Related papers: Negative Observations in Quantum Mechanics
We discuss the distinction between the notion of partial observable and the notion of complete observable. Mixing up the two is frequently a source of confusion. The distinction bears on several issues related to observability, such as (i)…
By imposing system-observer symmetry on the von Neumann description of measurement, it is shown that the quantum measurement problem is structurally equivalent to a familiar reverse-engineering problem: that of describing the behavior of an…
I present a simple variant of the Schr\"odinger cat meets Wigner's friend thought experiment. If you are shocked by it, you have not understood quantum physics (no words are missing from this sentence).
Quantum electrodynamics under conditions of distinguishability of interacting matter entities, and of controlled actions and back-actions between them, is considered. Such "mesoscopic quantum electrodynamics" is shown to share its dynamical…
Our everyday experiences support the hypothesis that physical systems exist independently of the act of observation. Concordant theories are characterized by the objective realism assumption whereby the act of measurement simply reveals…
Universality of quantum mechanics -- its applicability to physical systems of quite different nature and scales -- indicates that quantum behavior can be a manifestation of general mathematical properties of systems containing…
Interpretations of quantum theory have traditionally assumed a "Galilean" observer, a bare "point of view" implemented physically by a quantum system. This paper investigates the consequences of replacing such an…
From its very beginning quantum theory has been revealing extraordinary and counter-intuitive phenomena, such as wave-particle duality, Schr\"odinger cats and quantum non-locality. In the study of quantum measurement, a process involving…
This paper proposes an experiment designed to distinguish between competing interpretations of quantum mechanics: those that involve wave function collapse and those that assume purely unitary evolution. The experiment tests whether an…
Considering the recently established arbitrariness the Schroedinger equation has to be interpreted as an equation of motion for a statistical ensemble of particles. The statistical qualities of individual particles derive from the unknown…
In this work we attempt to confront the orthodox widespread claim present in the foundational literature of Quantum Mechanics (QM) according to which 'superpositions are never actually observed in the lab'. In order to do so, we begin by…
I review basic principles of the quantum mechanical measurement process in view of their implications for a quantum theory of general relativity. It turns out that a clock as an external classical device associated with the observer plays…
We study the response of switched particle detectors to static negative energy densities and negative energy fluxes. It is demonstrated how the switching leads to excitation even in the vacuum and how negative energy can lead to a…
The interpretation of the meaning of Quantum Mechanics has faced controversy since its inception. Bell's inequalities are a touchstone in this controversy. Their observed violation demonstrates that at least one of the hypotheses involved…
Can a large system be fully characterized using its subsystems via inductive reasoning? Is it possible to completely reduce the behavior of a complex system to the behavior of its simplest "atoms"? In the following paper we answer these…
The problem of reconstructing information on a physical system from data acquired in long sequences of direct (projective) measurements of some simple physical quantities - histories - is analyzed within quantum mechanics; that is, the…
Weak measurements have an increasing number of applications in contemporary quantum mechanics. They were originally described as a weak interaction that slightly entangled the translational degrees of freedom of a particle to its spin,…
Despite their inextricable quantum mechanical nature, events at a high energy particle collider experiment typically have very few unambiguous quantum signatures, due the type of data and the manner in which they are collected. We present a…
The notion of measurements is central for many debates in quantum mechanics. One critical point is whether a measurement can be regarded as an absolute event, giving the same result for any observer in an irreversible manner. Using ideas…
In the present article we introduce a quantum mechanism which is able to describe the creation of correlations in the evaluation of random independent events: such correlations, known as positive and negative recency, correspond…