Related papers: The wavefunction as a true ensemble
An extension of the Born rule, the {\it quantum typicality rule}, has recently been proposed [B. Galvan: Found. Phys. 37, 1540-1562 (2007)]. Roughly speaking, this rule states that if the wave function of a particle is split into…
The wave-particle duality dates back to Einstein's explanation of the photoelectric effect through quanta of light and de Broglie's hypothesis of matter waves. Quantum mechanics uses an abstract description for the behavior of physical…
The most puzzling issue in the foundations of quantum mechanics is perhaps that of the status of the wave function of a system in a quantum universe. Is the wave function objective or subjective? Does it represent the physical state of the…
It is shown that Quantum Mechanics is ambiguous when predicting relative frequencies for an entangled system if the measurements of both subsystems are performed in spatially separated events. This ambiguity gives way to unphysical…
Descriptions of molecular systems usually refer to two distinct theoretical frameworks. On the one hand the quantum pure state, i.e. the wavefunction, of an isolated system which is determined to calculate molecular properties and to…
Wavefunction collapse is usually seen as a discontinuous violation of the unitary evolution of a quantum system, caused by the observation. Moreover, the collapse appears to be nonlocal in a sense which seems at odds with General…
The meaning of the wave function of the Universe was actively discussed in 1980s. In most works on quantum cosmology it is accepted that the wave function is a probability amplitude for the Universe to have some space geometry, or to be…
The apparent random outcome of a quantum measurement is conjectured to be fundamentally determined by the microscopic state of the macroscopic measurement apparatus. The apparatus state thus plays the role of a hidden variable which, in…
We discuss the definition of quantum probability in the context of "timeless" general--relativistic quantum mechanics. In particular, we study the probability of sequences of events, or multi-event probability. In conventional quantum…
Throughout quantum mechanics there is statistical balance, in the collective response of an ensemble of systems to differing measurement types. Statistical balance is a core feature of quantum mechanics, underlying quantum mechanical…
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…
Consider a statistical model with an epistemic restriction such that, unlike in classical mechanics, the allowed distribution of positions is fundamentally restricted by the form of an underlying momentum field. Assume an agent (observer)…
I review arguments demonstrating how the concept of "particle" numbers arises in the form of equidistant energy eigenvalues of coupled harmonic oscillators representing free fields. Their quantum numbers (numbers of nodes of the wave…
The so-called quantum measurement problems are solved from a new perspective. One of the main observations is that the basic entities of our world are {\it particles}, elementary or composite. It follows that each elementary process, hence…
Hidden-variable models aim to reproduce the results of quantum theory and to satisfy our classical intuition. Their refutation is usually based on deriving predictions that are different from those of quantum mechanics. Here instead we…
By slight modifying of the delayed-choice experiment, it is argued that the quantum wave function must be interpreted as real physical entity; With this interpretation in mind, multiple least action paths due to uncertainty leads us to new…
Maintaining the position that the wave function $\psi$ provides a complete description of state, the traditional formalism of quantum mechanics is augmented by introducing continuous trajectories for particles which are sample paths of a…
The properties which give quantum mechanics its unique character - unitarity, complementarity, non-commutativity, uncertainty, nonlocality - derive from the algebraic structure of Hermitian operators acting on the wavefunction in complex…
A century on from the development of quantum theory, the interpretation of a quantum state is still discussed. If a physicist claims to have produced a system with a particular wave function, does this represent directly a physical wave of…
Is the wave function a physical reality traveling through our apparatus? Is it a real wave, or it is only a mathematical tool for calculating probabilities of results of measurements? Different interpretations of the quantum mechanics (QM)…