Related papers: How Real are Quantum States in $\psi$-ontic Models…
Reality of quantum observables, a feature of long-standing interest within foundations of quantum mechanics, has recently been quantified and deeply studied by means of entropic measures [Phys. Rev. A 97, 022107 (2018)]. However, there is…
Experimentally observed violations of Bell inequalities rule out local realistic theories. Consequently, the quantum state vector becomes a strong candidate for providing an objective picture of reality. However, such an ontological view of…
A model of reality is called separable if the state of a composite system is equal to the union of the states of its parts, located in different regions of space. Spekkens has argued that it is trivial to reproduce the predictions of…
Following the argument of Pusey, Barrett and Rudolph (Nature Phys. 8:476, 2012), new interest has been raised on whether one can interpret state-vectors (pure states) in a statistical way ($\psi$-epistemic theories), or if each of them…
A formulation of quantum mechanics, which begins by postulating assertions for individual physical systems, is given. The statistical predictions of quantum mechanics for infinite ensembles are then derived from its assertions for…
Physical interpretations of the time-symmetric formulation of quantum mechanics, due to Aharonov, Bergmann, and Lebowitz are discussed in terms of weak values. The most direct, yet somewhat naive, interpretation uses the time-symmetric…
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…
In a recent paper [Carcassi, Oldofredi and Aidala, Found Phys 54, 14 (2024)] it is claimed that the whole Harrigan--Spekkens framework of ontological models is inconsistent with quantum theory. They show this by showing that all pure…
The implications of the physical theory of quantum mechanics on the question of realism is much a subject of sustaining interest, while the background questions among physicists on how to think about all the theoretical notion and…
There is a direct correspondence between two-particle, entangled quantum states, for example, Bell states, and the relative values of the component one-particle states. This leads to a new rationale for quantum computing which makes use of…
The definition of 'classical state', and how it was used in earlier work to prove a decomposition theorem internally in the language of State Property Systems, presupposes as an additional datum an orthocomplementation on the property…
Quantum theory is a tremendously successful physical theory, but nevertheless suffers from two serious problems: the measurement problem and the problem of interpretational underdetermination. The latter, however, is largely overlooked as a…
It is an ongoing quest to realize topologically ordered quantum states on different platforms including condensed matter systems, quantum simulators and digital quantum processors. Unlike conventional states characterized by their local…
Realism -- the idea that the concepts in physical theories refer to 'things' existing in the real world -- is introduced as a tool to analyze the status of the wave-function. Although the physical entities are recognized by the existence of…
Our notions of what is physically 'real' have long been based on the idea that the real is what is immediately apprehended, that is the local or observable, the physically tangible, though there has always been an alternative philosophical…
A quantum system's state is identified with a density matrix. Though their probabilistic interpretation is rooted in ensemble theory, density matrices embody a known shortcoming. They do not completely express an ensemble's physical…
Quantum theory provides an extremely accurate description of fundamental processes in physics. It thus seems likely that the theory is applicable beyond the, mostly microscopic, domain in which it has been tested experimentally. Here we…
From the perspective of quantum information theory, a system so simple as one restricted to just two nonorthogonal states can be surprisingly rich in physics. In this paper, we explore the extent of this statement through a review of three…
A qualification is suggested for the counterfactual reasoning involved in some aspects of time-symmetric quantum theory (which involves ensembles selected by both the initial and final states). The qualification is that the counterfactual…
We consider finite macroscopic systems, i.e., systems of large but finite degrees of freedom, which we believe are poorly understood as compared with small systems and infinite systems. We focus on pure states that do not have the `cluster…