scholarly journals Quantum Measurements with, and Yet without an Observer

Entropy ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (10) ◽  
pp. 1185
Author(s):  
Dmitri Sokolovski

It is argued that Feynman’s rules for evaluating probabilities, combined with von Neumann’s principle of psycho-physical parallelism, help avoid inconsistencies, often associated with quantum theory. The former allows one to assign probabilities to entire sequences of hypothetical Observers’ experiences, without mentioning the problem of wave function collapse. The latter limits the Observer’s (e.g., Wigner’s friend’s) participation in a measurement to the changes produced in material objects, thus leaving his/her consciousness outside the picture.

2009 ◽  
Vol 21 (02) ◽  
pp. 155-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
RODERICH TUMULKA

The Ghirardi–Rimini–Weber (GRW) theory is a physical theory that, when combined with a suitable ontology, provides an explanation of quantum mechanics. The so-called collapse of the wave function is problematic in conventional quantum theory but not in the GRW theory, in which it is governed by a stochastic law. A possible ontology is the flash ontology, according to which matter consists of random points in space-time, called flashes. The joint distribution of these points, a point process in space-time, is the topic of this work. The mathematical results concern mainly the existence and uniqueness of this distribution for several variants of the theory. Particular attention is paid to the relativistic version of the GRW theory that was developed in 2004.


2016 ◽  
pp. 4039-4042
Author(s):  
Viliam Malcher

The interpretation problems of quantum theory are considered. In the formalism of quantum theory the possible states of a system are described by a state vector. The state vector, which will be represented as |ψ> in Dirac notation, is the most general form of the quantum mechanical description. The central problem of the interpretation of quantum theory is to explain the physical significance of the |ψ>. In this paper we have shown that one of the best way to make of interpretation of wave function is to take the wave function as an operator.


2015 ◽  
Vol 56 (8) ◽  
pp. 082103
Author(s):  
Charles Wesley Cowan ◽  
Roderich Tumulka

Author(s):  
David Wallace

Decoherence is widely felt to have something to do with the quantum measurement problem, but getting clear on just what is made difficult by the fact that the ‘measurement problem’, as traditionally presented in foundational and philosophical discussions, has become somewhat disconnected from the conceptual problems posed by real physics. This, in turn, is because quantum mechanics as discussed in textbooks and in foundational discussions has become somewhat removed from scientific practice, especially where the analysis of measurement is concerned. This paper has two goals: firstly (§§1–2), to present an account of how quantum measurements are actually dealt with in modern physics (hint: it does not involve a collapse of the wave function) and to state the measurement problem from the perspective of that account; and secondly (§§3–4), to clarify what role decoherence plays in modern measurement theory and what effect it has on the various strategies that have been proposed to solve the measurement problem.


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