Quantum reality, perspectivalism and covariance

DOI10.1007/S10701-019-00264-0MaRDI QIDQ2286534zbMATH OpenOpenAlexWikidataFDO

Authors Dennis Dieks

Publication date 22 January 2020

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

Copyright license Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1905.05097

zbMATH Keywords

perspectivalismrelativistic covarianceunitary quantum mechanics

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

General and philosophical questions in quantum theory (81P05) Contextuality in quantum theory (81P13) Covariant wave equations in quantum theory, relativistic quantum mechanics (81R20)

Abstract: Paul Busch has emphasized on various occasions the importance for physics of going beyond a merely instrumentalist view of quantum mechanics. Even if we cannot be sure that any particular realist interpretation describes the world as it actually is, the investigation of possible realist interpretations helps us to develop new physical ideas and better intuitions about the nature of physical objects at the micro level. In this spirit, Paul Busch himself pioneered the concept of ``unsharp quantum reality, according to which there is an objective non-classical indeterminacy---a lack of sharpness---in the properties of individual quantum systems. We concur with Busch's motivation for investigating realist interpretations of quantum mechanics and with his willingness to move away from classical intuitions. In this article we try to take some further steps on this road. In particular, we pay attention to a number of extit{prima facie} implausible and counter-intuitive aspects of realist interpretations of unitary quantum mechanics. We shall argue that from a realist viewpoint, quantum contextuality naturally leads to ``perspectivalism with respect to properties of spatially extended quantum systems, and that this perspectivalism is important for making relativistic covariance possible.

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Cited in

(7)

• Perspectival quantum realism
• Quantum reality, perspectivalism and covariance
• Quantum physics and reality
• Physical thinking and the GHZ theorem
• Measuring quantum superpositions. (Or, ``It is only the theory which decides what can be observed.)
• The metaphysics of decoherence
• Quantum mechanics: an intelligible description of objective reality?

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