Related papers: The Open Systems View and the Everett Interpretati…
This thesis presents studies performed on open quantum systems, that is, quantum systems interacting with their surrounding environment. Such systems are important not only in understanding the quantum-to-classical transition but also for…
Higher-order quantum theory is an extension of quantum theory where one introduces transformations whose input and output are transformations, thus generalizing the notion of channels and quantum operations. The generalization then goes…
`Shallow' and `deep' versions of scientific realism may be distinguished as follows: the shallow realist is satisfied with belief in the existence of the posits of our best scientific theories; by contrast, deep realists claim that realism…
The mutual conceptual incompatibility between GR and QM/QFT is generally seen as the most essential motivation for the development of a theory of Quantum Gravity (QG). It leads to the insight that, if gravity is a fundamental interaction…
From a general abstract system theoretical perspective, a quantum-like system description in the spirit of a generalized Quantum Theory may appear to be simpler and more natural than a classically inspired description. We investigate the…
Quantum gravity may have as much to tell us about the foundations and interpretation of quantum mechanics as it does about gravity. The Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics and Everett's Relative State Formulation are…
I distinguish two senses in which one can take a given physical theory to be `complete'. On the first, a complete physical theory is one that, in principle, completely describes physical reality. On the second, a complete physical theory is…
In a previous preprint (quant-ph/0012122) we introduced a ``contextual objectivity" formulation of quantum mechanics (QM). A central feature of this approach is to define the quantum state in physical rather than in mathematical terms, in…
We introduce an algebraic framework for interacting quantum systems that enables studying complex phenomena, characterized by the coexistence and competition of various broken symmetry states of matter. The approach unveils the hidden unity…
The relational version of the modal interpretation offers both a consistent quantum ontology and solution for quantum paradoxes within the framework of nonrelativistic quantum mechanics. In the present paper this approach is generalized for…
The relationships between game theory and quantum mechanics let us propose certain quantization relationships through which we could describe and understand not only quantum but also classical, evolutionary and the biological systems that…
The present paper shows how one might model Everettian quantum mechanics using hyperfinitely many worlds. A hyperfinite model allows one to consider idealized measurements of observables with continuous-valued spectra where different…
Quantum information and computation may serve as a source of useful axioms and ideas for the quantum logic/quantum structures project of characterizing and classifying types of physical theories, including quantum mechanics and classical…
The development of quantum information theory has renewed interest in the idea that the state vector does not represent the state of a quantum system, but rather the knowledge or information that we may have on the system. I argue that this…
The best mathematical arguments against a realistic interpretation of quantum mechanics - that gives definite but partially unknown values to all observables - are analysed and shown to be based on reasoning that is not compelling. This…
Motivated by the question what it is that makes quantum mechanics a holistic theory (if so), I try to define for general physical theories what we mean by `holism'. For this purpose I propose an epistemological criterion to decide whether…
Our representation of the Universe is built with sequences of symbols, numbers, operators, rules and undecidable propositions defining our mathematical truths, represented either by classical, quantum and probabilistic Turing Machines…
We present a general formalism for studying the effects of dynamical heterogeneity in open quantum systems. We develop this formalism in the state space of density operators, on which ensembles of quantum states can be conveniently…
I present and defend a new ontology for quantum theories (or ``interpretations'' of quantum theory) called Generative Quantum Theory (GQT). GQT postulates different sets of features, and the combination of these different features can help…
On classical phase spaces admitting just one complex-differentiable structure, there is no indeterminacy in the choice of the creation operators that create quanta out of a given vacuum. In these cases the notion of a quantum is universal,…