Predictions and Primitive Ontology in Quantum Foundations: A Study of Examples
Quantum Physics
2014-05-19 v2
Abstract
A major disagreement between different views about the foundations of quantum mechanics concerns whether for a theory to be intelligible as a fundamental physical theory it must involve a "primitive ontology" (PO), i.e., variables describing the distribution of matter in 4-dimensional space-time. In this paper, we illustrate the value of having a PO. We do so by focussing on the role that the PO plays for extracting predictions from a given theory and discuss valid and invalid derivations of predictions. To this end, we investigate a number of examples based on toy models built from the elements of familiar interpretations of quantum theory.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1206.0019,
title = {Predictions and Primitive Ontology in Quantum Foundations: A Study of Examples},
author = {Valia Allori and Sheldon Goldstein and Roderich Tumulka and Nino Zanghi},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1206.0019},
year = {2014}
}
Comments
28 pages LaTeX, no figures; v2 minor improvements