Related papers: Hidden human variables in quantum mechanics?
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…
According to our current conception of physics, any valid physical theory is supposed to describe the objective evolution of a unique external world. However, this condition is challenged by quantum theory, which suggests that physical…
The notion of probability plays a crucial role in quantum mechanics. It appears in quantum mechanics as the Born rule. In modern mathematics which describes quantum mechanics, however, probability theory means nothing other than measure…
The Rovelli relational interpretation of quantum mechanics (RQM) is based on the assumption according to which the notion of observer-independent state of a physical system is to be rejected. In RQM the primary target of the theory is the…
Quantum mechanics is a field often considered very mathematical, abstract, and unintuitive. One way some instructors are hoping to help familiarize their students with these complex topics is to have the students see quantum effects in…
Quantum theory is applicable, in principle, to both the microscopic and macroscopic realms. It is therefore worthwhile to investigate whether it is possible to evolve a quantum-compatible view of the properties and states of macroscopic…
This paper is a response to some recent discussions of many-minds interpretations in the philosophical literature. After an introduction to the many-minds idea, the complexity of quantum states for macroscopic objects is stressed. Then it…
Heisenberg's uncertainty principle provides a fundamental limitation on an observer's ability to simultaneously predict the outcome when one of two measurements is performed on a quantum system. However, if the observer has access to a…
It is shown that the supersymmetric quantum mechanics has an octonionic generalization. The generalization is based on the inclusion of quaternions into octonions. The elements from the coset octonions/quaternions are unobservables bacause…
Although a precise description of microscopic physical problems requires a full quantum mechanical treatment, physical quantities are generally discussed in terms of classical variables. One exception is quantum entanglement which…
I flesh out the sense in which the informational approach to interpreting quantum mechanics, as defended by Pitowsky and Bub and lately by a number of other authors, is (neo-)Bohrian. I argue that on this approach, quantum mechanics…
Bell's theorem implies that any completion of quantum mechanics which uses hidden variables (that is, preexisting values of all observables) must be nonlocal in the Einstein sense. This customarily indicates that knowledge of the hidden…
Interpretations of quantum measurement theory have been plagued by two questions, one concerning the role of observer consciousness and the other the entanglement phenomenon arising from the superposition of quantum states. We emphasize…
A remarkable theorem by Clifton, Bub and Halvorson (2003)(CBH) characterizes quantum theory in terms of information--theoretic principles. According to Bub (2004, 2005) the philosophical significance of the theorem is that quantum theory…
I start from the fundamental principles of non-relativistic quantum mechanics, without probability, and interpret them using the notion of coexistence: a quantum state can be read, not uniquely, as a coexistence of other quantum states,…
We propose the assumption of quantum mechanics on a discrete space and time, which implies the modification of mathematical expressions for some postulates of quantum mechanics. In particular we have a Hilbert space where the vectors are…
Founding our analysis on the Geneva-Brussels approach to the foundations of physics, we provide a clarification and classification of the key concept of observation. An entity can be observed with or without a scope. In the second case, the…
The thought experiment called Wigner's Friend has experienced a renewal of interest for interrogating the meaning of intersubjectivity and objectivity in quantum mechanics. These new inquiries extend to investigations at the intersection of…
Many recent results suggest that quantum theory is about information, and that quantum theory is best understood as arising from principles concerning information and information processing. At the same time, by far the simplest version of…
The role of time in quantum mechanics is discussed. The differences between ordinary observables and an observable which corresponds to the time of an event is examined. In particular, the time-of-arrival of a particle to a fixed location…