On the sharpness of localization of individual events in space and time

DOI10.1007/S10701-013-9747-ZMaRDI QIDQ2015100zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Rudolf Haag

Publication date 18 June 2014

Published in Foundations of Physics (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1303.6431

zbMATH Keywords

localizationobservablesprobabilitiesquantum eventsrealitywave function

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

General and philosophical questions in quantum theory (81P05) Quantum measurement theory, state operations, state preparations (81P15)

Abstract: The concept of event provides the essential bridge from the realm of virtuality of the quantum state to real phenomena in space and time. We ask how much we can gather from existing theory about their localization and point out that decoherence and coarse graining -- though important -- do not suffice for a consistent interpretation without the additional principle of random realization.

Review text

Quantum physics and reality: this has been a constant theme of thought and discussion since Bohr and Einstein. Central to Bohr's philosophy is his concept of complementarity. There is the famous Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox and Heisenberg's book \textit{Die physikalischen Prinzipien der Quantentheorie} which stimulated the philosophy of quantum physics, based on the questions like: what is the relation between individual events in space-time and the wave function? Haag asks how much we can gather from the theory of localization and points out that decoherence and coarse graining do not provide a sufficient consistent interpretation, certainly not without the principle of \textit{random realization}. Haag points out that first of all there is the task of defining a physical counterpart to the abstract notion of a point in space-time. Second, that there is the question of what the probabilities in quantum physics really refer to. Do they refer to measuring results or to events? Third, there is the question of reality illustrated by Schrödingers cat. All this leads Haag to a critical assessment of the notion of observable and individual facts.

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Cites work

• A Suggested Interpretation of the Quantum Theory in Terms of "Hidden" Variables. I
• Consistent Quantum Theory
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• scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3111749 (Why is no real title available?)
• Proposed experiment to test local hidden-variable theories

Cited in

(11)

• Which worldlines represent possible particle histories?
• The time-evolution of states in quantum mechanics according to the \textit{ETH}-approach
• Event-based quantum mechanics: a context for the emergence of classical information
• A theory of quantum (statistical) measurement
• Events and their reality
• Undecidability as solution to the problem of measurement: fundamental criterion for the production of events
• Remarks on matter-gravity entanglement, entropy, information loss and events
• Irreversibility, the time arrow and a dynamical proof of the second law of thermodynamics
• Bound state internal interactions as a mechanism for exponential decay
• On quantum jumps, events, and spontaneous localization models
• Fermi's golden rule and the second law of thermodynamics

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