Related papers: Multi-agent paradoxes beyond quantum theory
The Frauchiger--Renner paradox derives an inconsistency when quantum theory is used to describe the use of itself, by means of a scenario where agents model other agents quantumly and reason about each other's knowledge. We observe that…
Wigner's Friend scenarios push the boundaries of quantum theory by modeling agents, along with their memories storing measurement outcomes, as physical quantum systems. Extending these ideas beyond quantum theory, we ask: in which physical…
The Frauchiger-Renner argument purports to show that the standard framework of quantum mechanics yields a contradiction when used to reason about systems containing agents who are themselves using quantum mechanics to perform deductions.…
We take a fresh look at Wigner's Friend thought-experiment and some of its more recent variants and extensions, such as the Frauchiger-Renner (FR) Paradox. We discuss various solutions proposed in the literature, focusing on a few…
The Frauchiger-Renner argument aims to show that `quantum theory cannot consistently describe the use of itself': in many-party settings where agents are themselves subject to quantum experiments, agents may make predictions that contradict…
Following Frauchiger and Renner's discovery of a conflict between quantum mechanics and certain commonsense reasoning axioms, much work has gone into finding alternative axiomatizations that can avoid the conflict. However, this body of…
We test the principles of classical modal logic in fully quantum settings. Modal logic models our reasoning in multi-agent problems, and allows us to solve puzzles like the muddy children paradox. The Frauchiger-Renner thought experiment…
A recent no-go theorem (Frauchiger and Renner, 2018) establishes a contradiction from a specific application of quantum theory to a multi-agent setting. The proof of this theorem relies heavily on notions such as 'knows' or `is certain…
Quantum mechanics is one of our most successful physical theories; its predictions agree with experimental observations to an extremely high accuracy. However, the bare formalism of quantum theory does not provide straightforward answers to…
The Frauchiger-Renner Paradox is an extension of paradoxes based on the 'Problem of Measurement,' such as Schrodinger's Cat and Wigner's Friend. All of these paradoxes stem from assuming that quantum theory has only unitary (linear)…
In a recent result, Frauchiger and Renner argue that if quantum theory accurately describes complex systems like observers who perform measurements, then "we are forced to give up the view that there is one single reality." Following a…
We present an analysis of the Frauchiger-Renner Gedankenexperiment from the point of view of the relational interpretation of quantum mechanics. Our analysis shows that the paradox obtained by Frauchiger and Renner disappears if one rejects…
The Wigner's friend paradox concerns one of the most puzzling problems of quantum mechanics: the consistent description of multiple nested observers. Recently, a variation of Wigner's gedankenexperiment, introduced by Frauchiger and Renner,…
This is a short text covering some topics on the Foundations of Quantum Theory and it includes some comments on the recent Nature article by D. Frauchiger and R. Renner. The so-called "paradox" is simply due to a misunderstanding on the…
Quantum mechanics has been subject to logical scrutiny since its inception. The behavior of quantum systems, which are fundamentally dissimilar from classical systems, often appears to point to a logical inconsistency in quantum mechanics,…
Multi-agent scenarios, like Wigner's friend and Frauchiger-Renner scenarios, can show contradictory results when a non-classical formalism must deal with the knowledge between agents. Such paradoxes are described with multi-modal logic as…
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…
This note is a critical examination of the argument of Frauchiger and Renner (Nature Communications 9:3711 (2018)), in which they claim to show that three reasonable assumptions about the use of quantum mechanics jointly lead to a…
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…
In a publication (Nature Comm. 3711, 9 (2018)), Daniela Frauchiger and Renato Renner used a Wigner/friend gedanken experiment to argue that quantum mechanics cannot describe complex systems involving measuring agents. They were able to…