相关论文: Negative Observations in Quantum Mechanics

The role of time in quantum mechanics is discussed. The differences between ordinary observables and an observable which corresponds to the time of an event is examined. In particular, the time-of-arrival of a particle to a fixed location…

Negativity of the Wigner function is arguably one of the most striking non-classical features of quantum states. Beyond its fundamental relevance, it is also a necessary resource for quantum speedup with continuous variables. As quantum…

Some of the problems connected with the interpretation of quantum mechanics are enumerated, in particular those related to some well known paradoxes and, above all, to the measurement process. We then show how the so called "Physics…

The paradox of Wigner's friend challenges the objectivity of description in quantum theory. A pragmatist interpretation can meet this challenge by judicious appeal to decoherence. On this interpretation, quantum theory provides situated…

After the development of a self-consistent quantum formalism nearly a century ago, there ensued a quest to understand the often counterintuitive predictions of the theory. These endeavors invariably begin with the assumption of the "truth"…

The relational approach to quantum states asserts that the physical description of quantum systems is always relative to something or someone. In relational quantum mechanics (RQM) it is relative to other quantum systems, in the…

I argue that the rules of unitary quantum mechanics imply that observers who will themselves be subject to measurements in a linear combination of macroscopic states (``cat" measurements) cannot make reliable predictions on the results of…

In this paper, I attempt a personal account of my understanding of the measurement problem in quantum mechanics, which has been largely in the tradition of the Copenhagen interpretation. I assume that (i) the quantum state is a…

It is argued that the conclusions obtained by Renninger (Zeitschrift fur Physik 136, 251 (1953)), by means of an interferometer thought experiment, have important implications for a number of still ongoing discussions about quantum…

Since its inception, many physicists have seen in quantum mechanics the possibility, if not the necessity, of bringing cognitive aspects into the play, which were instead absent, or unnoticed, in the previous classical theories. In this…

The term "measurement" in quantum theory (as well as in other physical theories) is ambiguous: It is used to describe both an experience - e.g., an observation in an experiment - and an interaction with the system under scrutiny. If doing…

This work explores the connection between logical independence and the algebraic structure of quantum mechanics. Building on results by Brukner et al., it introduces the notion of \textit{onto-epistemic ignorance}: situations in which the…

Measurement quantum mechanics, the theory of a quantum system which undergoes a measurement process, is introduced by a loop of mathematical equivalencies connecting previously proposed approaches. The unique phenomenological parameter of…

Measurements play a crucial role in doing physics: Their results provide the basis on which we adopt or reject physical theories. In this note, we examine the effect of subjecting measurements themselves to our experience. We require that…

Quantum theory reveals astonishing and counterintuitive phenomena not found in classical physics, such as wave-particle duality, where entities like electrons and photons exhibit both wave-like and particle-like behaviors. In this paper, we…

One would not think that thought experiments could matter to nature, for they are a humble human device. Yet quantum mechanics very naturally frames thought experiments (as distinct from precisely defining what exists). They exemplify the…

The Wigner's friend paradox concerns one of the most puzzling problems of quantum mechanics: the consistent description of multiple nested observers. Recently, a variation of Wigner's gedankenexperiment, introduced by Frauchiger and Renner,…

The phenomenology for the deep spatial geometry of loop quantum gravity is discussed. In the context of a simple model of an atom of space, it is shown how purely combinatorial structures can affect observations. The angle operator is used…

The 1953 and 1960 Renninger negative-result thought experiments illustrate conceptual paradoxes in the Copenhagen formulation of quantum mechanics. In the 1953 paradox we can infer the presence of a detector in one arm of a Mach-Zehnder…

This article provides a brief overview of some fundamental effects of quantum fields under extreme conditions. For the Schwinger mechanism, Hawking radiation, and the Unruh effect, analogies to quantum optics are discussed, which might help…