Epistemology of wave function collapse in quantum physics

DOI10.1093/BJPS/AXU038MaRDI QIDQ2965438zbMATH OpenOpenAlexWikidataFDO

Authors Charles Wesley Cowan, Roderich Tumulka

Publication date 3 March 2017

Published in The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1307.0827

zbMATH Keywords

Ghirardi-Rimini-Weber (GRW) theory

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Physics (00A79) General and philosophical questions in quantum theory (81P05) Quantum measurement theory, state operations, state preparations (81P15) Alternative quantum mechanics (including hidden variables, etc.) (81Q65)

Abstract: Among several possibilities for what reality could be like in view of the empirical facts of quantum mechanics, one is provided by theories of spontaneous wave function collapse, the best known of which is the Ghirardi-Rimini-Weber (GRW) theory. We show mathematically that in GRW theory (and similar theories) there are limitations to knowledge, that is, inhabitants of a GRW universe cannot find out all the facts true about their universe. As a specific example, they cannot accurately measure the number of collapses that a given physical system undergoes during a given time interval; in fact, they cannot reliably measure whether one or zero collapses occur. Put differently, in a GRW universe certain meaningful, factual questions are empirically undecidable. We discuss several types of limitations to knowledge and compare them with those in other (no-collapse) versions of quantum mechanics, such as Bohmian mechanics. Most of our results also apply to observer-induced collapses as in orthodox quantum mechanics (as opposed to the spontaneous collapses of GRW theory).

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• Detecting wave function collapse without prior knowledge
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• Epistemological and experimental perspectives on quantum physics
• Mathematical formalism for nonlocal spontaneous collapse in quantum field theory
• Finding your marbles in wavefunction collapse theories

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