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The wave function as a true ensemble

In quantum mechanics, the wave function predicts probabilities of possible measurement outcomes, but not which individual outcome is realized in each run of an experiment. This suggests that it describes an ensemble of states with different values of a hidden variable. Here, we analyse this idea wit...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Hance, Jonte R., Hossenfelder, Sabine
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: The Royal Society 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9215214/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35756876
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspa.2021.0705
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author Hance, Jonte R.
Hossenfelder, Sabine
author_facet Hance, Jonte R.
Hossenfelder, Sabine
author_sort Hance, Jonte R.
collection PubMed
description In quantum mechanics, the wave function predicts probabilities of possible measurement outcomes, but not which individual outcome is realized in each run of an experiment. This suggests that it describes an ensemble of states with different values of a hidden variable. Here, we analyse this idea with reference to currently known theorems and experiments. We argue that the ψ-ontic/epistemic distinction fails to properly identify ensemble interpretations and propose a more useful definition. We then show that all local ψ-ensemble interpretations which reproduce quantum mechanics violate statistical independence. Theories with this property are commonly referred to as superdeterministic or retrocausal. Finally, we explain how this interpretation helps make sense of some otherwise puzzling phenomena in quantum mechanics, such as the delayed choice experiment, the Elitzur–Vaidman bomb detector and the extended Wigner’s friends scenario.
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spelling pubmed-92152142022-06-24 The wave function as a true ensemble Hance, Jonte R. Hossenfelder, Sabine Proc Math Phys Eng Sci Research Articles In quantum mechanics, the wave function predicts probabilities of possible measurement outcomes, but not which individual outcome is realized in each run of an experiment. This suggests that it describes an ensemble of states with different values of a hidden variable. Here, we analyse this idea with reference to currently known theorems and experiments. We argue that the ψ-ontic/epistemic distinction fails to properly identify ensemble interpretations and propose a more useful definition. We then show that all local ψ-ensemble interpretations which reproduce quantum mechanics violate statistical independence. Theories with this property are commonly referred to as superdeterministic or retrocausal. Finally, we explain how this interpretation helps make sense of some otherwise puzzling phenomena in quantum mechanics, such as the delayed choice experiment, the Elitzur–Vaidman bomb detector and the extended Wigner’s friends scenario. The Royal Society 2022-06 2022-06-22 /pmc/articles/PMC9215214/ /pubmed/35756876 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspa.2021.0705 Text en © 2022 The Authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Articles
Hance, Jonte R.
Hossenfelder, Sabine
The wave function as a true ensemble
title The wave function as a true ensemble
title_full The wave function as a true ensemble
title_fullStr The wave function as a true ensemble
title_full_unstemmed The wave function as a true ensemble
title_short The wave function as a true ensemble
title_sort wave function as a true ensemble
topic Research Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9215214/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35756876
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspa.2021.0705
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