English

Reality facing quantum mechanics

Quantum Physics 2021-08-23 v1 History and Philosophy of Physics

Abstract

All investigators working on the foundations of quantum mechanics agree that the theory has profoundly modified our conception of reality. But there ends the consensus. The unproblematic formalism of the theory gives rise to a number of very different interpretations, each of which has consequences on the notion of reality. This paper analyses how the Copenhagen interpretation, von Neumann's state vector collapse, Bohm and de Broglie's pilot wave and Everett's many worlds modify, each in its own way, the classical conception of reality, whose local character, in particular, requires revision.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1906.05456,
  title  = {Reality facing quantum mechanics},
  author = {Louis Marchildon},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1906.05456},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

In French; contribution to a celebration of Mario Bunge's 100th birthday; forthcoming in Metascience

R2 v1 2026-06-23T09:52:15.194Z