Related papers: Is the Past Determined?
The double-slit experiment strikingly demonstrates the wave-particle duality of quantum objects. In this famous experiment, particles pass one-by-one through a pair of slits and are detected on a distant screen. A distinct wave-like pattern…
The recent criticism of Vaidman's propsal for the analysis of the past of a particle in the nested interferometer is refuted. It is shown that the definition of the past of the particle adopted by Englert et al. [Phys. Rev. A 96, 022126…
The modeling of natural phenomena via a Markov process --- a process for which the future is independent of the past, given the present--- is ubiquitous in many fields of science. Within this context, it is of foremost importance to develop…
Determinism is (roughly) the thesis that the past determines the future. But efforts to define it precisely have exposed deep methodological disagreements. Standard possible-worlds formulations of determinism presuppose an "agreement"…
Five objections to the conventional arguments underlying the EPR \enquote{paradox} are presented. It is shown that for entangled subsystems the formation of the post-measurement state necessarily involves local interactions affecting both…
Physical systems are usually assumed to evolve relative to an external time parameter, which is problematic because in quantum theory that parameter is not a physical observable. Page & Wootters (1984) solved this by proposing that the…
Organisms and ecological groups accumulate evidence to make decisions. Classic experiments and theoretical studies have explored this process when the correct choice is fixed during each trial. However, we live in a constantly changing…
We demonstrate in this paper that the probabilities for sequential measurements have features very different from those of single-time measurements. First, they cannot be modelled by a classical stochastic process. Second, they are…
In the Jaynes-Cummings model a two-level atom interacts with a single-mode electromagnetic field. Quantum mechanics predicts collapses and revivals in the probability that a measurement will show the atom to be excited at various times…
A canonical formalism and constraint analysis for discrete systems subject to a variational action principle are devised. The formalism is equivalent to the covariant formulation, encompasses global and local discrete time evolution moves…
Picture an experimental scenario where a closed quantum system, evolving through a time-independent Hamiltonian, is subject to a demolition measurement at a chosen time. The Hamiltonian, the measured observables, the initial state of the…
Quantum mechanics marks a radical departure from the classical understanding of Nature, fostering an inherent randomness which forbids a deterministic description; yet the most fundamental departure arises from something different. As shown…
It is demonstrated that 'quantum eraser' (QE) experiments do not erase any information. Nor do they demonstrate retrocausation or 'temporal nonlocality' in their 'delayed choice' form, beyond standard EPR correlations. It is shown that the…
It is demonstrated that the measured spatial separation of two objects, at rest in some inertial frame, is invariant under space-time transformations. This result holds in both Galilean and Special Relativity. A corollary is that there are…
In quantum gravity there is no notion of absolute time. Like all other quantities in the theory, the notion of time has to be introduced "relationally", by studying the behavior of some physical quantities in terms of others chosen as a…
Young's double-slit experiment requires two waves produced simultaneously at two different points in space. In quantum mechanics the waves correspond to a single quantum object, even as complex as a big molecule. An interference is present…
Certain intriguing consequences of the discreteness of time on the time evolution of dynamical systems are discussed. In the discrete-time classical mechanics proposed here, there is an {\it arrow of time} that follows from the fact that…
The interaction of an open system $\s$ with a pre- and post-selected environment is studied. In general, under such circumstances $\s$ can not be described in terms of a density matrix, {\it even when $\s$ in not post-selected}. However, a…
The study of causal relations has recently been applied to the quantum realm, leading to the discovery that not all physical processes have a definite causal structure. While indefinite causal processes have previously been experimentally…
It is notorious that quantum mechanics cannot predict well-defined values for all physical quantities. Less well-known, however, is the fact that quantum mechanics is unable to furnish -- without additional assumptions -- probabilistic…