts are those whose relativity can effectively be ignored. In this work, we describe how stable facts…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2021-03-02 Andrea Di Biagio , Carlo Rovelli

Quantum theory in its conventional formulation is notoriously subject to various measurement-related paradoxes, as exemplified by the "Schrodinger's Cat" and "Wigner's Friend" thought experiments. It has been shown, for example by…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2024-10-04 R. E. Kastner

Relational Quantum Mechanics (RQM) treats quantum states as observer-dependent facts rather than absolute properties. While this relational stance is conceptually attractive, it raises concerns about empirical confirmation, particularly in…

History and Philosophy of Physics · Physics 2026-03-05 Bethany Terris

Wigner's thought experiment illustrates quantum theory's measurement problem by considering an observer who measures a quantum system inside a sealed lab, modeled unitarily by an outsider. Recent extensions of this thought experiment,…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2026-05-15 Laurens Walleghem

It is commonly thought that observers in distinct branches of an Everettian multiverse cannot communicate without violating the linearity of quantum theory. Here we show a counterexample, demonstrating that inter-branch communication is in…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2026-04-28 Maria Violaris

We argue that Wigner's friend thought experiment does not support observer dependence of quantum states. An analysis in terms of history vectors suggests that quantum collapse is to be understood as collapse of histories rather than…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2021-06-09 Leonardo Castellani

It is shown that the absence of an objective existence of the results of quantum measurements cannot be proved by known experiments. There are also general arguments confirming this conclusion.

Quantum Physics · Physics 2019-05-28 Alexander Belinsky

Recent extended formulations of the Wigner's friend thought experiment throw the measurement problem of quantum mechanics into sharper relief. Here I respond to an invitation by Renner to provide a consistent and concrete set of rules for…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2021-07-07 Joseph M. Renes

It is commonly expected that quantum theory is universal, in that it describes the world at all scales. Yet, quantum effects at the macroscopic scale continue to elude our experimental observation. This fact is commonly attributed to…

The famous Wigner's friend experiment considers an observer -- the friend -- and a superobserver -- Wigner -- who treats the friend as a quantum system and her interaction with other quantum systems as unitary dynamics. This is at odds with…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2023-10-10 Veronika Baumann

A recent paper by two of us and co-workers, based on an extended Wigner's friend scenario, demonstrated that certain empirical correlations predicted by quantum theory (QT) violate inequalities derived from a set of metaphysical assumptions…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2023-09-20 Howard M. Wiseman , Eric G. Cavalcanti , Eleanor G. Rieffel

In a recent paper, \.Zukowski and Markiewicz showed that Wigner's Friend (and, by extension, Schr\"odinger's Cat) can be eliminated as physical possibilities on purely logical grounds. I validate this result and demonstrate the source of…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2022-02-16 Andrew Knight

We discuss the status of relative facts - the central concept of Relational Quantum Mechanics (RQM) - in the context of the new amendment to RQM called cross-perspective links postulate. The new axiom states that by a proper measurement one…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2024-01-04 Marcin Markiewicz , Marek Żukowski

This is an analysis of the recently published article `Quantum theory cannot consistently describe the use of itself' by D. Frauchiger and R. Renner~\cite{1}. Here I decipher the paradox and analyze it from the point of view of de…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2018-12-13 Aurélien Drezet

Wigner-friend scenarios -- in which external agents describe a closed laboratory containing a friend making a measurement -- highlight the difficulties inherent to quantum theory when accounting for measurements. In non-relativistic…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2024-09-13 J. Allam , A. Matzkin

The original Wigner's friend paradox is a gedankenexperiment involving an observer described by an external agent. The paradox highlights the tension between unitary evolution and collapse in quantum theory, and is sometimes taken as…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2021-10-22 Matteo Lostaglio , Joseph Bowles