Related papers: Sources of Predictability
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…
In this paper two hypotheses are developed. The first hypothesis is the existence of random phenomena/experiments in which the events cannot generally be assigned a definite probability but that nevertheless admit a class of nearly certain…
Quantum theory (QT) has been confirmed by numerous experiments, yet we still cannot fully grasp the meaning of the theory. As a consequence, the quantum world appears to us paradoxical. Here we shed new light on QT by being based on two…
In the Bayesian approach to probability theory, probability quantifies a degree of belief for a single trial, without any a priori connection to limiting frequencies. In this paper we show that, despite being prescribed by a fundamental…
This introductory text on the basics of quantum mechanics is intended to serve as a kind of travel guide through the quantum world. It starts by asking whether quantum physics is important, or weird, or incomprehensible. It explains why…
Quantum correlations can be naturally formulated in a classical statistical system of infinitely many degrees of freedom. This realizes the underlying non-commutative structure in a classical statistical setting. We argue that the quantum…
Some of the assumptions of cosmology, as based on the simplest version of General Relativity, are discussed. It is argued that by slight modifications of standard gravitation theory, our notion of the sources of gravity {the right hand side…
This paper provides a thorough introduction to the causal set hypothesis aimed at students, and other interested persons, with some knowledge of general relativity and nonrelativistic quantum mechanics. I elucidate the arguments for why the…
The history of general relativity suggests that in absence of experimental data, constructing a theory on philosophical first principles can lead to a very useful theory as well as to ground-breaking insights about physical reality. The two…
This is the logical foundation for for Relativity Theory, Probability Theory, and for Quantum Theory. Contents is the following: 1 Introduction. 2 Classical logic. 3 Time and space. 3.1 Recorders. 3.2 Time. 3.3 Space. 3.4 Relativity. 4.…
Quantum and classical mechanics are derived using four natural physical principles: (1) the laws of nature are invariant under time evolution, (2) the laws of nature are invariant under tensor composition, (3) the laws of nature are…
We develop a general, non-probabilistic model of prediction which is suitable for assessing the (un)predictability of individual physical events. We use this model to provide, for the first time, a rigorous proof of the unpredictability of…
Influence theory is a foundational theory of physics that is not based on traditional empirically defined concepts, such as positions in space and time, mass, energy, or momentum. Instead, the aim is to derive these concepts, and their…
In statistical inference, uncertainty is unknown and all models are wrong. That is to say, a person who makes a statistical model and a prior distribution is simultaneously aware that both are fictional candidates. To study such cases,…
Old and new puzzles of cosmology are reexamined from the point of view of quantum theory of the universe developed here. It is shown that in proposed approach the difficulties of the standard cosmology do not arise. The theory predicts the…
To unite quantum theory and general relativity, in a new access it is shown that from a theory of an abstract quantum information - called Protyposis - the theory of general relativity can be deduced by means of few and physically good…
Quantum field theory (QFT) in classical spacetime has revealed interesting and puzzling aspects about gravitational systems, in particular black hole thermodynamics and its information processing. Although quantum gravitational effects may…
In a recent paper (quant-ph/9906015), Deutsch claims to derive the "probabilistic predictions of quantum theory" from the "non-probabilistic axioms of quantum theory" and the "non-probabilistic part of classical decision theory." We show…
The problem of measurement in quantum mechanics is reanalyzed within a general, strictly probabilistic framework (without reduction postulate). Based on a novel comprehensive definition of measurement the natural emergence of objective…
What is the quantum state of the universe? That is the central question of quantum cosmology. This essay describes the place of that quantum state in a final theory governing the regularities exhibited universally by all physical systems in…