von Neumann's `No hidden variables' proof: a re-appraisal

DOI10.1007/S10701-010-9480-9zbMATH Open1214.81012arXiv1006.0499OpenAlexW2117091379WikidataQ55871977 ScholiaQ55871977MaRDI QIDQ535665FDOQ535665

Authors: Jeffrey Bub 

Publication date: 13 May 2011

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

Abstract: Since the analysis by John Bell in 1965, the consensus in the literature is that von Neumann's 'no hidden variables' proof fails to exclude any significant class of hidden variables. Bell raised the question whether it could be shown that any hidden variable theory would have to be nonlocal, and in this sense 'like Bohm's theory.' His seminal result provides a positive answer to the question. I argue that Bell's analysis misconstrues von Neumann's argument. What von Neumann proved was the impossibility of recovering the quantum probabilities from a hidden variable theory of dispersion free (deterministic) states in which the quantum observables are represented as the 'beables' of the theory, to use Bell's term. That is, the quantum probabilities could not reflect the distribution of pre-measurement values of beables, but would have to be derived in some other way, e.g., as in Bohm's theory, where the probabilities are an artefact of a dynamical process that is not in fact a measurement of any beable of the system.

Full work available at URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/1006.0499

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zbMATH Keywords

foundations of quantum mechanicshidden variablesvon Neumann's proof

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

General and philosophical questions in quantum theory (81P05) Stochastic mechanics (including stochastic electrodynamics) (81P20) Alternative quantum mechanics (including hidden variables, etc.) (81Q65)

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• Why a relativistic quantum mechanical world must be indeterministic
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