Related papers: The Free Will Theorem
This article shows in detail the computations made for the poster presented at the Symposium "Frontiers of Fundamental Physics" in July 2014. As was shown in a previous publication, a quantum gravity formulation exists on the basis of…
Two thought experiments are analyzed, revealing that the quantum state of the universe does not contain definitive evidence of the wavefunction collapse. The first thought experiment shows that unitary quantum evolution alone can account…
A model-independent formulation of anyons as spinning particles is presented. The general properties of the classical theory of (2+1)-dimensional relativistic fractional spin particles and some properties of their quantum theory are…
There are reasons to doubt that making sense of the wave function (other than as a probability algorithm) will help with the project of making sense of quantum mechanics. The consistency of the quantum-mechanical correlation laws with the…
Some of the most obviously correct physical theories - namely string theory and the multiverse - make no testable predictions, leading many to question whether we should accept something as scientific even if it makes no testable…
The predictions that quantum theory makes about the outcomes of measurements are generally probabilistic. This has raised the question whether quantum theory can be considered complete, or whether there could exist alternative theories that…
A collapse-free version of quantum theory is examined to systematically study the role of the projection postulate. This foil theory assumes "passive" measurements that do not update quantum states although measurement outcomes still occur…
We argue that quantum mechanics makes sense without such controversial postulates as the wave function collapse, the quantum probability rule and the observable postulate. We only need the existence of a wave function as a representation of…
Quantum theory makes the most accurate empirical predictions and yet it lacks simple, comprehensible physical principles from which the theory can be uniquely derived. A broad class of probabilistic theories exist which all share some…
General relativity treats spacetime as dynamical and exhibits its breakdown at singularities. This failure is interpreted as evidence that quantum gravity is not a theory formulated within spacetime; instead, it must explain the very…
We study a nonrelativistic system made of two quantum particles constrained to move on a line and a spin located at a fixed point of the line. Initially the two particles are in a maximally entangled state and the spin is down. The first…
Any scientific attempt to explain consciousness is tasked with reconciling the third person objective perspective of science with our first person subjective experience of the world. A good point of departure is to consider situations in…
There has been great interest in applying the results of statistical mechanics to single molecule experiements. Recent work has highlighted so-called non-equilibrium work-energy relations and Fluctuation Theorems which take on an…
We construct the relativistic particle model without Grassmann variables which meets the following requirements. A) Canonical quantization of the model implies the Dirac equation. B) The variable which experiences {\it Zitterbewegung},…
What would be the consequences if there were fundamental limits to our ability to experimentally explore the world? In this work we seriously consider this question. We assume the existence of statements whose truth value is not…
An extremely simple and unified base for physics comes out by starting all over from a single postulate on the common nature of matter and stationary forms of radiation quanta. Basic relativistic, gravitational (G) and quantum mechanical…
The Ghirardi-Rimini-Weber (GRW) theory is a physical theory that, when combined with a suitable ontology, provides an explanation of quantum mechanics. The so-called collapse of the wave function is problematic in conventional quantum…
The paper considers the claim that quantum theories with a deterministic dynamics of objects in ordinary space-time, such as Bohmian mechanics, contradict the assumption that the measurement settings can be freely chosen in the EPR…
We revisit the vexed question of how unpredictability can arise in a deterministic universe, focusing on unitary quantum theory. We discuss why quantum unpredictability is irrelevant for the possibility of what some people call `free-will',…
In this paper, without the axiom of choice, we show that if a certain downward L\"owenheim-Skolem property holds then all grounds are uniformly definable. We also prove that the axiom of choice is forceable if and only if the universe is a…