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One of quantum theory's salient features is its apparent indeterminism, i.e. measurement outcomes are typically probabilistic. We formally define and address whether this uncertainty is unavoidable or whether post-quantum theories can offer…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2024-11-15 Johannes Fankhauser

It is often argued that bottom-up causation under a physicalist, reductionist worldview precludes free will in the libertarian sense. On the one hand, the paradigm of classical mechanics makes determinism inescapable, while on the other,…

Neurons and Cognition · Quantitative Biology 2016-10-11 Salvador Malo

A quantum theory of the universe consists of a theory of its quantum dynamics and a theory of its quantum state The theory predicts quantum multiverses in the form of decoherent sets of alternative histories describing the evolution of the…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2018-01-29 James B. Hartle

We present the foundations of a new emerging interpretation of quantum theory bearing wide-range implications. Physical basis of the interpretation is non-questionable yet relatively new--it relies on the different structures…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2012-12-13 M. Dugic , D. Rakovic , J. Jeknic-Dugic , M. Arsenijevic

General relativity treats spacetime as dynamical and exhibits its breakdown at singularities. This failure is interpreted as evidence that quantum gravity is not a theory formulated within spacetime; instead, it must explain the very…

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology · Physics 2025-08-01 Mir Faizal , Lawrence M. Krauss , Arshid Shabir , Francesco Marino

In a recent paper [1], it has been claimed that the outcomes of a quantum coin toss which is idealized as an infinite binary sequence is 1-random. We also defend the correctness of this claim and assert that the outcomes of quantum…

General Physics · Physics 2021-06-16 İnanç Şahin

This paper examines whether unitary evolution alone is sufficient to explain emergence of the classical world from the perspective of computability theory. Specifically, it looks at the problem of how the choice related to the measurement…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2014-10-27 Subhash Kak

In order to relate the probabilistic predictions of quantum theory uniquely to measurement results, one has to conceive of an ensemble of identically prepared copies of the quantum system under study. Since the universe is the total domain…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2007-05-23 Helmut Fink , Hajo Leschke

The most striking observable feature of our indeterministic quantum universe is the wide range of time, place, and scale on which the deterministic laws of classical physics hold to an excellent approximation. This essay describes how this…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2011-05-23 James B. Hartle

It has been suggested, on the one hand, that quantum states are just states of knowledge; and, on the other, that quantum theory is merely a theory of correlations. These suggestions are confronted with problems about the nature of…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2007-05-23 Matthew J. Donald

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…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2018-10-08 Daniela Frauchiger , Renato Renner

Three recent arguments seek to show that the universal applicability of unitary quantum theory is inconsistent with the assumption that a well-conducted measurement always has a definite physical outcome. In this paper I restate and analyze…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2018-10-17 Richard A. Healey

In this PhD thesis the ancient question of determinism ('Does every event have a cause ?') will be re-examined. In the philosophy of science and physics communities the orthodox position states that the physical world is indeterministic:…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2014-03-04 Louis Vervoort

A variety of physical unknowables are discussed. Provable lack of physical omniscience, omnipredictability and omnipotence is derived by reduction to problems which are known to be recursively unsolvable. "Chaotic" symbolic dynamical…

General Physics · Physics 2011-07-22 Karl Svozil

In light of G\"{o}del's undecidability results (incomplete theorems) for math, quantum indeterminism indicates that physics and the Universe may be indeterministic, incomplete, and open in nature, and therefore demand no single unification…

General Physics · Physics 2020-03-11 Wanpeng Tan

Although various limits on the predicability of physical phenomena as well as on physical knowables are commonly established and accepted, we challenge their ultimate validity. More precisely, we claim that fundamental limits arise only…

History and Philosophy of Physics · Physics 2012-12-10 Cristian S. Calude , Karl Svozil

Many have proposed that free will would use quantum indeterminism. Strict adherence to the Born rule, which follows from the no-signal condition, seems to block this possibility. I propose here that if state collapse really does occur then…

History and Philosophy of Physics · Physics 2012-02-10 George Svetlichny

The problem of defining and locating free will (FW) in physics is studied. On basis of logical paradoxes, we argue that FW has a meta-theoretic character, like the concept of truth in Tarski's undefinability theorem. Free will exists…

History and Philosophy of Physics · Physics 2014-01-09 Chetan S. Mandayam Nayakar , R. Srikanth

Most physics theories are deterministic, with the notable exception of quantum mechanics which, however, comes plagued by the so-called measurement problem. This state of affairs might well be due to the inability of standard mathematics to…

History and Philosophy of Physics · Physics 2021-11-04 Nicolas Gisin

Discussions on indeterminism in physics focus on the possibility of an open future, i.e. the possibility of having potential alternative future events, the realisation of one of which is not fully determined by the present state of affairs.…

History and Philosophy of Physics · Physics 2023-02-21 Flavio Del Santo , Nicolas Gisin