Related papers: There is No Quantum World
In glaring contrast to its indisputable century-old experimental success, the ultimate objects and meaning of quantum physics remain a matter of vigorous debate among physicists and philosophers of science. This article attempts to shed new…
Difficulties and discomfort with the interpretation of quantum mechanics are due to differences in language between it and classical physics. Analogies to The Special Theory of Relativity, which also required changes in the basic worldview…
The paper reviews and discusses four ideas scattered in previous papers of the author. First, objective properties of quantum systems are not associated with observables but are defined by preparations. Second, measurable results of…
We present a panoramic view on various attempts to "solve" the problems of quantum measurement and macro-objectivation, i.e. of the transition from a probabilistic quantum mechanic microscopic world to a deterministic classical macroscopic…
Quantum mechanics is the most successful theory to describe microscopic phenomena. It was derived in different ways over the past 100 years by Heisenberg, Schr\"{o}dinger, and Feynman. At the same time, other interpretations have been…
We propose a new definition of quantum metric spaces, or W*-metric spaces, in the setting of von Neumann algebras. Our definition effectively reduces to the classical notion in the atomic abelian case, has both concrete and intrinsic…
The article suggests that quantum mechanics is a science of a new type, which refutes the classical metaphysical concept of reality. The notion of a quantum concept is introduced. The possibility of a Wittgensteinian 'dissolution' of the…
It is argued that Niels Bohr ultimately arrived at positivistic and antirealist-flavored statements because of weaknesses in his initial objective of accounting for measurement in physical terms. Bohr's investigative approach faced a…
Recently, the author and Bob Coecke have introduced a categorical formulation of Quantum Mechanics. In the present paper, we shall use it to open up a novel perspective on No-Cloning. What we shall find, quite unexpectedly, is a link to…
By formulating the axioms of quantum mechanics, von Neumann also laid the foundations of a "quantum probability theory". As such, it is regarded a generalization of the "classical probability theory" due to Kolmogorov. Outside of quantum…
We propose a reformulation of quantum mechanics in which the distinction between definite and indefinite becomes the fundamental primitive. Inspired by suggestions of Heisenberg, Schrodinger and Dyson that the past can't be described in…
Since the beginning, quantum mechanics has raised major foundational and interpretative problems. Foundational research has been an important factor in the development of quantum cryptography, quantum information theory and, perhaps one…
Quantum mechanics is a theory that is as effective as it is counterintuitive. While quantum practices operate impeccably, they compel us to embrace enigmatic phenomena like the collapse of the state vector and non-locality, thereby pushing…
Can normal science-in the Kuhnian sense-add something substantial to the discussion about the measurement problem? Does an extended Wigner's-friend Gedankenexperiment illustrate new issues? Or a new quality of known issues? Are we led to…
Richard Feynman famously declared, "I think that I can safely say that nobody really understands quantum mechanics." Sean Carroll lamented the persistence of this sentiment in a recent opinion piece entitled, "Even Physicists Don't…
We discuss an article by Steven Weinberg expressing his discontent with the usual ways to understand quantum mechanics. We examine the two solutions that he considers and criticizes and propose another one, which he does not discuss, the…
Some notes about quantum physics, an interpretation if one wishes, are put forward, insisting on `closely following the mathematics/formalism, the `nuts and bolts of what quantum physics says'. These, basically well-known, issues seem to…
The development of quantum measurement theory, initiated by von Neumann, only indicated a possibility for resolution of the interpretational crisis of quantum mechanics. We do this by divorcing the algebra of the dynamical generators and…
This paper assesses the Everettian approach to the measurement problem, especially the version of that approach advocated by Simon Saunders and David Wallace. I emphasise conceptual, indeed metaphysical, aspects rather than technical ones;…
The "measurement problem" of quantum mechanics, and the "hard problem" of cognitive science are the most profound open problems of the two research fields, and certainly among the deepest of all unsettled conundrums in contemporary science…