Related papers: Observation and superselection in quantum mechanic…
Quantum estimation theory provides optimal observations for various estimation problems for unknown parameters in the state of the system under investigation. However, the theory has been developed under the assumption that every observable…
The challenge of understanding quantum measurement persists as a fundamental issue in modern physics. Particularly, the abrupt and energy-non-conserving collapse of the wave function appears to contradict classical thermodynamic laws. The…
The question whether quantum measurements reflect some underlying objective reality has no generally accepted answer. We show that description of such reality is possible under natural conditions such as linearity and causality, although in…
We compare different approaches to quantum ontology. In particular, we discuss an interpretation of quantum mechanics that we call objective quantum field theory (OQFT), which involves retrocausal fields. Here, objective implies the…
Measurement quantum mechanics, the theory of a quantum system which undergoes a measurement process, is introduced by a loop of mathematical equivalencies connecting previously proposed approaches. The unique phenomenological parameter of…
This paper addresses the question whether a variant of a modal interpretation is conceivable that could accommodate property ascriptions associated with nonorthogonal resolutions of the unity and nonorthogonal families of relative states as…
A hypothetical formulation of quantum mechanics is presented so as to reconcile it with macro-realism. On the analogy drawn from thermodynamics, an objective description of wave packet reduction is postulated, in which a characteristic…
Quantum mechanics is derived from the principle that the universe contain as much variety as possible, in the sense of maximizing the distinctiveness of each subsystem. The quantum state of a microscopic system is defined to correspond to…
The theory of decoherence attempts to explain the emergent classical behaviour of a quantum system interacting with its quantum environment. In order to formalize this mechanism we introduce the idea that the information preserved in an…
We propose an exercise in which one attempts to deduce the formalism of quantum mechanics solely from phenomenological observations. The only assumed inputs are obtained through sequential probing of quantum systems; no presuppositions…
We reconstruct finite-dimensional quantum theory with superselection rules, which can describe hybrid quantum-classical systems, from four purely operational postulates: symmetric sharpness, complete mixing, filtering, and local equality.…
In quantum mechanics, the Heisenberg uncertainty relation presents an ultimate limit to the precision by which one can predict the outcome of position and momentum measurements on a particle. Heisenberg explicitly stated this relation for…
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…
John Bell once argued that one ought to select, out of the 'observables' of quantum theory, some subset of 'beables' that can be consistently ascribed determinate values. Moreover, this subset should be selected so as to guarantee (among…
Some physicists believe that superselection rules should be implemented to get rid of inconsistencies when a theory is framed in terms of a new mathematical formulation, whilst others think that this new formulation should be modified…
It is well known that the dynamical mechanism of decoherence may cause apparent superselection rules, like that of molecular chirality. These `environment-induced' or `soft' superselection rules may be contrasted with `hard' superselection…
Micro-Macro Duality means here the universal mutual relations between the microscopic quantum world and various macroscopic classical levels, which can be formulated mathematically as categorical adjunctions. It underlies a unified scheme…
The quantum superposition principle has been extensively utilized in the quantum mechanical description of the bonding phenomenon. It explains the emergence of delocalized molecular orbitals and provides a recipe for the construction of…
Quantum mechanics owes much of its extraordinary success to a Hilbertian program of mathematical formalization. Yet, the formalism remains poorly aligned with the practical limitations of computations in finite dimensions and under finite…
In this paper we intend to discuss the importance of providing a physical representation of quantum superpositions which goes beyond the mere reference to mathematical structures and measurement outcomes. This proposal goes in the opposite…