Related papers: Are observers reducible to structures?
In this article we argue that in quantum mechanics, and in opposition to classical physics, it is impossible to say that an isolated quantum system "owns" a physical property. Some properties of the system, its mass for example, belong to…
We argue that (1) our perception of time through change and (2) the gap between reality and our observation of it are at the heart of both quantum mechanics and the dynamical mechanism of physical systems. We suggest that the origin of…
The standard presentation of the principles of quantum mechanics is critically reviewed both from the experimental/operational point and with respect to the request of mathematical consistency and logical economy. A simpler and more…
It has long been recognized as a difficult problem to determine whether the observed statistical correlation between two classical variables arise from causality or from common causes. Recent research has shown that in quantum theoretical…
The kind of information provided by a measurement is determined in terms of the correlation established between observables of the apparatus and the measured system. Using the framework of quantum measurement theory, necessary and…
The Kuchar observables notion is shown to apply only to a limited range of theories. Relational mechanics, slightly inhomogeneous cosmology and supergravity are used as examples that require further notions of observables. A suitably…
This paper develops an agent-centric account of measurement that treats the preferred-basis problem is fundamentally perspectival. On this view, the system--apparatus--environment decomposition and the observables that are apt to become…
Relational quantum mechanics (RQM) is an interpretation of quantum mechanics based on the idea that quantum states describe not an absolute property of a system but rather a relationship between systems. In this article, we observe that…
We survey work on the paradigm called "computing by observing." Its central feature is that one considers the behavior of an evolving system as the result of a computation. To this end an observer records this behavior. It has turned out…
Many observers can simultaneously measure different parts of an environment of a quantum system in order to find out its state. To study this problem we generalize the formalism of conditional master equations to the multiple observer case.…
We generalize the concept of a field by allowing addition to be a partial operation. We show that elements of such a "partially additive field" share many similarities with physical quantities. In particular, they form subsets of mutually…
It is shown that two observers have mutually commuting observables if they are able to prepare in each subsector of their common state space some state exhibiting no mutual correlations. This result establishes a heretofore missing link…
From general relativity we have learned the principles of general covariance and local Lorentz invariance, which follow from the fact that we consider observables as tensors on a spacetime manifold whose geometry is modeled by a Lorentzian…
Physical foundations for relativistic spacetimes are revisited, in order to check at what extent Finsler spacetimes lie in their framework. Arguments based on inertial observers (as in the foundations of Special Relativity and Classical…
Quantum theory's irreducible empirical core is a probability calculus. While it presupposes the events to which (and on the basis of which) it serves to assign probabilities, and therefore cannot account for their occurrence, it has to be…
We examine the role of a conscious observer in a typical quantum mechanical measurement. Four rules are given that govern stochastic choice and state reduction in several cases of continuous and intermittent observation. It is found that…
How do symmetries induce natural and useful quantum structures? This question is investigated in the context of models of three interacting particles in one-dimension. Such models display a wide spectrum of possibilities for dynamical…
Recently, it has been argued [arXiv:1111.6597, arXiv:1005.5173] that different quantum states do necessarily correspond to different elements of reality, under the assumption that quantum mechanics is correct and that measurement settings…
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…
The program of a physical concept of information is outlined in the framework of quantum theory. A proposal is made for how to avoid the introduction of axiomatic observables. The conventional (collapse) and the Everett interpretations of…