Why the quantum?
From MaRDI portal
Abstract: This paper is a commentary on the foundational significance of the Clifton-Bub-Halvorson theorem characterizing quantum theory in terms of three information-theoretic constraints (Foundations of Physics 33, 1561-1591 (2003); quant-ph/0211089). I argue that: (1) a quantum theory is best understood as a theory about the possibilities and impossibilities of information transfer, as opposed to a theory about the mechanics of nonclassical waves or particles, (2) given the information-theoretic constraints, any mechanical theory of quantum phenomena that includes an account of the measuring instruments that reveal these phenomena must be empirically equivalent to a quantum theory, and (3) assuming the information-theoretic constraints are in fact satisfied in our world, no mechanical theory of quantum phenomena that includes an account of measurement interactions can be acceptable, and the appropriate aim of physics at the fundamental level then becomes the representation and manipulation of information.
Recommendations
- Explaining the unobserved -- why quantum mechanics ain't only about information
- Re-conceiving quantum theories in terms of information-theoretic constraints
- Characterizing quantum theory in terms of information-theoretic constraints
- On information-theoretic characterizations of physical theories
- Why should we interpret quantum mechanics?
Cites work
- scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3131829 (Why is no real title available?)
- scientific article; zbMATH DE number 5320313 (Why is no real title available?)
- scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1246665 (Why is no real title available?)
- scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1092439 (Why is no real title available?)
- scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1118850 (Why is no real title available?)
- scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3251317 (Why is no real title available?)
- scientific article; zbMATH DE number 3109251 (Why is no real title available?)
- A uniqueness theorem for `no collapse' interpretations of quantum mechanics
- Bohmian mechanics and quantum information
- Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete?
- Characterizing quantum theory in terms of information-theoretic constraints
- Everettian rationality: defending Deutsch's approach to probability in the Everett interpretation
- ON THE INDEPENDENCE OF LOCAL ALGEBRAS IN QUANTUM FIELD THEORY
- On the foundations of noncommutative geometry
- Postulates for general quantum mechanics
- Quantum cryptography: public key distribution and coin tossing
- Speakable and unspeakable in quantum mechanics
- Unified dynamics for microscopic and macroscopic systems
Cited in
(24)- How device-independent approaches change the meaning of physical theory
- Bohmian trajectories and the ether: where does the analogy fail?
- Experimental metaphysics\(_2\): the double standard in the quantum-information approach to the foundations of quantum theory
- Re-conceiving quantum theories in terms of information-theoretic constraints
- On explaining non-dynamically the quantum correlations via quantum information theory: what it takes
- scientific article; zbMATH DE number 2154298 (Why is no real title available?)
- Why should we interpret quantum mechanics?
- Reconstruction and reinvention in quantum theory
- Quantum mechanics is about quantum information
- Why scientific realists should reject the second dogma of quantum mechanics
- Rovelli's world
- Principle theories, constructive theories, and explanation in modern physics
- Explaining the unobserved -- why quantum mechanics ain't only about information
- Quantum mechanics as quantum information, mostly
- scientific article; zbMATH DE number 2154304 (Why is no real title available?)
- Quantum reaxiomatisations and information-theoretic interpretations of quantum theory
- Information and the Reconstruction of Quantum Physics
- Quantum theory is not only about information
- Understanding quantum phenomena and quantum theories
- When champions meet: rethinking the Bohr-Einstein debate
- Effects and propositions
- On information-theoretic characterizations of physical theories
- Characterizing quantum theory in terms of information-theoretic constraints
- Quantum reconstructions as stepping stones toward \(\psi\)-\textit{doxastic} interpretations?
This page was built for publication: Why the quantum?
Report a bug (only for logged in users!)Click here to report a bug for this page (MaRDI item Q720590)
