Relational quantum mechanics (Q1923982)

The celebrated equations of the special relativity were discovered by Poincaré and Lorentz before Einstein, and the main contribution of the latter was to find out their genuine physical significance. To some extend, we have the same picture with quantum mechanics: the theory works, but we do not know why. In the present paper, the author discusses a novel view of quantum mechanics, and proposes a reformulation of the problem of the interpretation of quantum mechanics. The notion here rejected is the notion of observer-independent state of a system. The thesis advanced in that by abandoning such a notion, in favour of a notion of state and values of physical quantities relative to something, quantum mechanics makes much more sense. The theory is set in an informational framework and two main postulates are suggested: there is a maximum amount of information that can be extracted from a system, and it is always possible to acquire new information about a system. The present approach is compared with other interpretations. An interesting and stimulating paper.