English

Quantum mechanics based on real numbers: A consistent description

Quantum Physics 2025-03-24 v1

Abstract

Complex numbers play a crucial role in quantum mechanics. However, their necessity remains debated: whether they are fundamental or merely convenient. Recently, it was claimed that quantum mechanics based on real numbers can be experimentally falsified in the sense that any real-number formulation of quantum mechanics either becomes inconsistent with multipartite experiments or violates certain postulates. In this article we show that a physically motivated postulate about composite quantum systems allows to construct quantum mechanics based on real numbers that reproduces predictions for all multipartite quantum experiments. Thus, we argue that real-valued quantum mechanics cannot be falsified, and therefore the use of complex numbers is a matter of convenience.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2503.17307,
  title  = {Quantum mechanics based on real numbers: A consistent description},
  author = {Pedro Barrios Hita and Anton Trushechkin and Hermann Kampermann and Michael Epping and Dagmar Bruß},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2503.17307},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

23 pages, 6 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-28T22:30:02.173Z