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What is the observer's role in quantum measurement? Obviously, observers prepare the apparatus, observe and interpret the measured results. Although the observer will have a certain influence on the measurement results by setting up the…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2022-11-01 Lizhi Xin , Houwen Xin

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

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…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2021-05-18 Philippe Allard Guérin , Veronika Baumann , Flavio Del Santo , Časlav Brukner

The decoherence interpretation of quantum measurements is applied to Wigner's friend experiments. A framework in which all the experimental outcomes arise from unitary evolutions is proposed. Within it, a measurement is not completed until…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2020-03-25 Armando Relaño

The Wigner's Friend (WF) thought experiment concerns quantum measurements by a 'superobserver' of an observer measuring a quantum system. Variations on the setup and its extended versions have seen a resurgence in recent years, in light of…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2025-07-30 Tom Rivlin , Sophie Engineer , Veronika Baumann

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…

In his famous thought experiment, Wigner assigns an entangled state to the composite quantum system made up of Wigner's friend and her observed system. While the two of them have different accounts of the process, each Wigner and his friend…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2018-06-05 Caslav Brukner

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

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

The notion of measurements is central for many debates in quantum mechanics. One critical point is whether a measurement can be regarded as an absolute event, giving the same result for any observer in an irreversible manner. Using ideas…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2023-02-20 Zhen-Peng Xu , Jonathan Steinberg , H. Chau Nguyen , Otfried Gühne

In a joint paper Jeff Bub and Itamar Pitowski argued that the quantum state represents `the credence function of a rational agent [...] who is updating probabilities on the basis of events that occur'. In the famous thought experiment…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2019-02-01 Veronika Baumann , Časlav Brukner

Quantum mechanics started out as a theory to describe the smallest scales of energy in Nature. After a hundred years of development it is now routinely employed to describe, among others, quantum computers with thousands of qubits. This…

In the famous thought experiment known as Wigner's friend, Wigner assigns an entangled state to the composite quantum system consisting of his friend and her observed system. In the context of this thought experiment, Brukner recently…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2019-04-30 Ian T. Durham

Since its inception, quantum theory has been the subject of fierce interpretive controversy, which persists to this day. Disputed topics include the basic ontology and dynamics of the theory, the role (if any) of measurement, the meaning of…

History and Philosophy of Physics · Physics 2025-12-30 Tim Maudlin

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…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2024-04-09 Alexandru Baltag , Sonja Smets

The concept of {\em complexity} (as a quantity) has been plagued by numerous contradictory and confusing definitions. By explicitly recognising a role for the observer of a system, an observer that attaches meaning to data about the system,…

Popular Physics · Physics 2016-09-08 Russell K. Standish

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

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

Interpretations of quantum theory have traditionally assumed a "Galilean" observer, a bare "point of view" implemented physically by a quantum system. This paper investigates the consequences of replacing such an…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2012-02-21 Chris Fields

Wigner's friend is commonly invoked in discussion of quantum mechanics and its interpretation.. but who is the friend really? The publishing context of Wigner's article is not widely appreciated. A recent paper by Ballentine is relevant.

History and Philosophy of Physics · Physics 2019-09-09 Raymond S. Mackintosh