Has Anything Changed? Tracking Long-Term Interpretational Preferences in Quantum Mechanics
Abstract
As we approach the centennial anniversary of modern quantum mechanics this paper revisits the foundational debates through a new poll within the research community. Inspired by the survey by Schlosshauer, Kofler, and Zeilinger at the specialized 2011 Quantum Physics and the Nature of Reality conference, we expanded our recruitment to include a more representative sample of the broader community of physicists with the aim to reveal potential shifts in scientists' views and compare our findings with those from several previous polls. While quantum foundations still lack a consensus interpretation, our results indicate a persistent preference for the Copenhagen interpretation. This enduring support likely reflects both the educational emphasis on the Copenhagen interpretation and its pragmatic appeal in avoiding complex metaphysical questions and introducing new notions (e.g., other worlds or the pilot wave). Our findings thus underscore the relative stability of interpretational preferences over the past decades.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2507.09988,
title = {Has Anything Changed? Tracking Long-Term Interpretational Preferences in Quantum Mechanics},
author = {Petr O. Jedlička and Šimon Kos and Martin Šmíd and Jiří Vomlel and Jan Slavík},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2507.09988},
year = {2025}
}